McLaren starting to settle in

So in the last 3 days, we've seen Broussard play first against a righty (with every indication of more of that to come), Adam Jones play left against a lefty, and McLaren bring his right handed setup man into a game in the 5th, because there were two men on and Manny Ramirez at the dish.

And we heard that Vidro might see some time at second if Lopez continues to struggle. This also creates ABs for Jones by the way.

At first I dismissed Geoff Baker's suggestion that some of these moves had to wait until McLaren had had time to get a handle on the clubhouse and such. Isn't that the point of promoting your bench coach? He already knows the team, right?

However with a bunch of these moves starting to come in succession, with a bunch of veteran players being told they need to produce or lose playing time, its starting to appear that this is exactly what happened. McLaren wanted to give guys a chance to produce under his watch and now he's making the moves needed to make this club better.

I like it. I like it a lot. And we are 1/2 of a game out of the playoffs! Woo!