Bah. This isn't a real good offensive team right now. That frustrates me.
I will also say that, although it ended up working out, bringing Jamey Wright into a tie game with the bases loaded and two outs in the 7th was a really bad idea.
He has control issues -- 30 walks in 50 innings this year, and a career rate of 4 and a half walks per 9 innings -- which makes it dangerous to bring him in with the bases loaded. He's a ground ball pitcher, but with two outs, you don't need the double play, and the fast Minnesota turf is going to make it more likely a hard hit grounder will make it through. And he had only pitched once in the previous 2 weeks, meaning he'd be expected to be rusty, and you'd want someone sharp to come in in such a crucial situation.
And of course, there's the more holistic aspect, the fact that Washington brought his worst reliever into the game at the most critical juncture of the game. Why wouldn't you bring Joaquin Benoit in?
Richard Durrett says Kason Gabbard, despite his solid outing yesterday, is still having some arm issues, and doesn't expect he'll be 100% again until after the end of the season.
Also per Durrett, Hank Blalock is on schedule to start a rehab assignment on August 23, and Edinson Volquez is expected to start on Tuesday.
Todd Wills' weekly farm report focuses on Taylor Teagarden, and his return from last year's Tommy John surgery. There are more comments on how advanced he is defensively, with his manager at Frisco saying he could be a backup at the major league level right now even if he didn't hit.