aggietony2010 said:

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gigem1223 said:

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Needed some good news on this awful day

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Planned on listening to the end of this game while waiting to pick up the kids at school, but was glued to the AM news instead.

Glad to see we pulled out the sweep. Absolutely huge wins in what looked like it could be the speed bump ending our last mad rush for a playoff spot.

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Days like today really put into perspective how little sports matter. On the other hand, they matter because they're a great escape

Just sad all around.

Jays tie it in 8th.

Just coming to post.

Scoreboard watching. Hoping Vlady Jr would do damage.

Very early indirect rooting interest, but given that Seattle plays the Dodgers in the final series of the season and the Dodgers are currently 3rd in the NL, you probably want to see LAD generally winning and Philadelphia generally losing over the next couple of weeks so that that final series with Seattle means something to the Dodgers.

And blew it in 9th.

We could also root for the Padres. They are 2 GB.

Astros win. At least the Royals did some work.

Well that sucked

Cardinals are winning. So I'm sure they'll blow the lead for the third straight night.

Bases loaded to start the second then three straight k's. We are getting no help today.

at least the Cardinals aren't losing

yet

Luke Jackson in for the Mariners in the 10th

M's leave em loaded in the 10th

On to the 11th in SEA

Come on Cards! You owe us for that misery you brought to us in 2011.

Cards take the lead
Let's goooo

Saggesse with the RBI for the Cards off Jackson.

Cmon Cards. Let's go. Going to the 12th.

SEA immediately ties it up and loads bases with nobody out, and STL gets out of it. On to the 12th

To the 13th

...and the M's win again.

Who would have predicted a month ago that the Rangers would have a better record than the Mets at beginning of this series? Now, let's make it true after the series as well.

Wow... they've L5 straight and if we "sweepie-sweep" them, they would be 76-73, with the SFG and CIN (74-72) on their tail (2GB).

Could the NL enter a sub .500 team as WC3?

Getting to the point of really needing some help. If you told me the good guys would sweep the brew crew and still be 1.5 and 2.5 back I likely would've said you were crazy.

It's still all in front of us, imo. That series against the Astros decides it. Like has been said here, I think the Mariners win the division and that series between us and the Astros decides the final WC barring a complete implosion down the stretch.

Something I was pondering last night.

This team has been shockingly good the last couple of weeks with no Adolis, no Semien and no Seager.

For me it's a no brainer to plug Seager back in the lineup, but I don't think it's as straight forward to put Garcia and Semien back on the lineup. Somehow this group is winning and I think I'd rather ride with Freeman and Helman rather than hoping that Garcia and Semien can slot back into the lineup and help us win immediately.

AggieEP said:

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Something I was pondering last night.

This team has been shockingly good the last couple of weeks with no Adolis, no Semien and no Seager.

For me it's a no brainer to plug Seager back in the lineup, but I don't think it's as straight forward to put Garcia and Semien back on the lineup. Somehow this group is winning and I think I'd rather ride with Freeman and Helman rather than hoping that Garcia and Semien can slot back into the lineup and help us win immediately.

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IMO, there is zero chance that Semien is not back in the lineup once he is healthy. Garcia, maybe, but he'll still get some chances. But if Garcia comes back chasing crazy pitches out of the zone (as he tends to do), then yeah, I could see him getting some pine time.

There is zero chance Freeman (.209, 60 OPS+) gets the nod when someone gets healthy.

I thought Semien had a broken bone in his food and wasn't expected back?! Apparently he is ahead of schedule and is hopeful. I wonder how much of their surge has "motivsted" him?

Seager is still the best player on the team. (149 OPS+)

Garcia can be debated, but his D in RF has been solid and his arm has kept runs off the board. Do you want Osuna (.189 64 OPS+) in the playoffs lineup? Nope.

We can make the argument for Helman. I'm concerned his magic runs out.

My argument isn't tied to Freeman being particularly great filling in, but rather to the idea of not messing with a winning formula. This is just about the best stretch of baseball the team has played all year.

I tend to agree that Semien probably goes right back in the lineup, but if my choice is between Freeman who will be our minor league POY this year and Semien coming back cold and having a down year for 3 must win games against Cleveland at the end of the year, I probably at least think hard if I'm Bochy about not messing with what has been working.

Freeman should be kept in the lineup for choking up and shortening his swing with two strikes, alone. I'll never understand why professional hitters stop doing things that we are all taught in little league.

I want Garcia in the lineup next week for HOU, daddy needs to eat.

I agree all 3 are back.... but Semien is done until October. Seager should be there every day. Garcia can prove it but he gets the shot.

We have a potential pitching matchup advantage in the first two games, but definitely not the 3rd game.

If deGrom pitches like a little ***** again he's completely dead to me. We desperately need him to take over the rotation.

I hate the scoreboard watching that permeates baseball pennant races. Living in Houston, I'm sure I'll waste more than a few minutes watching the HOU-TOR game this afternoon. Good gosh we need Houston to lose today.