Three and out. Totally ADLed.

Yesterday the lead was three points, with four days to go.

Today, Friday, there are three days to go, and yesterday the Burn Bags got the explosive game from Rusney Castillo they’d been waiting for since the middle of August. That explosion included Castillo’s first ML homer, plus three ribbies.

On Thursday the Jerry’s Kids’ Max Scherzer won his start, and the Jerry’s Mike Zunino hit a homer. I was tied with the Jerry’s in wins and one ahead in homers. Ugh!

And Kevin Gausman, my sole starter on the day, pitched a fine five innings, but was matched by Hiroki Kuroda, another one of Jerry’s arms, who was then staked to a nice lead by the Orioles’ defense’s mistakes. Uh-oh, but then the usually reliable David Robertson, a closer I would love to have get a save to help the Tooners catch the Bags in saves, blew Kuroda’s three run lead. Robertson did end up with a win, which was better than Kuroda getting it.

The good news, was that my reliever, Kelvin Herrera, won the Royals’ game against Jose Quintana, one of the Bags’ starters, and stole it from James Shields, of the third-place Palukas, for whom a win would have pulled him into a tie with the Bags, knocking my more potent nemesis down a half point.

Is the question whether it is better to gain half a point or have your challenger lose half a point academic? My immediate reaction is to prefer my opponent to lose, because I figure my guys will come through later, but I don’t see any real logic in that besides the power of rooting for my guys. Which is real.

Eric Hosmer, my totally disappointing first baseman (and proof rooting doesn’t work), homered in that game, to tie it at 3-3, so I kept pace with the Jerry’s in homers.

Shields only pitched six, presumably to help him save something for the Play In game next week. The Royals’ magic number for the wild card is one. The Royals bullpen has been great and they made use of it yesterday.

Oh, so you’re wondering what the score is with three days to play?

Bad K 71
Burn Bags 68.5
Palukas 67.5

There are points in play for the Top 3 in every category. This isn’t going to be decided until the Sunday games are over.