 why do you think James Paxton had difficulty putting hitters away tonight? I don't know it seemed like you know you know he didn't have quite as his velocity tick up yet but I thought in the first inning I thought he he was really good with his cutter and his curve ball he threw some really good ones and then everything just kind of started to flatten out by the end of the inning um that inning uh the line out to in the inning and then uh and then it just seemed to really flatten out the entire second inning and that a lot of good looks on him so I have to look and see if he came out of out of the mechanics a little bit but I thought it just got a little flat on him there in a second. You mentioned the velocity average 91.8 miles an hour tonight on his fastball that's the lowest of any start in his career are you alarmed by that? I'm not alarmed I feel like physically he has sound I think it's just a matter of really getting his delivery and finding that click where he's really extending through the ball you know that's that's kind of what he's been searching for here these last few weeks. Thank you. Brendan Cuddy please unmute. What did you think of Stan and Hicks kneeling for the anthem? Um you know I'm I'm totally supportive of their um decision to do that and you know I know it was heavy on their heart and um I support you know their their right to do that and and that it was you know very well thought out and and something important to him. A lot of the team wasn't on the field for the anthem was do you think that was related to them deciding to kneel and was that a conversation you guys had in the pregame? No I don't think it was related to that at all I mean a lot of times our hitters are under night getting their final things ready so um a lot of times it's sparingly at that time. Thank you. Yeah. Go to Ken Davidoff. Hey Aaron. Sorry I want to show my face um uh just don't call us another monster night at the plate and and what do you see there and how encouraged are you about that? Yeah he looks great I mean you know I feel like he's just in such a good frame of mind I think he feels great physically um and then he's putting together a really good game plan and getting himself into some good counts and you know you know even his first day be you know he just got it on the ground right to the guy but I felt like it was a really good really good at bat really good swing then obviously he gets the 3-0 pitch and you know hits it about as hard as you possibly can but really excited about where he's at right now. Thank you. Take the next one from George King. Aaron you said before the game you might not play in the Mayhew the whole way um he got he got banged up a little bit at second base in a double play is he okay? Yeah he's fine that that had nothing to do with it was just you know some long innings out there I was kind of thinking five or six for him and then I was considering holding them for that next at bat but I just felt like with the long innings and and really wanting to play him tomorrow um you know I thought it was the right thing to get him out of there at that time. Take the next one from Christy Ackert. Hey Aaron I'm just curious we we didn't see Paxton playing any exhibition games so obviously we didn't see a radar gun on him before. Has he reached his previous velocity in this time before or is this just something that's building up from the surgery perhaps? Yeah um no he's he's kind of been in that 91, 2, 3, some fours routinely so um I think it's just a matter of finding that next gear and and we'll continue to work with him to get there. I I do feel like he's very close um you know as he kind of talks about it just getting really timed up where he really clicks it out front and hopefully from there it'll take off. And how does this affect your plans for tomorrow with your pitching? Um I feel like we're in pretty good shape we're going to go do some things and um you know figure how we want to go. Thank you. Go back to Meredith. Michael King came in in a pretty tough situation I I know he didn't necessarily finish as strong as he probably would have liked but overall what was your impression of him first time seeing him? I thought he pitched great you know you know um you know it gives up the bloop double or the bloop single down a left field line and then Robless I feel like hit a pretty good pitch on him he actually got it in on him tied him up you know sometimes you tip your cap just a better swing to be able to not only get to it but keep it fair by Robless there. Really the one mistake I thought he made was the two strike hang and break and ball to Howie Kendrick otherwise you know we continue to be really encouraged by what we see from Michael you know I mean I think in a lot of ways he picked up where he left off in the exhibition game when you really break down how he threw the ball today.