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Things just got awkward on live TV ... with Al Roker seemingly calling out Matt Lauer for railroading Ann Curry off of the "Today" show.

Here's what happened -- Al, Matt and Savannah Guthrie were hanging with some Olympic rowers who were talking about some of their post-race traditions ... which includes flinging one of their teammates into the water.

Matt joked... "The tradition here in NY is you throw her in the Hudson River."

That's when Roker quickly chimed in ... "Which is different than OUR tradition ... which is you throw one of us under the bus, but that’s another story."

Cue some awkward laughter from Matt and Savannah.

As we previously reported, Ann believes Matt trashed her behind the scenes of the show ... and pressured NBC to fire her ass because he couldn't stand working with her. And, as we reported, part of Matt's deal in re-signing with Today was that Ann had to hit the road.