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Speaker 1: Definitely that ideal start for you know, your number two overall.

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Speaker 1: Pick him a couple of seasons ago, who obviously you know,

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Speaker 1: was a Rookie of the Year candidate from a jump,

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Speaker 1: But I still think he's in that mixed definitely done

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Speaker 1: ideal starts.

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Speaker 2: All right, Here we go Andrew Golden joining us and

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Speaker 2: covering the Nationals for the Washington Post back on the show.

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Speaker 2: Great backdrop of course, he's at the ballpark. So Andrew,

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Speaker 2: what are you seeing these first few games here for

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Speaker 2: the Nats. They're on a run right now, taking down

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Speaker 2: the defending champs. Do you you know see this team

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Speaker 2: kind of hitting a turning point this season because they're

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Speaker 2: not getting a lot of love in the NL East.

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Speaker 2: But is this a statement series?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I think it's definitely a statement series because Sad I

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Speaker 1: think when you look at what state with my takeaway

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Speaker 1: from the first couple of games, but James would have

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Speaker 1: been unbelievable. I think you get three homers in three

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Speaker 1: homers and four bats in the past couple of games

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Speaker 1: where you started to beat up. I think the key

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Speaker 1: for them is just getting off to a hot start

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Speaker 1: early in games. The first couple series they weren't scoring

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Speaker 1: early in games, but the series they have been in

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Speaker 1: the Diamondback Series before they have been too. So I

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Speaker 1: think it's being off to a hot start from at

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Speaker 1: the plate and that typically helps them perform well later

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Speaker 1: in games. I've been impressed so far, Andrew.

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Speaker 4: Should I have them number one of my power rankings?

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Speaker 4: Since everybody had? The Dodgers and the Knots have beat

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Speaker 4: them too in a row. If they sweep them, should

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Speaker 4: I make them number one of my power rankings in baseball?

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Speaker 1: I mean that's how power rankings work, right, I mean,

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Speaker 1: if they see the Dodgers the yeah, they should be

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Speaker 1: number one, right Like, that's how that's how should worked.

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Speaker 4: That's exactly how ludicrous power rankings are. Thank you, so yes,

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Speaker 4: next you, whenever I have to do my power rankings

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Speaker 4: for their Nats will be number one for sure.

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Speaker 3: There we go.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but how good was How good was Mackenzie Gore?

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Speaker 4: I mean he's you know, two of his three starts,

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Speaker 4: he's been really really good. Is this the guy they

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Speaker 4: thought they got when they made that trade for Sodo?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I think Mackenzie shown that brief spurts during the early

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Speaker 1: portion of his career. I think the key is just

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Speaker 1: sustaining it, not having the bad outing spiral. I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, my first year, my first year, his first

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Speaker 1: full season was twenty twenty three, and he was really

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Speaker 1: good in the first half and sporggled in the second.

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Speaker 1: Last year, he was really good last year except for

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Speaker 1: like nine starts, and so I think this year, a

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Speaker 1: key's just limiting those bat starts, maybe two or three

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Speaker 1: outings versus you know, six or seven. Yes, I think

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Speaker 1: if you could do that, I think you're looking at

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Speaker 1: a top of the rotation guy, a guy who could

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Speaker 1: be a eight for this for this team. And that's

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Speaker 1: what he's shown them. He went out there against the

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Speaker 1: Phillies and shoved I forget the exact step, and that's

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Speaker 1: someone he and Bob gives me the only guys to

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Speaker 1: break out thirteen and allow one to hit no walks.

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Speaker 1: So that's pretty good company, and I think it speaks

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Speaker 1: to the kind of player that he could be.

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Speaker 3: Andrew haven't been to a Nats game for a long time,

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Speaker 3: but when they started hanging up all the natitude signs,

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Speaker 3: the fans really got behind it. What is what is

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Speaker 3: the natitude? Right now? The fan base of the Nationals.

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Speaker 3: Are they mad that they didn't go in and get

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Speaker 3: some piece, some veteran piece that would have been like

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Speaker 3: a Pee Alonso for a long kind of like the

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Speaker 3: Jason Worth type of thing. Or fans just like, oh need,

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Speaker 3: we're gonna wave our hats in the third inning like

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Speaker 3: we do every game.

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Speaker 1: I mix the both. I think there are some fans

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Speaker 1: who definitely wanted to the National to take suspend a

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Speaker 1: little bit more right and get the back to the

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Speaker 1: where they were on the previous decade. I think they're

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Speaker 1: also fans who are happy with the direction of the team,

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Speaker 1: what they see from the young players, and so I

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Speaker 1: think you get a mixed of both. I do think

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Speaker 1: there are some fans who are kind of like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: it's been you know, five years, is rebuilder ready to go?

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Speaker 1: And I think there are some where like let's be

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Speaker 1: more patient wait for the right time. And so I

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Speaker 1: think I think you see a bix of boats in

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Speaker 1: the fan base. So I'm not sure if there's one

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Speaker 1: or the other, but that's kind of how fan bases are,

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Speaker 1: like there's always be acceptor thinks one thing and when

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Speaker 1: I think the other way. But I think it's the boat.

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Speaker 4: Hey, Andrew. I don't know how you see the game

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Speaker 4: from the press box they have there, and oh my god.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty high, pretty high up.

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Speaker 4: Tell us bring out binoculars to see half the players.

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Speaker 4: They look like ants we built when they say we

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Speaker 4: built the museum for ants, like.

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Speaker 1: Some some fans, I think. I think a fan of

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Speaker 1: to Day asked me like, like what m Kennedy Gore

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Speaker 1: Snyder looked like. I was like, I mean, you probably

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Speaker 1: a better view than I do, Like, I don't, I

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Speaker 1: don't know, I don't really know what it looks like.

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Speaker 1: Like I was like, it's probably better on the screen. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a pretty high press box. We're pretty up there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah it's pretty funny.

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Speaker 4: But you know, kind of to what crowd said about,

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Speaker 4: you know, the old and where they're at in this

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Speaker 4: why didn't not spend some money in this offseason? They

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Speaker 4: were like my sleeper pick to go out and sign

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Speaker 4: a big name, like like kind of like they did.

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Speaker 4: Why why didn't they do that this year?

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Speaker 1: I think I think it's a mix of you know,

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Speaker 1: ownership and waiting for the right time to waiting for

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Speaker 1: the right time that they feel to invest in their roster.

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Speaker 1: I also think it's a matter of when you see

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Speaker 1: how some of their young guys can perform, Seeing if

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Speaker 1: James wind and doing crew, who they take that step forward,

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Speaker 1: Seeing Mackenzie Bfore takes a step forward. C. J. Abrams

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Speaker 1: was another guy they would ask, you know, they want

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Speaker 1: to see a lot of production from and so I

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Speaker 1: think I think for them, what you're seeing is like,

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Speaker 1: I think the reason they didn't spend us they're waiting

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Speaker 1: for waiting to see how those guys perform. Maybe they

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Speaker 1: didn't think the right guy fit their roster that was

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Speaker 1: out there. I certainly would have expected them to maybe

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Speaker 1: spend a little bit more, and they did spend more

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Speaker 1: than they have in the past couple off seasons, but

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Speaker 1: I would to expect them to take a swing this

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Speaker 1: off season and they didn't. And I think they're content

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Speaker 1: with what they have, and I still think that with

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Speaker 1: what they have, I think they still they can compete

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Speaker 1: long term.

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Speaker 3: Now the twenty year massive battle got resolved, does that

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Speaker 3: mean next year they're going to use that money, because

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Speaker 3: before that was the excuse. It's like, you know, we

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Speaker 3: don't have a lot or is it Max Scherzer's deferred

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Speaker 3: contract that they're still paying have they given any reasoning

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Speaker 3: of like or a glimpse of what it could be.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think obviously with the massive money, I think

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Speaker 1: that definitely makes an impact, and they can obviously spend

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Speaker 1: a little bit more. I don't know to what extent

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Speaker 1: that is, and I think it also depends on how

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Speaker 1: this year goes and where they feel like their roster,

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Speaker 1: their roster compared. I mean, I think it's also important

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Speaker 1: to note that when they signed Jason Worth, they went

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Speaker 1: eighty one to eighty one ers or are they were

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Speaker 1: around five hundred like that first season with Jason Worth

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Speaker 1: and then they took off and so like in theory,

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Speaker 1: like that's where it seems like they would be right now,

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Speaker 1: which then when it would make sense to kind of

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Speaker 1: make that investment, take that risk, And so you know,

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Speaker 1: I think it's interesting. I would expect them though maybe

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Speaker 1: with mats and off the table, like there are really

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Speaker 1: no excuses, like if they want to invest in their roster,

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Speaker 1: they can and like that's not excuse anymore. And so

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Speaker 1: I think it's kind of a fair point to make it.

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Speaker 4: Are we worried about Dylan Cruz? Are the Notts worried

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Speaker 4: about Dylan Cruz?

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Speaker 3: Because I know people.

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Speaker 4: Probably outside that don't see him every day. Is Dylan

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Speaker 4: Cruse worried about Dylan Cruz? How worry should we be here?

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Speaker 1: I'm not worried about doing Cruise. I think is I

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Speaker 1: think obviously it's not a great start to the season, right,

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Speaker 1: But I think I think when you look in the grand

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Speaker 1: scheme of things, like if this happened in June, I

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Speaker 1: don't know if we're talking about in the same way

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Speaker 1: that we are. I think it just happened to happen

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Speaker 1: in the first four or five game read never hit.

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Speaker 1: He seems fine, and the team still thinks that he's fine.

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Speaker 1: I think they're just working with him through some adjustments.

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Speaker 1: But I don't get the synth that Dylan is super

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Speaker 1: concerned about it. I don't get the sense that the

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Speaker 1: team is either. But definitely that an ideal start for

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Speaker 1: you know, your number two overall picked him a couple

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Speaker 1: of seasons ago, who obviously you know, was a Rookie

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Speaker 1: of the Year candidate from a jump. But I still

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Speaker 1: think he's in that mix. But definitely that ideal started.

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Speaker 2: AJ it is time for people to get some new clubs,

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Speaker 2: and to do that, they need to go to their

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Speaker 2: local PXG for a fitting.

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Speaker 4: Right, no doubt. I was there today, I've been there before.

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Speaker 4: Last time I was there, they gave me this killer gap.

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Speaker 4: I just look at that sweet spot, Scott. It is

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Speaker 4: worn out. That is right in the sweet spot right there.

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Speaker 4: So I went and got new clubs today, new irons.

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Speaker 4: But more importantly, I got this bad boy. I got

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Speaker 4: me a new putter. This is my old putter. It's

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Speaker 4: on order. Yes, that's my putter cover PXG Mustang putter.

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Speaker 4: Now I'm going to the Allen putter. They talked me

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Speaker 4: into it because I was raining some putts today. Bob,

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Speaker 4: the guy who helped me out, he helped me with

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Speaker 4: my irons. He got him teed up perfectly. But then

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Speaker 4: we went to the putt and green. I was draining

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Speaker 4: them putts because that's the most important part of golf.

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Speaker 2: PXG fittings are fun. Schedule you're fitting today as you

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Speaker 2: can hear from AJ For a limited time, you could

195
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Speaker 2: save up to twenty percent on your entire order. Head

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Speaker 2: over to PXG dot com slash foul that's PXG dot

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Speaker 2: com slash foul to save up to twenty percent on

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Speaker 2: your entire order. PXG dot Com slash foul restrictions apply.

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Speaker 2: See site for details.

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Speaker 3: James would home run total give it to me. You

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Speaker 3: see him every day. We need to know what it's

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Speaker 3: gonna because I think last night was his first pulled

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Speaker 3: home run? Am I correct all the others we have

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Speaker 3: been APO.

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Speaker 1: This seed was his first pull one this season. Last

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Speaker 1: year he had two seas. Yeah, so this season, my

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Speaker 1: I think we like to see the prediction. I think

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Speaker 1: I had twenty seven, so I maybe I guess I'll

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Speaker 1: stick with twenty seven.

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Speaker 3: Okay, that's not thirty not forty low. Yeah, I don't.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to put it too high in the

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Speaker 1: personal season, like there's some adjustments. I want to, you know,

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Speaker 1: put at forty. I think you could hit forty. But

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Speaker 1: I said twenty seven just to be kind of modest

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Speaker 1: from the jokes.

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Speaker 2: After watching this series, I'm like, damn.

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Speaker 4: Number one of my power rankings put it down.

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Speaker 2: That Andrew reappreciate the time, enjoy the game today. It

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Speaker 2: would be fun at four o'clock east and so a

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Speaker 2: couple hours away. Thanks for joining us.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for having me on guys. Looking forward The

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Speaker 1: next time