Give Those Fans a Contract (RTR Ep. 222)

Talk about some great catches out in the stands this past series against the Twins!

We were lucky enough to speak with both home run catchers, Shea VanScoter and Matt Cedola, to discuss their experiences at the ballpark and time in the spotlight!

Thanks so much for listening! You can follow RTR on social media @RaysTheRoofTB and be sure subscribe to the podcast!

A big shout out to our partners, SeatGeek, In The Clutch and JKS Prints! Use code RAYSTHEROOF for $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase, 10% off anytime with In The Clutch & $5 off at JKSprints.com!

As always, Rays Up!

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
It's time to raise the roof for our latest regular season
episode. Welcome back everyone to the
latest episode of the pod. I'm your host Alex Murphy with
me as always, my Co host Gibby. Gibby, how we doing?
I know it's been it's been a little bit since we last
recorded and we're going to try to as the summer rolls around,
we're going to try to get more stuff going.
But how's it been like watching the Rays over these last like

(00:24):
week and 1/2? Well, it's a strong
contradiction from previous homestands on.
Honestly, it seems like whateverbug that was happening at
Steinbrenner Field is now gone. That is a moment of the past and
so far they've just put togetheror they did put together A77 and

(00:48):
two homestand against the Astros, Blue Jays and the Twins.
Twins being a really good team. Astros, you know, being they're
still they're always in the picture.
And then Blue Jays were kind of I mean, we're up there in the
division and after this homestand they've come out, the
Rays have come out to the secondplace in the AL least I'll call

(01:12):
them this year because we are not the beast this year.
We are. We are the least.
Yeah, the Yankees are the only team that are like, good.
Yeah, the division is not good. Yeah, and they got a strong lead
that I think it's like 6 1/2 games.
But I mean, Ray's still killing it though recently.

(01:33):
And I mean, it's just been, it'sbeen epic to watch.
I got both the giveaways that wegot in recent weeks on the hat
and Devil Ray's hat. That was a cool giveaway.
I really like this hat. I like trucker hats.
They're really good. You're gonna go into upcoming
games. And I got the City Connect polo,

(01:54):
which was really good, too. So yeah, I mean, it's been a
it's been a great week for Ray'sbaseball.
He's been chilling, Gibby's beenchilling, he's been chilling
giveaways. He's having himself a good time
basking. In the heat.
Oh yeah, just it's been those day.
Games are really brutal. Maybe we'll get into that a

(02:14):
little bit. You know, I'm sure.
Well, you got to wear, I mean, you got to make sure you got a
bucket hat on or something like that.
Oh yeah. Oh, true.
Yeah, I was gonna say you gotta make sure you got that
protection going on cuz Jesus Lord the Son is.
Never know when you're gonna need it for, you know, whatever
you need it for. Yeah, especially.
Improvise. Yeah, I was gonna say,

(02:35):
especially in those games where the feels like temperatures like
100, two, 102, I mean, that's that's absolutely nuts.
Oh yeah. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, if you
guys didn't see the raised 17 ofnine at home is giving mentioned
they took two out of three against the Astros, They swept
the Blue Jays over the weekend and they took two out of three
against the Twins to start out this week.

(02:57):
Really impressive showing. Overall pitching looked
relatively decent. Hitting has really stepped up in
recent days. I mean, Josh Lowe has been
looking really good. Jonathan Aranda's been looking
really good. Brandon Lowe's got like an 11
game hitting streak. Chandler Simpson's got a hitting
streak somewhere around there. He's been still on bases doing
whatever he's doing. I'm missing people.

(03:19):
Junior just hit a home run last night.
Danny Jansen's hitting around 200, which is good.
Yeah, playing a lot better. Recently, and that's not
mentioning any of the pitching. I mean, Taj Bradley, he he's had
a few good starts. Yeah, gutsy.
Performance is from guys like nothing flashy but like Taj has
had some gutsy. Performance.
Hey, that Ras performance was pretty flashy, yeah.

(03:40):
That I will say that's probably one of the main ones, but like,
I mean you look outside of that,there's not like.
Peps had some good performances.It's like nothing too crazy like
a bunch of. I know you were this team.
I mean, they don't get strikeouts.
I mean the the starting pitchingdoesn't really get the
strikeouts like they used to. But I mean it's still working.

(04:03):
I mean they're they're keeping the runs low, keeping the rays
in these games. So it's been it's been pretty
fun to watch this homestand. I mean.
Yeah, I mean looking. At them get over whatever bug
they were kind of in two weeks ago, which is now they've
exploded to 2nd place in the L ES so.

(04:24):
Well, I will say Speaking of of of of performances because I
mentioned Pep, he went 7 shutty against the Blue Jays in that 13
nothing shut out win. But even that performance wasn't
like an Oh my God performance. He only struck out five.
He was just efficient. Like Zach Litell was very
efficient in his game against the Twins.

(04:45):
The Rays nearly blew it in the end, but Lattelle was really
efficient when he threw like 7080 pitches.
I keep saying it, he is one of the best number fives in
baseball, if not the best #5 in baseball.
If we're talking rotational pieces, I can't put him above A5
or A4, but my God, he just continues to produce.

(05:06):
He continues to to eat up innings and like it, just shove.
Again, it's nothing crazy, but we're not looking for anything
crazy from a #4 or a #5 and Lattell continues to do that.
He's been very consistent. Taj.
We're working on the consistency, but gutsy
performances, getting himself going.

(05:28):
Same thing with Shane Boss, trying to get himself going a
little bit. Hopefully some good things going
there like like the pitching hasbeen good enough to get things
done and then the offense has really taken over.
I looked up, so Chandler's only played in 34 games this year,
which if you look at the list ofguys I'm trying to see here,

(05:49):
guys outside or guys in the top 25, I guess in in steals and
baseball. There's only one other person
who's played less games than him, and that's Jorge Mateo.
But Chandler's got his tie for the six most steals in baseball,
and he's played in at least 10 less games than anyone else.
And the only other guy who's relatively close is Caballero,

(06:13):
who's got 17. And he's been way more efficient
in terms of steals this season. Remember, he was the guy last
year who led the American Leaguein in caught stealing.
And right now he's 17 of 21, which is a 80.181% steel steel
success rate. But yeah, I mean, really

(06:35):
impressed with with, you know, what I've seen out of Chandler
specifically, I know the the on base needs to needs to be
improved. I will say strikeouts, There's
not really a lot of strikeouts. He doesn't walk a lot.
He's not a guy who walks a lot. But I mean, when he gets on
base, he he tends to steal a bagand he's really damn good at

(06:57):
doing it. So that's that's been a nice
spark plug. Outside of that, I want to talk
about B Lau because God, I'm so happy that he's playing well
right now. Because we got the, we got the
streaky side of B Lau. That's good.
Yes, because that's the thing about him.
It's like the lows are so low, but once he's once he's on, he's

(07:23):
on and he's really is that dog. And I mean, that's all he can
say. Say in stadium just like you're
my dog, dude. Like, and you can just tell when
he has that menacing presence, like when he's in that zone,
like you just don't want to throw something he can get a
hold of like at all or he's going to blast it out of that
stadium, which he did what, three times this, this homestand

(07:46):
something, something like that. When his last seven games, he's
got 4 homers if I'm. Not 4 homers.
Oh my God. Yeah.
So yeah, I mean, he was just blasting balls left, right and
centres. So it's really good because he
was kind of struggling up until that point and then he's very
much improved his numbers. So it's very good to see.

(08:11):
And I mean, we might be in a month, we might be saying, oh,
he's in, he's in one of his low points again.
But you know, it just makes the highs that much better, Alex.
So we're going to, we're going to live like we're going to Live
Today, you know? Yeah, he is.
It's like it's it's frustrating to still see that ebb and flow

(08:31):
happen, but at the same time, this is a guy who has like at
his best is is one of the best second baseman in baseball and
is probably a top 50 player in baseball.
I'm pretty sure he's leading allsecond baseman homers in RBI in
baseball. If not, he's close to that mark,
which is, I mean, basically all that's happened in the last like

(08:54):
2 to 3 weeks. Like he's really stepped himself
up. He started to drive guys in.
I guess the problem is, is that because he's so streaky, we know
that there's going to be a regression at some point, which
is not, I mean, that's not something that we want to
anticipate, but it's more of just something that we've come
to know about him over time. And I wish that that wasn't the

(09:15):
case, but it's just kind of who he is.
And but again, with all of that being said, when he's at his
best, he is incredibly tough to get out.
He's a guy who's going to get onbase consistently.
He's a guy who's going to put the ball out of the ballpark.
He's going to hit the ball to the gap.

(09:36):
He's going to do what you need in order to win a game, drive in
runners, whatever that might be.And his defense this season is
probably the best defense that he's played all year.
Oh yeah, I'm. Sorry in his.
Entire career is what I should say.
I mean, he's been so good on thedouble plays, just turning them
so, so well. Yeah, his defense has been flat

(09:58):
out spectacular. He he deserves all of the
flowers that he that he's getting for it because I mean,
he's damn good. And he's like, it seems like
everything's kind of coming together at the right time for
him, which. They were interviewing him on
MLB Network, right? I yeah, I know that they were
interviewing him. I think a lot of it was about
like how to pronounce his name, which is kind of a slap in the
face to him because like, he would want to go on there and

(10:19):
talk baseball. And I think he did talk
baseball, but like that was kindof a main thing was like, yeah,
I had guys that have the same name as me.
I just pronounced it differently.
And like, at this point, he's been in the league for eight
years. If you don't know the difference
between his name and Josh Lowe'sname, then that's your fault for
not knowing baseball like it's been 8 years.

(10:40):
Like Joe Buck got his name wrongin the 2019 All Star game when
he was doing introductions of players that was his.
That was essentially his rookie season.
So I can get why he got it wrong.
It's still inexcusable because he's a national broadcaster and
should have a list of everyone'sname and the pronunciations for
it. But because he was so young into

(11:02):
the league, I at least will givehim the most minuscule of
passes. For it.
But this is 6 years after that and if you don't know how to
pronounce his name right then I don't know.
What to tell you? Yeah, yeah.
I will say also shout out to Madison Brandon's wife because I

(11:23):
don't know if you saw the Major League Baseball had like put
some crazy investment into that softball league that's going on
the the athletes all softball league.
And the story was written about like, I guess softball
connections of baseball. And one of the biggest ones is
the fact that Brandon and Madison met when they were at
Maryland. Brandon was on the baseball
team. Madison was on the softball

(11:44):
team. Of course, May it's in my
opinion, it's a beautiful relationship because Maryland
propaganda. I'm here for it all time, all
the time. But I do think that it's cool
and I I'm happy that softball isgetting the recognition that
they deserve. This is coming I think the same
week because I know the College World Series is coming up.

(12:06):
So like this is perfect timing for all that stuff.
So Congrats to everyone there continued success in that
regard. Yeah, that's going to be
awesome. Yeah, I'm very excited for it.
Looking at the rest of, you know, these, this last like week
and a half, two weeks, like, is there anything else that stands
out to you before we go into talking about what's going to be
coming up against the Astros? You know what did stand out to

(12:29):
me, Alex, What I played the Astros in this homestand, right?
And, you know, there weren't that many boos for them.
You know, no one's really talking about that situation
anymore. That's until Carlos Correa comes
to town. And I didn't know people still
had so much animosity for this man.

(12:50):
He's just getting booed the left, right and center.
I mean, he kind of maybe he deserves it, but I don't.
I don't know, dude. Someone turned to me and they,
they asked me. It's like, why are they booing
just this guy? I'm like, oh, that's Carlos
Correa because he's an Astro from the cheating scandal.

(13:11):
So someone didn't know why why? They were just booing.
I mean, it's crazy. That's been like it's almost a
decade since that happened. I mean, the animosity is strong.
I mean, for Dodgers fans, I can't imagine what happens when
he comes to the play. The Dodgers and the Yankees have
the strongest hatred towards theAstros, specifically the Rays in
2019. Loss to the Astros in the

(13:33):
playoffs, but like, the Rays weren't supposed to win that
series. The Rays nearly lost the series
in the 2020 playoffs, but they won.
So yeah, I just don't think thatthe Rays have the same sort of
hatred that other teams do. Yeah, because, you know, we got
the trade off there. You got us, We got you.
I did hate watching esock parades.
Had a bunch of homers, that kindof.

(13:53):
Hurt. Oh yeah, that was that was
brutal. Actually, I forgot about that.
But I, I. Tend to forget about that.
Yeah, yeah, that was a that was fun to think.
I I do think it sucks because I think that there was a, there
was a scenario where the race could have easily kept him.
And I'm disappointed in what I've seen out of morale.

(14:14):
And I just want to see him do better.
And maybe he was better then then then the dial will switch.
Yeah, I mean, at the beginning of the season, I thought he was.
I thought it was like, oh, great, this is like kind of what
we wanted from him. And then now that he's just not
really. No, I agree.
Shown much of anything since then.
IA 100% agree about that. I just don't know.

(14:37):
And I think it's just something where he's just got to like
mature into the season and see what happens.
I just think it's brutal that that he's, you know, he got off
to another slow start. He hasn't been playing
consistently and it just seems like things aren't trending in
the right direction for him as much as I think that everyone
else would want him to. So like that that that whole

(14:58):
scenario is not fun. Yeah, I mean.
Speaking of also. I like the player himself, you
know? Yeah.
No, I agree. I agree.
Speaking of also not great scenarios, we finally saw the
end of the Ben Rort vet era in Tampa Bay.
It ended not great because he just didn't have a good 2025 to

(15:18):
start out. Yeah, the Rays traded for Matt
Theis. All right, Thea.
I need to figure out how to pronounce his name.
Yeah, we we want to get that soon.
Oh God, I think it's Theis. So Matt Theis from formerly of
the Los Angeles Angels was therefor a while.

(15:38):
Played for the White Sox this season.
The race traded for him. They gave up Drew Baker, who is
like a 25 year old outfield prospect in Montgomery right
now. Seems like a good trade off.
He's still got years of control under him, which could help the
Rays out if they need to wait onDominic Keegan, depending on
what happens with Danny Jansen. I know it's a team option for

(15:59):
next year, and I would assume that the Rays exercise that team
option didn't only make sense. Yeah, aside from the guys
stealing, I think Jansen's been a really good catcher for the
Rays. This.
Season. Oh yeah.
I mean, I I love his current presence at the play.
I mean, he just reminds me of Zenino.
It's like the same exact. It's almost the same exact

(16:19):
thing. It's kind of weird.
It is kind of weird. But yeah, the Rays get more
quality in their backup role in face Ben had to go like.
Yeah, Ben having a. Good year.
He's such a good clubhouse guy though.
I mean, that's. He is.
He was a really nice dude when he was around the clubhouse when
we were there. And he's such a, he's like, he's

(16:43):
a troll. Like, he like, he's so funny.
Like he trolls every, He trolls like all the pitchers.
He was great in the locker room,but he was that's.
It sucks. It sucks to see.
Him go. But yeah, I mean, holy crap,
what a fall off. I mean, he was hitting like
crazy last year. I feel like he was one of the

(17:04):
only like, really highlights of last year.
I was really excited for him this next year with the Danny
Jansen, Ben Roark vet. We could switch him out if we
want to, you know, whenever we need to.
But you know, it just didn't work out.
So no, it didn't. And that sucks.
It really does. So hoping the best for him
wherever he goes. Because they raised the DFA and

(17:24):
maybe he'll be in Durham, who knows.
Also fun in terms of signing slash trades.
Gibby finally got his best friend in the organization.
Yeah. We.
Signed another give either a signed Kyle.
Like I've been saying this for like Four Seasons to sign this

(17:44):
guy, but now that he's washed like completely, but he's in the
mind, I will never say that about him.
Actually, he's not washed. But but anyway, I love to see
it. I hope he comes up soon, but I
don't know what we'll do with him.
I'm going to be honest. I mean, how insulting would that

(18:05):
be to Zach Latell? I mean, didn't he just, didn't
Zach Latell just get sent down or am I stupid?
No, Latelle didn't just get sent.
Out. All right, Never mind.
Whoa, some. Other guy.
Whoa. The Dodgers are close to
acquiring Alexis Diaz from the Reds?
Wah bro, Why? Is the why are these teams doing

(18:27):
this I. Don't know, that's pretty cool.
That's not why. They they don't really need
more. Yeah, actually that's what I.
Hate about it. It's like you put it up, you put
a guy who's a star in his, you know, area and then you put him
on the Dodgers, he just becomes some dude.

(18:48):
It's it's like what happened to like Trevor's story when he was
on the Rockies. He was, he was, he was fucking
Trevor's and now he's on the RedSox and just a dude.
He is not good, not good. Yeah.
So I mean, that's my instant reaction to that, but.
Yeah, but. What were we talking about?

(19:08):
Yeah, you were. You were talking about your
excitement for watched Kyle Gibson.
Oh yeah, watched. I mean, I'm as soon as he comes
up, I'm getting that jersey. And you know, people five years
from now, they're going to ask me why do you have a raise?
Kyle Gibson Jersey And I'm goingto be like, it's my it's my last
name. This is my.
Turn count it as your own. Exactly, dude, you.

(19:29):
Can count it has. That has infinite value to me
because it doesn't matter you know how like if if he's only on
the team for like 3 milliseconds.
Hey, I don't blame you for that.Exactly I.
Don't blame you for that. Which I could have just got you
and you're saying to yourself, why don't you just get a custom
jersey if you're of your last name on it?
If you want jersey of your last name on it that bad?

(19:50):
Well, that's dumb and it costs more.
And now they'll just have a template.
One maybe, which would probably be pretty rare, but I'm going to
find it. I I agree, I appreciate your
dedication towards this. Definitely something that I'm
excited to see. Welcome to the team Kyle Gibson.
Welcome brother, Brother Gibson.Welcome to Carter Gibson.

(20:14):
Welcome to the franchise. As Gibby mentioned earlier, he's
got some. He's wearing some raised
giveaways right now. They had some good giveaways
recently. They're going to be having some
more good giveaways coming up. I know there's going to be a
junior bobble head coming up in the next like week or two-part.
Of the GMs series where you put all three, I'm getting all three

(20:37):
of them, by the way, I'm going to put them together.
Yeah, and then also the Longo retirement.
There's going to be a shirt giveaway for all fans.
So that's going to be something else to look forward to.
On top of that, the Rays announced and I, I, I, I had
word of this a couple days beforehand, maybe like a week
beforehand because the, no one had released it.

(20:57):
But the Rays are going to be doing some sort of a yard sale,
garage sale in the parking lot of the Trop.
There's going to be like 75,000 items is what they said.
Anything from bobbleheads to shirts to hats, other giveaways
that they've had in the past, Basically anything that you can
think of it seems like will be for purchase with proceeds going

(21:20):
to the Rays. Well, isn't it?
You fill up a bag for $20 and you can just get whatever you
want. I don't know if it's a bag, I
just know that. No way that's what it is.
You fill up a bag with they giveyou 1 of like the the team shot
bags and for $20 as much as manyas much stuff as you can put in

(21:43):
you get for $20. Yeah, I just want to make sure
about this because I don't want to be, I don't want to be
telling people the wrong thing. I'm not saying that you're
wrong. It's more of just.
Pretty sure. Yeah, for $20 shoppers can stuff
a bag as full can stuff a bag full of as many rage items as as
it can hold. Fans who purchase a bag will get
a voucher to two tickets for 4/2tickets to a Rays game at

(22:05):
Steinbrenner Field. Some black out dates apply.
Tickets and vouchers are non transferable and not for resale,
something I don't. Know about?
I didn't know about the ticket thing but.
Yeah, no, though the ticket thing I knew about, but yeah.
So 20 bucks you can. Fill up a bag.
Yeah, fill up just a crap ton ofstuff in a bag.
I'm I'm stuffing that thing. I will think I'm going to go.

(22:26):
I've already said it and it's probably going to happen, but I
will pay people to to get me some stuff in a bag.
I'll take multiple bags with that but.
This is how we use our beacon. Hey, hey.
I will send. People I'm going to be coming
down in a couple weeks anyways so like I might as well I'm

(22:47):
going to need to. But yeah, definitely a cool
thing. I like what they're doing with
that. I think it's AI think it's a
great idea and hopefully race fans will be able to get plenty
of merchandise from it, whateverthat merchandise is.
If it's just giveaways, that's cool.
If it's other hats and things ofthat nature, then that's also
great. So hoping to see what happens
there. Gibby, it sounds like you might

(23:08):
be going. I know plenty of other people
that are going. So if people you know, if people
get groups together, y'all can go out.
Try to fill your fill your bags up with as much stuff as you
can. Definitely.
Yeah, so as I kind of alluded toearlier with the bucket hat
thing, if you guys didn't see what's going on at Ray's games

(23:30):
in recent days, some fans have had some fantastic catches,
specifically on home runs. We've had two great catches,
home run catches for Rays fans and those living in the Tampa
area. We actually got to interview
both people now. We we reached out to them
through the social media Grapevine and we're able lucky
enough to speak with them. So we are going to take a quick

(23:53):
break. We're going to run our
Seatgeekat. If you guys haven't used our
code, it's code raise the roof and all caps for $20 off your
first purchase. Use it for Rays games, use it
for any concerts, anything like that over the summer and
anything else coming up, be sureto use the C Geek.
So we're going to run that and we'll be right back on our
latest episode of Razor Roof. Hi everyone, Alex here with a

(24:21):
quick word from our sponsor Seegee.
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(24:44):
for $20 off your first purchase with Seegeek.
Again, that's code Raise the Roof for 20 dollars off your
first SeatGeek purchase. Thanks so much to SeatGeek for
sponsoring us and let's get backto this latest episode of Raise
the Roof. As we mentioned, coming into
this segment, we were lucky enough to talk with both fans

(25:08):
who made some spectacular catches for the Rays.
This week first came on MemorialDay and we have her here right
now. Shay Van Scooter, former college
softball standout and now proud resident of the Tampa area.
Shay, thanks so much for coming home.
We really appreciate it. First off, where?

(25:30):
Where's the ball at? Where'd you keep?
Like where is it at in your place right now?
Oh, I don't have it with me. It's where the mini bats are,
where we where we keep our little collection of mini bats.
That's pretty cool. Is that the so?
Is that the first ball that you've caught at any game?
At any field I've ever been to, yes, that is the first ball I've
ever caught and first time I've been on that Jumbotron too.

(25:53):
Jeez, yeah, that's pretty nuts. I mean, first time seems like a
pretty good one. I, I, I flubbed the home run
catch back in the day. So yeah, I'm sure definitely a
great feeling. But I know for you, you have a
baseball softball background. You played it in NAIA school.
I looked up your stats. You hit like 380 in your college
career, which is nuts. So yeah, obviously the hand eye

(26:13):
coordination was already there to start with.
But I know that because that area in the outfield is all
stating room only. What was the game plan for you
guys when you came into the gamein terms of where you wanted to
sit in the outfield? So that was just, we just bought
the seats. They're accessible.
So ADA compliance. So that was like our, that's

(26:35):
what we wanted, the seats kind of thing.
We needed accessible seats because my boyfriend is in a
wheelchair. So that was honestly the only
game plan was just to come out and see a game.
He's a big Rays fan. So yeah, that was that was
really it. There was nothing.
There's no other thought behind it.
It's just the nice, fun thing todo for Memorial Day.

(26:59):
Yeah, no, definitely seems like a lot of fun.
Is this the first time that you've been out to a Rays game
at all this season? Yeah, it is.
It was my first time at the Raysstadium, so that was really
cool. I really do like the stadium,
how how the sun hits it. That was nice.
So yeah, no, I was, I was talking to my boyfriend about
that too. Like it's just it's nice because

(27:21):
the sun is not beaming you directly in the face.
Oh yeah, I can imagine, for sure.
Yeah. And I know, I mean, obviously
everything's weird this year with Steinbrenner because
usually they'd be over at the Trop, and I don't know if you've
gotten a chance to experience what games were like at the Trop
hopefully in the future. But yeah, I mean, as you
mentioned, just what were the certain like?

(27:42):
What things did you enjoy about Steinbrenner when you were
there? I know it was only one game and
only a couple hours, but it seems like you had a good time.
Yeah, no, I did have a good time.
I really enjoyed the layout and the seating in the outfield
river mirror. I thought that was really cool.
It was kind of like a little barseating, like a bar setup
almost, but I liked that there was a table.

(28:03):
So it wasn't, it wasn't totally uncomfortable like the plastic
regular seats that you're used to if or like the folding chairs
that we typically get for the the ABA section.
So it was super comfortable. It was, I thought it was a very
nice stadium at a very nice facility.
I know it's not the regular Tropicana Field.

(28:23):
I would love to visit there one day, but it was still it was
still a great experience. Yeah, now the bucket hat.
First off, I think it's hilarious because that was like
one of the first tweets of ours that really went viral because
when they released all the City Connect stuff, I found the photo
of the bucket hat and I was like, holy crap, this is
incredible. Did you purchase it at the game

(28:45):
yesterday or did you have it coming in?
No, I I had it coming in. It's not even mine wasn't my
boyfriend. He he was wearing the Tampa Bay
hat and he's like, you should wear the bucket hat.
And I had gotten a little bit ofsunburn.
So, you know, more surface area with the bucket hat was nice

(29:07):
going to the game after a long Memorial Day in the sun.
So yeah, no, it wasn't even. I didn't buy it.
It was bought previously and decided to wear it just for the
vibe I guess. Yeah, I was going to say I love
the way that the hat looks. I think it looks fantastic.
I think they did a really good job with it and obviously it

(29:27):
clearly worked out. Was there any inkling or
intention of you wanting to bring a glove to a game or as
you? Because I think I, I, I heard in
previous interviews it was like a split second decision of, hey,
let's use the hat in order to catch it.
But was there any thought going,it's the game of like, hey,
we're going to be sitting in theoutfield or the potential is
there, maybe I should bring a glove with me if I have one.

(29:49):
No, not a thought. Honestly, I didn't even know
where we were sitting. He handled all that.
I just showed up and got to watch a game.
It's like our thing we love to do together.
So no, but I didn't. I've never brought a glove to
any of the games I've been to, like Tigers games and Oh my
gosh, I've been to many Tigers games, Cubs games, things like

(30:12):
that. It's all up in the Midwest where
I'm from, and I've never bought a glove to a game.
But I've also never had a ball hit at me like that.
So no, no, thought. The bucket hat was just in the
heat of the moment when I neededsomething.
I thought I was going to break my hand if I tried to catch it
barehanded. I can imagine.

(30:34):
I can imagine. Yeah, so before we get into the
catch, I know that you're from Michigan.
Did you grow up a Tigers fan? Because you mentioned that
you've been to a bunch of games there.
I. Did I grew up a Tigers fan?
And also, my name is Shay. And that is not a coincidence.
I'm named after the Mets baseball stadium.
Oh, that's so, that's so cool. So it's in my blood.

(30:57):
I love baseball. I love watching it.
Yeah, No, I grew up a Tiger. My mom was born in Michigan as
well. My dad grew up in New York, so I
grew up a Tiger Mets fan. But honestly, I just, I just let
go into games. So it doesn't really matter
who's playing that I like, just be in there.
I feel that. I feel that.
So with the home run ball, because that inning was really

(31:20):
weird and and funny in a way because 3 balls were basically
hit in the same location, three straight batters like it was, it
was like Bang Bang bang non-stopafter the first one after the
double that was hit. Did you have like any thought in
your head of like a ball could come out to us?

(31:40):
Because a ball almost did come out to us?
Yes, we did. And so that's when we kind of
like game planned, right? Because it's like it's hard to
move everybody. Everybody's trying to crowd
around this ball. Yeah, everybody wants this ball
and it's really hard to like getout of the way of everybody if
it's coming straight at you. Like like the double did.

(32:01):
I was like, I'm just going to, I'm going to have to use the
hat. I did stand up and like have the
hat with me after the double, but I kind of like shield away
from it because I didn't, I didn't know if it was going to
drop or if it's going to ricochet.
So honestly, I got a little nervous because I'm like, I
don't know where this ball is going to go.
So yeah. And then we when I sat back

(32:22):
down, we had to game plan like, OK, if it comes at us, I'm going
to use the bucket hat. Like that's going to be that's
going to be our glove. So we did have to like game plan
that out a little bit. Well, that was smart.
Hey, it ended up working out forthe better.
Yeah. So when you caught it, I mean, I
could sense like the emotion, immediate emotion of of catching

(32:43):
it. And it sounds like when the ball
came this time, was there any second thoughts about trying to
get out of the way or anything? It wasn't just immediate spring
into action that's trying to catch this thing.
It was immediate spring into action.
At first it was like I was, it'sgoing to either like hit short
on the wall and go over us and then you know, you're looking at
a little bit more and as an outfielder I'm looking at it.

(33:05):
I'm like, that's coming right atme.
So no, there was OK, let me grabthe hat and I'm going to catch
it. There was no getting out of the
way, shying away. I know everybody's talking about
like the exit below off the bat being this and this and where, I
don't know. I used to catch balls for my job
in college. So baby, I'm still an

(33:28):
outfielder. I'm only been tired a couple
weeks. So yeah, no, no second thought,
just this would be really cool if I caught this ball.
Love that when you so you caughtit, the celebration happened.
This, that and the other thing. Who were the first people to
start blowing up your phone? Like did teammates read?
Like I don't know if teammates saw it.
I don't know who saw it, but like when did the texts and

(33:50):
messages start coming in? The first message that came in
was actually one of my teammates.
She's from Cali and she Facetimed me and she's like, Oh
my gosh, you're her and her dad are watching it on their couch
and they're she's like, Oh my God, I just saw you on TV and
I'm like, why are you watching this game?
You don't even you don't even like these two.

(34:12):
That was that was my first reaction to her, but it was
super cool. And then she was like sending me
videos. Yeah, the, my, I did actually
like every teammates reach out to me and they're like, Oh my
gosh. Like, I, I just did like a
double take. I just saw you on like social
media like this. That was like, after the had

(34:32):
gone on a little bit and they started like posting places and
they're like, I, they kept sending me the video of me.
They're like I I did a double take.
That's, I mean that's. Awesome.
I'm sure the I'm sure the experience was great.
Did the Rays come and try to find you and be like, hey, Danny
wants this ball back or like theopportunity of him signing it or

(34:56):
something? Like like did any of that
transpire afterwards? No, and I'm so sad.
No, it didn't. I honestly didn't expect it to
though. Like I feel like when they hit a
home run nowadays, they're just kind of like they have the video
of it, they let the fan have theball kind of thing, you know?
But no, it didn't. Maybe maybe in the future

(35:18):
they'll reach back out and then I can like go and meet them.
That'd be super cool. But nothing yet.
Fingers crossed though. I mean, there's still hope.
Yeah, no, hopefully, hopefully everything works out in that
way. Like have the raise in any sort
of way reached out on social media, reached out in any sort

(35:39):
of would just to be like, hey, nice catch.
Like, like we want to send you something or like we want to get
you out to another game or anything of that nature.
Not yet, Not yet. Hopefully this is a call to.
Action, I know it is a call to action.
This is like the second interview podcast thing that
I've done. So so maybe maybe.

(36:00):
Yeah, yeah. So I mean, obviously I'm sure
the rest of the game was great. You know, what was it like
watching? Because I know that that game
was pretty crazy in just how everything kind of ended up or I
think was that Monday's game that I'm thinking of.
Yeah, it was OK, I'm an idiot. I put I said Tuesday.
Yeah. So like, I mean, just the the

(36:21):
entire experience with the home run included, how enjoyable was
it to watch the team? How enjoyable like did you
interact with people around you?Like, how nice were the people
out in the outfield just from that, Putting the stadium aside
and all of that, what was the actual game experience like for
you? Oh, the atmosphere was amazing.

(36:43):
Yeah, there was. The people are so nice.
I mean, all the fans are nice with the ball aside.
I mean, yeah, just walking out of the stadium afterwards,
everybody was like, Oh my gosh, hell of a catch, Like great
catch. But even before that, the the
people were very interactive. People were like joking and
laughing around us. We were having fun, like trying

(37:09):
to predict like certain things that happened.
That's my favorite thing to do is I'm.
So I'm like, I think that this guy's going to get a base hit
here. So no, I thought it was a very
cool atmosphere. I loved the Jumbotron, what what
the rays kept putting up there, the the races and the the fan
interaction. I think it was so fun.
I love the atmosphere. Yeah, I also found out that

(37:32):
like, I don't know, I don't knowhow many days ago, but I found
out that that they started putting like plane spotting
segments on the Jumbotron because like the airport's like
right nearby. So they were like, oh, this
airplane is going here and it's this model.
And I was like, that is the mostbaseball thing I've ever.
Heard so many people are going to love that.
That's so funny. Yeah, it's completely random.

(37:53):
Are you guys planning because your boyfriend you said is a big
race fan? I'm guessing he's from the area.
Yes. He is from Are you guys planning
on going to any more games throughout the course of the
season? Oh yeah, we are.
Do you have one lined up? Yeah, we do.
We we are. What day is it?
I'm sorry. August against the Dodgers?
Yes, we're going to the one in August against the Dodgers.

(38:16):
You guys are going to see Otani.Yes, we are.
So that one's already lined up, which is really cool.
I'm sure we may pick up another game or two in between then just
cuz we enjoy going. Yeah, I can imagine.
One of the last things I wanted to ask you about cuz you're cuz
you're. Someone who plays softball, I'm
sure you know, obviously in college, but throughout high

(38:37):
school, all that beforehand. The College World Series is
coming up. I don't know how much you
usually watch the College World Series, but do you have any dogs
in the race? Are there any teams that you're
kind of expecting to do better than others?
I know it seems like Oklahoma islike the the chalk pick every
year, but are you? Are you planning on watching it

(38:57):
and what teams are you kind of rooting for?
I'm really sad. My teams are.
My teams are knocked out. I'm a Michigan fan.
Go blue. Obviously you have been.
I'm also an Alabama fan. Roll Tide.
But yeah, no, it's looking like the Sooners are going to take it
again. They always do.

(39:20):
Yeah. No, I find myself like, it's
really, it's horrible, but I find myself like always rooting
for the underdog against the Sooners.
But I feel like that just like it keeps them going, you know,
they're just they fight and theythey win.
So I mean, props to them for having a great team like this.
Great recruiting, great athletes.

(39:41):
So. Yeah, no, you're, you're 100%
right about that. I wish that like at at some
point you would hope that another team wins, but it
doesn't seem like it's the case with them for whatever reason.
Also, one of our Co hosts, Evans, a big Michigan fan, so
I'll be sure to relay that to him about all that stuff.
Like he went to Maryland with me, as you can tell by the flag,

(40:02):
but he's a massive Michigan fan and he usually wears a bunch of
Wolverine stuff on her podcast and things of that nature.
So I'll be sure to relay the message.
Yeah, go blue. Yeah.
And then the last thing, becauseyou mentioned the bat, the mini
bat collection that you have, I want to end off with that
because I think that's a pretty cool thing.

(40:22):
How many bats do you have in thecollection?
I know that you added a raised one, but how long has that been
going on for and how many bats do you have right now?
I think we have four or five I think, and it's probably been
going on for like a year and some change.
So it hasn't been that long. It's a newer thing like I had to

(40:45):
go into my last season of softball.
So we we had like a short time period to start doing this and
like getting the bats kind of thing.
But I think 5 for that time frame is pretty good.
Mostly teams in Florida or teamsup in the Midwest or.
No, mostly teams up in the Midwest, but the Rays are our
first team from Florida. We did meet at a Blue Jays

(41:09):
spring training game so and that's a bat we don't have.
We have to get that one still. Yeah, I was going to say you.
I mean, Dunedin's close by, Clearwater's close by,
Lakeland's close by. There's a lot of teams.
Yeah, no, so we have to get thatback because that is actually
where we met and then started dating kind of thing from there.
So we have to baseball's like been our relationship.

(41:30):
I love that. I love that.
That's great. Well, yeah, hope that the bat
collection continues. And also just thanks for coming
on. We really, really appreciate it.
I'm sure that you're, as you mentioned before, you're
enjoying this a lot. So I'm glad that, you know, this
has been a fun experience for you.
But at the same time, I want to make sure we, we, we do this
with all our guests, but I want to make sure that you have the

(41:51):
time to plug your socials. If there's anything that you
want people to see, if you want people to follow you on social
media, I think of that nature. Where can people find you?
Oh, just Instagram Shay .2. It's really simple.
Shay likes Shay Stadium, though.Yeah, SHEASHEA period 2.
All right, well, Shay, thanks somuch.

(42:11):
All right, thank you. We are here with our second
person because it seems like this this last home stand, the
Rays just seemed to have plenty of of great catches from the
fans, especially home run catches.
We have Matt Sedol with us who caught a home run.
Yeah, I think it was juniors home run, no.

(42:33):
Yeah, it was. It was a 10th bomb, 10th of the
year. Yeah, so juniors home run in the
matinee finale against against the Twins.
On. Wednesday.
So First off, Matt, thanks so much for coming on the podcast.
How you doing? You're doing well.
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Yeah, of course. So.
We were talking a little bit prepod.

(42:53):
You're you're a big race fan, I'm assuming born and raised in
the area. What's it been like for you as a
race fan growing up and kind of experiencing what the team's
been like? I mean, a lot of ups and downs,
that's for sure. If you've been a fan for your
whole life. So you kind of know the deal.
But I mean, I've just, I've bledrace baseball since I was born.
So it's like, I don't care if wego don't win a single game.

(43:15):
Like I'll I'll be rooting for usregardless, but I mean, I
absolutely love it. I mean, I wish we had kind of a
more dominant fan base or more like super loud fan base.
Everyone kind of saw me get super juiced up.
I just, I'm literally like that every game.
It's just the first time I've ever caught a ball or like ever
been shown. But it's kind of funny.
Yeah. So the game yesterday, was that

(43:36):
your first game at Steinbrenner this season or had you gone to
previous games during the year? No, I've gone to like four or
five games. I'm in college right now so for
I was out in Florida State for like the start of the year.
And OK. It took me a while to get down
to see a game or like a bunch ofgames, but now that I'm back for
the summer I'll probably be going to a decent amount of
games. Yeah, I can imagine.
So are you, are you from Tampa? Are you from Saint Pete or where

(43:57):
in the area are you from? I'm from Tampa.
I went to plant high school, if you know where that is and OK,
yeah, born and raised in Tampa. Yeah, so.
Very, very local guy. So yeah, yeah, I mean, with the
game yesterday, where you sit normally, are you usually in the
outfield in the in the in the standing room, are you in the
seating bowl? Like where do you kind of go
when you're So what's? Funny is we I actually usually

(44:17):
always sit like down on like thethird baseline or kind of by our
dugout. I had a buddy of mine who called
me and wanted me to come to the game and it was his tickets, his
everything, and he's the one whopicked those seats.
He's just like, he's this outfield seat guy and was going
on the app and just clicked those seats and that's where we
sat. I mean, that's hey, it worked
out. Wait.

(44:38):
So dirt like as you just mentioned earlier, your first
time catching a ball like and and you also talked about, you
know, sitting on the 3rd baseline at the Trop.
Was that kind of the same thing of you sitting in the infield or
where did you have some, I'm guessing enough games in the
outfield to be able to catch some home runs there?
Yeah. I mean, I don't know, we've
most, most of the time, our family usually always sticks to

(44:59):
like the third base side just because we like being on like
the race side of things. So I don't and the view's just a
little bit better usually. But I mean, I'm always cool
sitting wherever. But I mean, that's usually just
what we do. Yeah, Steinbrenner, you've been
to it a couple times. I know people have differing
opinions on it. Seems like a lot of positive
opinions though. But what are your opinions about
what it's been like, what the game experience and the vibes

(45:22):
have been like there this season?
It's definitely tough. The fact that there's an
elephant in the room. Everyone knows that it's
Steinbrenner's field, it's the Yankee Spring Training field.
So there's there's that. But I mean, from an aspect of it
being in Tampa, closer to my house, the atmosphere is nice.
I mean, the game that I was at, it was 102° at one PMI didn't
expect many people to be out there.

(45:42):
But for the most part, the gamesthat I've been to like it's it's
been pretty rowdy. I mean, I like the environment.
The stadium itself is nice, but it would be nice if it was if it
was fully dedicated to the Rays and I didn't see like any
statues of Yankee players in thefront when I walked in.
Yeah, I can. I'm sure plenty and I'll feel
that way in a couple weeks. But you're playing have the same
opinions. Yeah.

(46:04):
So for the. For Wednesday's game, I guess
yesterday's game as of this recording, did you have any
thoughts in your head of the potential of you catching a home
run? Like, was that something that
had gone into your mind at any point?
No, I'm going to be completely honest.
So me and my three friends that I was there with, we had a bet

(46:25):
on Junior Caminero to have over 1 1/2 RBIs and he went down the
inning before on that, on that fielding like little sliding
play at 3rd. And so we thought he was out of
the game. Like we thought Kevin Cash was
going to just kind of play it safe and, and keep him out of
the game. So we were like, well, that
that's not going to hit. And then the next inning, the

(46:46):
bottom of the fourth comes around and we see him step out
on the on deck circle. And we were like, dude, like Can
you imagine if he just like hit a home run and, and, and our bet
hit and sure enough, he hits a home run and like you kind of
would lose it in the sun. Like when he hit it, I look
straight up into the sun. And then I kind of caught, I had
sunglasses on, thankfully. And then I kind of caught it a
little more as it came down. And yeah, I don't know.

(47:07):
It was perfect. It seemed like perfect timing,
perfect place, right time. Yeah, right place, right time.
It was just perfect. Yeah.
So. I as as people saw on TV, you're
you're definitely juiced after you got it.
People had differing things about what you were saying after
you caught the whole I think I got it right, but I don't know.
Obviously you're the person who did it, So what?

(47:28):
I'm guessing it was directed towards the outfielders.
Yeah, we were calling Kirsty a bum in center field.
And see, that's what I thought, yeah.
Yeah, we were calling him a bum.I was going to say I was reading
the comments. I was just saying I saw someone
said he thought I said your mom and then I saw you responded to
him thought I said bum. That's what I was saying.
I was screaming you're a bum probably about 5 or 6 times.
That's absolutely incredible. I could be like, because of of

(47:51):
what the environment is like there.
Could the outfielders hear you? Like, like did they?
Oh yeah. A. 100% we were saying stuff
like the umpires were messing upcalls and a buddy of mine
screamed like just thought it was an awful call.
And the third base umpire like looked over all the way out to
left field and saw. So the players will will try and
like not give you that much attention.
But I know the voice travels, especially when there's not that

(48:12):
many people there. But the reason I was really
screaming is because he the playwas like out the wall.
So Larnac and and and him came like kind of try to make the
play. And that was the closest I had
been to him the whole game. So I was just like, I'm just
gonna let him hear it. I'm fired up right now.
I love that. I love that.
And of course they won, so it made it even better.
Yeah, you talked about the weather.

(48:32):
Was this your? 1st.
Game like day game that you've been to this season there.
Definitely the first day game I've been to the season, but
I've played baseball my whole life so I'm used to just sitting
out in the sun and getting cooked a little bit.
So nothing new, but especially living in Florida.
But it was definitely a hot 1 for sure.
Yeah, I was gonna say just, I can't imagine.

(48:54):
I mean I'm sure I'll experience that in a couple weeks, but
what's it like watching a day game with a feels like
temperature? Of 102.
When you have red hair, it makesit even worse too, because I'm
just pale as hell and it just, it's terrible.
So I was just sitting out there cooking like a lobster.
But I mean, it was, it was just super fun.
Like what if you're in like I'm with my best friends.

(49:14):
And on top of the fact that the whole junior thing happened, it
was in the 4th inning early in the game.
So like the morale was just so high.
I didn't even, I didn't care if I walked out of there with some
poisoning. Well, hey, I'm glad you got the
Homer. Obviously all that stuff was
great. I wanted to ask more things just
about just what it's been like being a race fan.
We kind of talked about that earlier, but this year's team,

(49:35):
like, do you what? What do you think about what's
been going on with this year's team?
Understanding the everything that's happened, the craziness,
the injuries, all of that stuff.Yeah, I mean, it doesn't hurt.
I mean, to lose Shane before theyear even started was not cool.
I mean, that's like our ace and then you have to send Ryan out
there as the ace and I don't know if he's like ready for that
job yet. But I I love what we're doing

(49:57):
with with the with what we've been given and the guys that
we're using. Like we're not going out to get
any big name guys. We're relying on our farm team
that's been a top three farm farm team and and all of
baseball for the last five years.
So which I love that we're doingthat.
We're giving those guys a chance.
So I think it'll definitely we've always been that kind of
scrappy team. So like I don't think we'll ever
be a team who's just dominating on top of everyone, but we're

(50:18):
always going to have to to fightto stay in it.
But I think this team is no different than some teams I've
seen make deep playoff runs, especially with if our if our
bullpen can come around a littlebit more.
I know. And it's pretty annoying saying
leads get blown because that's been a big thing for us this
year as we're up for nothing, 3,nothing, whatever.
Our bats finally get going and then someone comes down and get

(50:38):
shelled or or a good start gets blown by a few relievers having
a couple bad innings. And it is what it is.
But I think if this team, especially with the division we
plan, the Yankees, the Orioles, the Red Sox, we have good
competition. If we can figure out our
pitching, we're leaving. I think pitching wins
championships. I think our bats are good enough
to get the job done. And yeah, I like the team.

(51:00):
Guys that like. Are are are.
There any guys specifically on this year's team that you you
would say are more of your favorite players or guys that
you've kind of trying to think the right word for it, but kind
of I guess just gravitated more towards if there's anyone I am.
Yeah, that's he's 1. Chandler Simpson's my favorite
player on the team for sure. Junior's got a top spot on there

(51:22):
now after Wednesday, but I love Chandler Simpson.
Like when I played baseball, I was just kind of AI mean the
Super small kid, just like I wouldn't hit home runs.
I hit singles and try and leg him out, you know what I mean?
So like, and to to see someone like have someone like that on
our team, a Billy Hamilton kind of guy AD Gordon kind of guy.
Like I love that. Like he beats it out down the
line, hits a little rollover andhe's busting his ass down the

(51:43):
line trying to beat it out. Like I think that's something
like our team needs like that's brace baseball.
So I mean, at the end, like at the end of the day, he's he's
he's probably my favorite playerfor sure.
Yeah, I love it. Last thing before we go into
talking more about what happenedafter the home run, growing up,
who were some of your favorite guys on the team?
Pitchers, position players, whatever it might be.

(52:06):
I guess Longo's like the easy favorite, but like, I mean, I
have a lot of guys like I was first.
I was a huge Jason Bartlett guy for some reason.
I just love like whoever our shortstop was like I would love
them just because like that was my favorite position.
But love Jason Bartlett. I love like Matt Garza and James
Shields in terms of pitching like just those kind of like
that's the team I kind of grew up on.
BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Garza Shields, David

(52:29):
Price, like those boys. So when I think of like
primaries and like childhood rays, that's that's what I think
of. Yeah, same here.
Same here for sure. Going back to the home run, in
the immediate time after it happened, did anyone reach out
to you saying that they saw you on TV catch the home run or
anything? Like, how quickly did it did it

(52:50):
did it take for someone to reachout and say, hey, we saw you on
TV? Catch this, Homer.
I was getting FaceTime calls probably within like 2 to 3
minutes of it because like my boys are just either gambling on
the game and watching it or justfans of the Rays and watching
the game and then some. A Twitter post went out and then
I think it might have been from your account, like just this fan
was juiced and then all my friends saw that.

(53:11):
So like all my friends just started hitting me up about it.
It was really funny. I can't, I can't imagine the
craziness of like did like did like anyone from your family
reach out Like, I don't know if they saw the game or anything,
but like. Yeah, well, I texted my mom.
I was just so juiced up. I she's like, I'm I'm with her
right now and she's, she was just like the one who knew I was
going to the game. I was just like, yo, I just just
caught Junior Caminero's home run ball.

(53:33):
And then before I I could even text by doubt about it, someone
had already sent him the Twitter, the Twitter thing.
So he just sent me that link andjust with like the face palm
emoji, like Oh my God, dude. It was hilarious.
I love that. I love that.
I mean, have like have like any of your friends had an
experience where they've called a home run bar or anything like
that and have they had that similar response?

(53:54):
No, I mean not, not from what most of my friends were texting
me. They were like, damn, that's
like a dream come true. Like that was really cool.
Which it was like I still can't believe it happened.
It feels very surreal. That's that's why did did the
Rays or anyone reach out to you about Junior signing the ball,
anything of that nature during the game or after the game?
No they didn't. That would have been really
cool. I would have loved to do
something like that, but I mean,I had.

(54:15):
My DMS are always open. If they want to, they want to
send me a DM. I would love to love to get that
ball signed. Yeah, I think I'm trying to.
I'm trying to push that. Because I pushed that with Shay
when she caught the the Danny Jansen Homer.
So hopefully the more that the. More that we.
Can get this out, the more the rays can.
That would be so cool. That would be.
So cool. Or you.
Can just bring it to a game, like next time you go to a game,
try to get down there and see ifthat's.
What I was thinking, I just hatebeing that guy.

(54:36):
Like I was super cool to like catch the home run.
I'm just usually the type of guyto like get a ball and give it
to a kid. But like a situation like that,
I'm definitely keeping that ball.
But I would love to get it signed.
I might, I might bring it by there.
I just don't know if he even remembers what I look like or
you know what I mean or anythinglike that.
So yeah. Now in the stands, everyone
around there were people coming up to you saying nice catch as

(55:00):
you like as you walked out of the game or yeah, up to you
during the game. Yeah, people like everyone who
kind of sworn for the home run that was right around me was
like, nice catch. And then periodically, like we'd
be sitting at our seats and someone would walk past behind
us and be like, yo, who caught the ball?
And I'd just hold it up to be like, that was a nice catch.
Be like, thanks, appreciate it. But just like a few, like like
four or five people coming by saying something.

(55:20):
Did your hand hurt when you caught it cuz you caught it
barehanded? It stung like a it stung so bad,
but like in the, in the moment, I didn't really like, I wasn't
thinking about it. I was just thinking about
calling Kirsty a bum. But I, I like the second all
that wore off and the inning wasover, I was like, dude, my thing
is throbbing right now. It's like it was kind of like
both parts of my hand cuz I caught it with two hands so it

(55:42):
kind of made both my hands stinga little bit.
It wasn't that bad. It was worth it.
Well, I was gonna say, would youin the future, if you ever said
the effort, are you considering bringing a glove?
Because obviously as a baseball person growing up playing the
game, I'm sure you have gloves somewhere that you can bring and
use. I would say yes, but everyone
seemed to love the bare handed catch so I was thinking that I

(56:03):
would. I would just say I'll take the
pan again to just try and bare hand something again.
Hey, you never know. You never know.
So it sounds like, as we were talking before, it sounds like
you're going to be going to plenty of games.
Yeah. Coming up, is that like do do
you have any immediate plans going either with family, with
friends, whatever it might? Be yeah, I mean, I just I'm

(56:23):
going on a trip to Tennessee andI know we're on a road stretch
like we're in Houston right now,but the next the next home
stretch we have, I was gonna tryand get to at least like 2 to
three, 3-4 games, something likethat.
But I love, I love going out there watching Ball.
Yeah, I can imagine. And then my last thing to be
part of something like this, because I don't know, Did you
point at the guy? Who?

(56:44):
Caught the ball in in in foul territory.
During Yeah, yeah, I did. When he caught, I got fired up
for him. Yeah.
So like to be part of that cuz it's, I mean 2 great catches in
a couple days and a number of good catches in the series.
Like is it cool to like now you can look back on this and be
like, hey, like in a year or so you can be like, hey, I caught

(57:05):
this ball and you know, of course there's junior camineros
that makes it even cooler. But like, what's it like to be
part of that? I don't know, it feels very just
like surreal, like I don't know,I, I wasn't, I mean I just
caught the ball and got super juiced and then the next thing I
know my phone's blowing up with with people saying, Yo, I just
saw you ever just hitting yourself, hitting your sunburn
chest. So I was like, damn, it was just

(57:25):
really funny. But it's it's super cool to be a
part of them. It makes me really happy.
Awesome. Well, hey, Matt, thank you so
much for coming on, man. As we do with all of our guests,
I want to make sure that you have the time to plug anything
that you got going on your end on social media.
So where can people find you? You can find me on Instagram.
My name is just my name. Matt Cedola MATTCEDOLA.

(57:46):
Perfect. All right, Matt, again, thanks
so much for coming on and. Go raise baby, raise up.
And we're back on this latest episode of Raise the Roof.
Thank you again to our guests, Shay and Matt for coming on.
We really, really appreciate youguys.
Be sure to follow them on socialmedia.

(58:06):
Hopefully, they'll continue thisjourney of, of, of stardom.
They'll go to more games, have more fun.
Excited to see what goes on withthat.
But we do have some baseball left to talk about.
The Rays are playing a series this weekend in Houston.
They're playing the Astros in a four-game set.
Don't know what's going to happen with this.

(58:28):
I will look up the matchups, pitching matchups for these
games. But yeah, it is OK.
Pitching matchups are as follows.
Shane Boz, this is this is for Thursday, Shane Boz against Ryan
Gusto, Friday is Ryan Pepeo against Framber Valdez, Saturday

(58:50):
is Zach Littell against Colton Gordon, and then Sunday is Taj
against Hunter Brown. So that is your pitching
matchups for this week or for this weekend, I should say.
It should be an interesting series.
This is going to be the last time that the Rays play Houston
after playing them three games like a week and a half ago.

(59:12):
So, Gibby, I don't know what you're looking for in this
series, but if there's anything that you're looking for, what is
it? I mean, this is a hot Astros
team. I mean, they've scored what is
this like 202527 runs in the last four games, massively
outscoring their opponents. So it's been O22.

(59:36):
I'm sorry, 23 a little a little off there.
Sorry about that, But still, I mean, massively outscoring their
opponents. So just keeping that offense
calm, keep Esock Piratus in the in the ballpark because that was
a problem last time, because I think he hasn't been dead
against us rightfully so. He was an All Star and you know,

(59:57):
we traded him and that that, butbut, you know, it's all right.
So keep him in the ballpark, keep that entire Astros lineup
in the ballpark. I mean, Altuve, he's still
dangerous, although he's having not the best year right now.
I mean, just don't. The Rays have been known to

(01:00:18):
reawaken stars before, I feel like.
So don't do that. Jeremy Pena has been having a
year. And of course, and they're
pitching. We has been pretty good this
these last few days, especially if like Framber Valdez.

(01:00:40):
So just got to keep our stuff together, you know, and really
just out pitch them like we havejust keep all the games low
scoring and then offense needs to come through.
Leave it a lot of runners on 3rdbecause we're still a lot of
bases, but we're still not, you know, just getting that final

(01:01:02):
hit. So just bringing everybody home.
And then Chandler Simpson, it's like the biggest key of them
all, just he's been dynamic. The team is stressed out every
time. The opposing team is stressed
out every time they see him. Got to use Chandler Simpson to
the best of our ability because I mean, that was a lot of

(01:01:23):
pressure on them last time and it really showed on, on on the
defense so. No, for sure.
Like I agree with all that. I think that if I mean,
Houston's got a good enough offense, they're five games
above 500. They're staying competitive in
the AO W, They're going to be a team, as you mentioned before,
that's going to find a way to compete for a postseason spot

(01:01:45):
because they've done that so much in recent years.
I think that the biggest thing for them is going or for the for
the Rays is going to be limit their offense, get their
starters out of the game, especially Hunter Brown.
He's been really, really good tostart the season out, make their
bullpen work, especially in a four-game set.
You want to make their bullpen work as much as possible.
And if they can try to find a way to continue the offense.

(01:02:06):
I'm not saying continue it as much as they've been doing in
recent weeks. I just think that that's that's
that's next to impossible to continue the same sort of, you
know, the same sort of trajectory that they've been
doing. But I think to to emulate that
in some sort of a way is going to be a good thing for them
moving forward. So however they can do that

(01:02:28):
would best suit them. Now we got to do our pick a
player for this upcoming weekend.
Gibby, who is your pick a playerfor this series?
You said Pep was pitching. Which day is he pitching?
He is pitching Friday. OK, OK, so yeah, definitely
going to pick Pep because I mean, I feel like he's been

(01:02:49):
pretty solid. So we'll do Pep and then don't
want to pick Brendan Lau because, you know, that's your
guy. But Junior Caminero was really
struggling with like getting hitting in the double plays
before this last homestand and now he's been hitting really

(01:03:09):
good with a few home runs of hisown this homestand.
So I'm going to pick junior Caminero.
Obviously he's the soul of this team, the youth of this team.
So he's going to come through for us and we got to win this
Astro series because we play theRangers next and for some reason

(01:03:31):
we we can't play the Rangers. So I have no no confidence in
that series whatsoever. So hopefully we do good in this
series and then I can be pleasantly surprised by the next
one. You know what?
I agree. I wholeheartedly agree with
that. I'm going to, of course, pick
Bill out. He's been doing really, really
well recently. Very happy with what I've seen

(01:03:51):
out of him. I'm also going to pick Yandi.
I've been disappointed in how he's played and I think we're
finally hitting that regression that I don't think that a lot of
race fans wanted to see, but it's kind of thought.
I thought he was snapping out ofit for a bit, but it seems like
yeah. It's just, it's been brutal.
But yeah, I'm hoping, hoping that we can kind of he can get

(01:04:15):
out of that sort of slump and then, you know, hopefully just
put together a solid series. I'm not talking about anything
crazy, but just get that averageup, get some runners in
production, things of that nature.
Oh yeah. And then on the pitching side of
things, I would love to see moreout of Shane Boss.
I'm really hoping for a good start out of him.

(01:04:36):
I just wanted to be consistent. I think that's the biggest
thing. So consistency is key.
Yeah, and hopefully the fastballstarts looking better cuz
there's something about it. Yeah, for sure.
All right, well, I think with that being said, it's gonna
conclude things on this latest episode of Raise the Roof.
We appreciate you guys as alwaysfor your support.

(01:04:56):
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(01:05:17):
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