Part of that is that the regulars usually get days off on getaway days because there’s more time off than from a 7pm start to a 7pm start or a 7pm start to a 1pm start. So since the backups generally will play in the third game of a series more often than the first two, chances are there will be backups involved when the third game is lost after two wins. It’d be nice if the regulars never needed days off, but that’s just not realistic. You could argue that backups should be spread through the lineup over a couple days, but why lower your chances of winning the series by putting your best lineup out there for only one of the games?

I like seeing Durham getting some starts. I wish they were about 50/50 personally, but that’s not going to happen. Counsell did well including a nice defensive play and JJ hasn’t been hitting that well lately. Nix in left? He’s been hot in Nashville. If he had a couple hits it would have been a good move. He got the bat on the ball.

Leaving Sheets in when he wasn’t sharp all day and was struggling in the inning and was getting hit, I don’t get. I’m probably in the minority though. Using Gagne mystifies me, but it didn’t hurt so nobody says anything about it.