Thanks in large part to catcher Luis Torrens, the Mets snapped their three-game losing streak on Saturday, beating the Pirates 5-2.
Host Ryan Finkelstein breaks down the win, and how the Mets all of a sudden have the best catching duo in baseball with Torrens and Francisco Alvarez.
When is the last time the Mets have gotten this level of production from their backstop?
Also, with the return of Edwin Diaz and the promotion of Eric Orze, is the bullpen heading toward some stability?
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[MUSIC PLAYING] It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks in large part to a great performance by catcher Louise Torens, the New York Mets were able to snap their 3-game losing streak on Saturday. [MUSIC PLAYING] You are locked on Mets, your daily New York Mets podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all you amazing Mets fans. You're listening to Lockdown. That's part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown Metro. First listen every day, Lockdown Mets is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. On today's show, we have a Mets victory to discuss. I'll break down the game in the first segment, as Louise Torens had an awesome performance offensively to help carry the Mets. I'll then continue on the Mets catchers in the second segment, as the combination of Alvarez and Torens has been the best in baseball over the last month and a half here. When's the last time the Mets had gotten production? This good from their catchers, I'll go through that. Then in the final segment, Eric Orzy was added to the Mets bullpen on Saturday, as was Edwin Diaz off of the suspension. Has this unit found some stability? We'll go through that in preview really the rest of this series to close out the show. Before we get to any of that, though, I'm your host Ryan Fickelstein. If you want to find any of my work, follow me on X at Fickelstein. Ryan can also find some of my writing at just baseball.com, where I work as the managing editor. Saturday was a good day for the Mets. They got a victory. They got Edwin Diaz back. But it was a frustrating baseball game to watch, at least from where I was sitting on my couch, because there was so many missed opportunities offensively. And there was a few winnings where the Mets were able to hold on pitching that got really scary. And it just felt like a team with the Mets that were trying not to lose instead of going for the win. That's just the read I had on it, where they were playing tight. They were playing nervous. And I understand it. They just got embarrassed the night before in Pittsburgh. They lost a couple of games in Washington to lead that series with the sour taste in their mouth. This is a point where every game matters at an extreme degree with the deadline looming. And this was a part of your schedule where everyone's expecting you to deliver. And sometimes that's harder than going and facing some really good teams and meeting that competition level. Not that the Pirates are a bad team. They're hanging in this wild car race just like the Mets are. But they're not as good as that Astros team you just played recently. There's a big degree separation between those two squads. You look at the lineup that this Pirates team has. If you don't hang so many pitches over the heart of the plate, they're not going to be hitting the home runs the way they have over the last couple of days here. So it's just been a frustrating exercise of watching the Mets go up against this Pirates team and not giving quite their best game. Because there was so many missed opportunities. Let's start with the first inning. Francisco Landor lead off single. Brandon Emo gets a base hit to put runners at first and third. Then Emo steals second, second and third. Nobody out. JD Martinez, Piedalonzo, Marc Vientos. You'd run that through a simulation 100 times how many are going to come through with the Mets don't score a single run. I would expect not many where you would think that either Martinez or Alonso could at least hit a fly ball and get a run in. JD Martinez popped out, Piedalonzo struck out, Marc Vientos struck out, both runners were stranded. Second inning, Luis Turens lead off single. Tries to steal second, thrown out. Right after that, Tyrone Taylor hits a double that would have scored them. That was a missed opportunity on the bases. There was another one in the fourth inning where Harrison Bader hit a double. On second, if one out tries to steal third, gets thrown out. Top of the lineup was up. Landor and Nemo. Would Nemo get three hits in this game? There's a chance if you just stay put after Landor got out that Nemo would have came through, got a knock, and you would have scored a run there. But instead, you run into a now. And Bader has done that too many times this year. Yes, he has 13 steals. He cuts the corners better than any base runner on this team. One of the fastest guys on the team. But he is overly aggressive, and it comes back to Honum a lot, but thrown out six times, and that's just stealing bases. That doesn't count the amount of times he's been thrown out, trying to push the envelope, trying to have a hustle double against Honum at a second, tries to go first or third when he shouldn't. So he could be frustrating on the bases. Now, the Mets did score prior to Bader getting thrown out of third there in the third inning. Luis Turan's made up for getting caught stealing himself as the Mets were in a situation where they almost stranded the bases loaded. You had Landor, Nemo, and J.D. Martinez all get on to load the bases. Bayley falter, the starting pitcher for the pirates, gets hurt. He's pulled your into the bullpen of the third inning, and the Mets have an opportunity to just break this game wide open. This comes on the heels of David Peterson, pitching out of a bases loaded jam, the inning prior, bottom of the second, where he gets two huge strikeouts, the strands of runners, and you dodge a huge bullet. So this was an opportunity to grab the momentum of the game. And for a fleeting moment, it felt like the Mets were going to do exactly what the pirates did and leave the bases loaded, stranded, and not score any runs. Luckily, Luis Turan's came through, and he got a hit, because prior to that, when Dennis Santana came into the game, Pete Alonzo and Marc Vientos each struck out. Turan's bases clearing double, the Mets have three runs, and that was very much needed. Now, bottom of the fourth inning, David Peterson gives up a two-run homer to Cruz, bad pitch, just left one that he was able to do a lot of damage on, got way too much over the heart of the plate for Cruz. In the fifth inning, he gives up a single to Brian Reynolds, and that was after getting the first down. Then he's pulled. So the Mets are into the bullpen in the fifth inning. Clinging to a three to two lead. Now, Budo comes on and is able to get out of that inning for Peterson, and then also gets through the sixth, got a double play ball to erase a walk that he had in that sixth inning. Great work from Budo, five outs on 16 pitches, love having him in the bullpen. And luckily, the Mets tacked on some runs in the top of the sixth inning, as Marc Vientos and Luis Terens, each got base hits. And then Jose Glacias, doubled in Vientos, Harrison Bader, sack fly to drive in Terens. But from that point on, the Mets did not get another hit. So five to two game, Budo gets you through six. Who felt comfortable with the Mets bullpen, even with Garrett Nunez and Diaz all rested to get through that game? Does anyone listen to this that is raising their hand or actually felt confident watching that game? You are a much stronger man than me, I guess, because I was nervous, particularly in the seventh inning. And I was frustrated, too, because I don't know why they pulled Budo. I wanted to see Budo pitch the rest of that game, honestly. He was keeping the ball on the ground. That's what I wanted to see. But I think the Mets are maybe viewing Jose Budo as a guy that can give them length at times, but also can be someone that can give them an inning or two. And you also don't know if they are looking at Christian Scott on Monday as maybe a start on four days' rest, but a limited pitch count. In which case, maybe you want to make sure you have Budo and the holster. We'll see what they do with Hauser if they can avoid pitching him. I'd imagine that was maybe part of it. And also, I think Mendoza just saw an opportunity with the lead and said, I'm going to go to my seventh, eighth, and ninth inning guys, because for the first time, and God knows how long, he actually had a seventh, eighth, ninth inning plan. So he goes to Garrett, and Garrett just looked awful. I mean, he struck out on Hill crews to lead off the inning, but gives up a base hit, walks two to load the bases. It was nowhere near the plate, and I'm just thinking, man, like really, like Reed Garrett can't just come through here. Luckily, he gets a line out where Francisco one door made an unbelievable catch, and even a nicer flip to Jose Glacias where there was no outmade on the force, but there was something about the way the two of them can play together at the middle that I just love. Two guys with unbelievable hands where they're just having fun out there. So you seal and door in that spot, bases loaded and make the catch. Glaub tosses it to Glacias who catch it, comes across the back. Obviously, everyone was safe. And then you had the biggest break of the game for the Mets. Jack Sawinsky was up, bases loaded two outs. And first pitch of that bad, I believe, is about a foot under the zone called the strike. Three one pitch, again, probably a foot under the zone called the strike. And it was a bad strikes on the whole game, but particularly glaring in that big at bat where the pirate should have had a run walked in, Garrett on the ropes, and instead, he gets to stay in the at bat full count, splitter to strike out Sawinsky swinging, 'cause obviously he wasn't gonna trust keeping the bat on his shoulder at that point. And the Mets were able to escape, and then luckily, the rest of the game was a little bit more quick and easy, as you had Danielle Nunez, who cruised through the eighth on, I think it was eight pitches, seven of them being strikes. And then Edwin Diaz came on, he passed the test of the sticky substance check. So it was good to go, allowed to pitch. He hits only a cruise on the foot, but strikes out righty to Les, gets a double play ball, gets McCutchen, 10 pitches to get his, I was eighth save of the season, kind of crazy, that that's all he has, but that's what happens when you've struggled and you've been hurt and now suspended. And the New York Mets are able to hold on to win five to two, and hopefully, the pressure is off a little bit, and they have an opportunity to come back and win this series. You gotta win the next two here, but you definitely feel a lot better about the state of the bullpen with Diaz in place, and now just breaking out of that three game losing streak. Hopefully, the tide has turned for your Mets, but a big reason for the tide turning on this season has been the play of the Mets catchers. Torens had a great game today, and I wanna talk about what that duo with their backstop has meant for this team from Torens to Alvarez. If all of a sudden been the best catching tandem in baseball, and I can't tell you the last time that's happened for the Mets, but I'm gonna try to. So we'll talk about all that in just a minute first though, a word from our sponsors. Today's episode's brought to you by FanDuel. I love sports, I love them so much. I never want them to stop, but the playoffs have winded down, we get fewer games, and the sports aren't sportsin' like I want them to, but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want, 'cause all I have to do is open the app, dream up my bets anytime that I'm in the mood. This summer, FanDuel is hookin' up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right, there's something for everyone every day all summer long, so head over to fanduel.com/lockdown and start making the most out of your summer, FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. You know we love talkin' stats here at Lockdown Rockies. 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Since Louise Torens got signed by the Mets and since Alvarez came back, this team has had the best catching tandem in all of baseball. And I was curious when's the last time the Mets have even had a top 10 catching situation in the game for a season. So I went to fan graphs, I sorted by team stats and I looked at two stats in particular. Wins above replacement and WRC+. So wins above placement, all encompassing stat to tell you how valuable a player has been, WRC+ all encompassing offenses stat that measures hitters on a league average of 100. And fan graphs goes all the way back to 2002. So I went through 20 plus years of Mets baseball. The first time of the Mets got even close to top 10 in either category was 2016 as I was going from 2023 all the way down. The 2016, they were 11th in F4, 26 in WRC+. So that tells you good defense, not a lot of offense. Travis Darno was one of the catchers. He was hurt for a lot of the year. It was Rene Revere and Kevin Pluicki was the main catching tandem. 2015, the Mets were 10th in F4, 17th in WRC+. Again, you had Kevin Pluicki, you had Travis Darno and then you had Anthony Wrecker. Then you have a huge gap. 2007 was the next time where they were top 10 in either category and it was WRC+ that a good offensive season from their backstops, they were 10th at 84, which means even though they had a good offensive season compared to the league, it was still below average based on just normal hitters. But still, decent enough offensively, there were 18th in F4, that was Paula Dooka and Ramon Castro. 2005, they were 7th in WRC+. There were, they led the league in home runs three-way tie across a couple teams and they were 13th in F4. Who do you think caught for the Mets that year? That was Mike Piazza last year with the Mets. So still a good offensive threat there. They weren't quite in the top 10 for wins above replacement. His backup was Ramon Castro. Now, 2004, the Mets were 10th in F4, wins above replacement 9th in WRC+. Same exact thing in 2003. And then you go back to 2002, they had the best catching situation in baseball. First in wins above replacement, first in WRC+ that was Mike Piazza in his prime. If Fangrass went before that, I'm sure the Mets would have ranked close to number one in both categories in 2001, 2009, 1998, because that was where Mike Piazza was. Clearly the best catcher in baseball is part of his Hall of Fame career. But you really, like when people say that Francisco Alvarez is the best catcher the Mets have had since Mike Piazza, that's not hyperbole. This franchise has been stuck in the doldrums at this position for two plus decades, where they have not had a above average all-around catcher in a very long time. And offensively, I mean, they haven't had a four-sense Piazza for sure. So Alvarez does give you hope. And you hope that also at third base, Marc Vientos can get the Mets at third base to a spot where that position is solidified. And it's not as long of a layover between David Wright and the next good Mets third base. I mean, Vientos has given you as good as baseballs you've seen at that position since I guess Todd Frazier. But I mean, really, again, when you lose a franchise icon, whether it's retirement, trade, whatever it is, it's hard to fill that void because I think naturally when you have a guy like Piazza behind the dish or David Wright at third base, you're not always gonna be looking for the prospects at those positions for some time, right? So you're not scouting as well at those spots, you're not drafting as well, and it leaves a void. But it has been a long, long road for the Mets to have a good catching situation. So now they've had the best of baseball though, since May 31st, when Luis Torens was signed by the Mets, poached from the Yankees for nothing but cash. Since then, the combination of Alvarez Torens and a little splash of Tomás Nido is leading Major League Baseball and wins above replacement at 1.8, think the next best team was at 1.2, and that's not even including Torens performance in this game today, where he went three for four, drove in three runs, scored a run. So it's only gonna get better. Again, without those stats, the combination of Alvarez and Torens and again, a splash of Nido, a 166 WRC+, 66% better than your league average hitter, not even just your league average catcher, your league average hitter. And that is by far the best mark in all of baseball for a team. They're hitting 304 from that position, 373 on base, 563 slug, six home runs, nine doubles, one triple, 21 RBIs. Francisco Alvarez alone trails only Kyle Higashyoka in F4 and a WRC+, since the end of May. Now the funny thing about that is, Higashyoka was a Yankee catcher, traded in the Juan Soto deal, part of the package and went back. And Torens also a Yankee catcher. Now I will say, 'cause I was looking up and I wanted to make the case that the Yankees were just brutal at this because the catching situation has been horrendous. Austin Wells and Jose Trevino during this same time period have been above average catchers, they've been good defensively and Wells has been good offensively. Not as good as Torens, but still a good. Trevino's a black hole offensively, but he's really good with the glove. I'm not gonna be grossing Yankees too much, but it is pretty crazy. The production of the Mets have gotten out of Torens who's hit 270 and this is again before the game today. So I can actually, let me pull up his slash line with the game today, 'cause it's gonna look that much better. But I'll tell you in the meantime that Francisco Alvarez, 338, 413, 600. So that's 338 batting average, 413 on base, 600 slug, OPS over 1,000. He was out of the game today because he got hit on the arm with that pitch from Paul Skeens on Friday, but he went back out there and caught at Wendy's to make sure he'd be comfortable in the nine things. That shows you that the Mets avoided the worst without Alvarez. Now, after the game today, where he went through for four, Torens is hitting 317, 364 on base, 610 slug. So 974 OPS in 15 games. Alvarez's numbers on the season aren't as good as Torens, but his numbers since coming back from injury are better. That just shows you how good the catching position has been for the Mets. They have not gotten offense like this from the catcher spot since Mike Piazza. And their defense between these two guys probably better than Piazza back in those days. Unbelievable stuff. And if this can continue, it's only going to help this team really play above their heads a little bit, probably, throughout the rest of this year, because these guys are getting more out of these pitchers at times than I think you would see otherwise, particularly Alvarez with Jose Quintana and Shama Nai. I'm sure Alvarez will be back behind the dish on Sunday to catch Manaya. And Torens with his arm has really stabilized the Mets when it comes to controlling the running game, which was a huge problem when you had Omar Navayas and Nido and Alvarez back there at the beginning of the season. Alvarez still hasn't been great with his arm, but he's unbelievable leader back there, pitch frame or all that good stuff. So we'll see if this can continue throughout the rest of the year. Obviously at this rate, it cannot, but I still think both of these guys can continue to be above average on both sides of the ball. And that just bodes really well for you. And when it comes to Torens, the interesting part about it, the Mets can hold on to him. This is not a one year contract. He's are belegible for the next two years. The Mets can hang on to this guy's their backup catcher through 2026. So a huge find to get Torens on this team. And I hope that he can stay for the next couple of years and just be for Tsubsquav versus backup. I think that'd be a perfect situation for this team. Now, can they keep the winning rolling on Sunday? I want to talk about that game as well as the addition of Eric Orsey to the bullpen. So we're going to go through all that in just a minute first, though, another word from our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by Tax Network USA. Here with lockdown Mets, we pride ourselves on getting you the latest news for your team, whether it's the offseason, the draft, spring training, or the playoffs, it's year round. You know what else is year round? Collection season. 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This is Ryan Fickelstein, the host of lockdown Mets, and I love the No Shell's wonderful pistachios so I can eat them straight out of the bag whenever I need a boost, and my favorite flavor is their sea salt and vinegar. But if you're a pistachio purist who loves cracking open every nut, they also have great flavors like sweet chili and salt and pepper. Grab wonderful pistachios and elevate your snack and game today. Visit wonderfulpistachios.com to learn more. Plow. (upbeat music) If you want to stay up to date with all the latest in the world of sports, make sure you check out Lacton Sports today streaming 24/7 on YouTube. Now we've talked about this game on Sunday throughout the last couple of shows, not knowing who would pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates as Jared Jones hit the I.L. We now know that Luis Ortiz will get the start. Ortiz has been a reliever throughout this season, but he's been their bulk guy. 55 innings out of the bullpen, a 3-2-7 ERA. And in June, he was in a pseudo-starter role. He had three straight relief appearances where he pitched four or more innings. And then he got a start where he went six innings on 85 pitches on June 26 against the Reds, allowed one run and struck out seven. He also had relief appearance before that at 79 pitches. His most recent appearance on July 2nd was a two-inning spurt of 30 pitches. So I don't expect him to have 100 pitches in the tank. He might not even have 85, but at least 60 to 80 somewhere in that range Ortiz can give the pirate some length in this game, but it's up to the Mets to really wear him down and get into that bullpen. That was already tasked with covering a lot of innings in this prior game on Saturday. So the Mets should have its Pirates team on the ropes a little bit. This is the game you gotta get, because on Monday, it'll be Mitch Keller going for the Pirates against Christian Scott. We still don't know if there's any, you know, parameters on Scott start, whether it's a pitch count or an innings limit. We really don't know. We don't know if he's just full on, ready to go. 100 pitches again. We'll see. So you gotta grab this game on Sunday. Also, if you want to win the series, you gotta grab the game. And I'll be interested to see what Sean Maniah does. Really good start last time. Can he build off that? Can he give this team length again? That would be huge because the Mets used their A-guys on Saturday to get their win. They use Diaz, Garrett, and Nunez. Now with that said, Diaz through 10 pitches. He's had 10 days of rest. I'm sure he'll be good to go. Nunez needed just eight pitches, seven strikes to get through the inning. I'd imagine you could throw Nunez again. Garrett, 26 pitches. He's probably burned. Budo, 16 pitches, but I doubt they're gonna pitch him back-to-back days. So I'd expect he's probably burned that I also, like I mentioned earlier, think they might want to hold on to him and see if he can give them two innings after Christian Scott potentially on Monday. So I don't expect him to pitch. Adam Adavino is fresh. Adrian Houser can probably go. And then you have Eric Worsey, who has added to the bullpen on Saturday, called up in place at Thai adcock, and he is now awaiting to make his MLB debut. Worsey was drafted by the Mets in 2020 in the fifth round. He's 26 years old, has a nasty splitter with a fastball and a slider that he can mix in. He had an ERA over five in AAA the last couple of years, but this year he pitched really well, particularly in June. We had a 1-6-90 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 10 and 2-3 innings pitch. As a 3-7-6 ERA down there this season. So he's an interesting arm. The Mets brass has sort of been talking him up lately as a guy that they have some high hopes in. And maybe he's the next Dennell Nunez that you find, a young arm with explosive stuff that can actually stick in this bullpen, and that would be very much needed. Right now you're looking at this bullpen and you got Diaz, Garrett, and Nunez. All right, you feel pretty good about that. Adam Adavino has pitched better as of late. Buto and Hauser are so crucial right now to have these starters as relievers helping you with these middle innings after pitchers go short, giving you that length. That's been really big. That could be the group for the rest of the season, those six. Those six could be stabilizing forces that you just roll with. The question's gonna be what do you do with those last two spots? So Orzy's got his chance here to maybe grab one of them and then you still have Sean Reed Foley who could make his way back from injury. You have Jake Deakman, who I hope gets the fades soon. And then you have Shintaro Fujinami who has spent a lot of time on yesterday's show. I had some people in the comments on YouTube. I think maybe even Twitter as well mentioned the fact that he's on the 60-day IL. I did not discuss that part of it. I really didn't even cross my mind. I was thinking he could just come into the fold. I never did the math on it. And then I got my mind mixed into a pretzel today because I looked up retroactive IL rules on the 60-day IL and I couldn't find anything. And I was honestly just boggling my mind. I still never found a clear answer from the internet, honestly. But from my own personal memory, the guy is placed on the 60-day IL. He just has to spend 60 days on the interlist. It doesn't have to be from when he got put on the 60-day IL because Kodai Sangha for example, was on the 15-day IL to start the season. And then they moved him to the 60. That wasn't adding 60 days on his ILs, then it was just 60 days that he has to spend on the IL. So with that said, I believe that it's just 60 days that he has to serve since. He was recalled to the Mets 'cause at one point, Fujinami of course was in Syracuse. He was injured down there. They added him to the Big League roster just to put him on the Big League IL. And what that basically set them up to do was to sort of manipulate things, not like Billy Epler, but take advantage of the situation that he was on the 40-man roster. He was hurt, he wasn't gonna be back for some time. And so they were able to eventually transfer him to the 60-day IL, which took place, I think it was June 5th. And that freed up a 40-man spot when they needed one. Now though, he has served, I believe this is his 55th day on the IL on Sunday. So he should be able to come back next weekend. I said on yesterday's show, I don't expect him to enter this bullpen until maybe after the all-star break. I think if the Mets had their druthers, they would stick with what they got right now. Hopefully Orzy can stick. I don't know if they're gonna cut Deakman anytime in the foreseeable future until maybe they get a Fujinami back or a Sean Reed Foley back. And I think both of those might have happened 'til after the all-star break. You also have Montez Deoka, who could come back into the fold as well. He gave up another run in Syracuse on Saturday. So we'll see what happens there. But the bottom line, the Mets have Diaz back. I think they have some solid options with Garrett Nunez, Budo, Houser, and maybe even Adam Montevino. So this bullpen all of a sudden with your anchor back, hopefully will be a stable force. And I'm excited to see Orzy pitch potentially on Sunday or Monday here. See what he has on a big league mound for the first time. He's got a great story if you don't know about him. He's gone through a lot of adversity to get to this point prior to being drafted. Yeah, I think it was both skin and testicular cancer and he's been remission now. And obviously it's been in the Mets organization since getting drafted, but it was a tough road for him through college to get to that point where he got drafted by the Mets. And they've bet on him and his upside. And clearly it has paid off since he's made it up to the show here. And we'll see, he might be a guy that sticks around for a long time, or maybe he's just one of these guys that'll shut all up and down. But it seems that there's a little more optimism here with Orzy compared to some of the other arms they've called on. This is a younger kid who's got good stuff. His strikeout numbers have always been there in the minor leagues. It's been about controlling his walks, getting that strike zone intact. And they feel like he's there, he's ready. So we'll see him get tested on the biggest stage. It should be a lot of fun whenever we get to see his MLB debut. Anyway, that's going to be all for today's edition of locked on Mets. I appreciate all of you who tuned into the show. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. We're trying to make a push to 9,000 subs before the all-star break. We're within a hundred. So I appreciate all of you who can too subscribe. You're listening on the audio side, follow rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to follow me on social media, you can do so at Ficklestein Ryan, follow the show "Locked on Mets." We're going to be locked on Mets Insider, find the link in the episode description. Go to subtext.com/lockedonmetz. Thank you for making "Locked on Mets" for first listen or your first watch every day. After your second watch, check out "Locked on sports today," the first ever 24/7 streaming channel on YouTube that covers everything. The world of sports is our local experts from each team and our league-wide experts from each league. By "Locked on sports today," streaming 24/7 on YouTube and Amazon Fire TV. - A prime member. 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