Trying to get something going we made a trade:
Rendon is a rental of course, in the final year of his mega-deal with the Angels. He's also hurt, out two weeks with back tightness, so he won't make his debut for us until August. The price wasn't terribly high as Lee had fallen out of favor as an infield backup and was back at Durham. When Rendon is ready he will likely take Marco Luciano's place at 3B; while Luciano hasn't been terrible he hasn't been great either.
Transaction: We also welcome back Ozzie Albies from his rehab assignment with Freili Encarnacion sent back to Durham.
Game 1: 3-4 L. LP-Cousins (0-1). Starter-Eldridge (6 4 2 2 3 7). A tough one as Cousins gave up a 2-run homer in the 8th to break a 2-2 tie. Albies had a nice return with 2 walks, a double and a run scored.
Game 2: 8-4 W. WP-Swanda (6-7, 5.1 6 4 4 2 5). S-Riley (4). HR-Santana (26), Franco (14). Wander was 3-4 with a double, homer and ribbie while Haro was 3-4 with a double and 2 RBI to lead an unusually potent attack.
Game 3: 1-2 L (10). LP-Diaz (4-5). Starter-German (5.2 3 1 0 1 9). 3 hits isn't going to cut it, and that's what the offense came up with today wasting some fine pitching. This team just can't escape the gravitational pull of .500.
Team record: 53-50. Forget the division at this point, we're tied with two other teams 1/2 game out of the third wild card right now. Next up: A day off then 3 games in Detroit against the 39-64 Tigers where we'll probably lose 2 out of 3.