And, when Tim Lincecum beats the Astros tonight, we'll have a 5.5 game lead in the Central and, perhaps more importantly, a 7 game lead over the Cubs. (I don't care what the records say, the Cubs are WAY more of a threat than Caballo and friends.)
It wasn't pretty, but after the way the first two games of this series went, we deserved a little good fortune. I'm not going to dwell on Ned's miscues (pinch hitting for Gross but not Jenkins; not pinch hitting for Sheets in the 8th), but instead focus on the good part: a real performance from Ben Sheets.
7.2 innings, 8 K's, one walk, just a couple of mistakes...I'd say our man is back. Those K's are a little cheaper because three of them were against Wes Helms, but that's a heck of a lot better than most of what we've seen from Big Ben so far this year. He still looked pretty solid when Ned pulled him in the eighth, too.
Next up, the Crew comes back home for a series with the Mauer-less, Crain-less Twins, then departs for the West Coast. There, they have the Dodgers, the Padres, and The Young and the Restless to look forward to. I had hoped, of course, that they'd have a 4-3 record to show for these two series, but after the last few days, I can only say one thing: it could've been worse.