Rockies @ Dodgers Sept. 16, 2015: The Perfect Lineup

This is it. This is the perfect lineup. This is everything all at once. This is beauty and sorrow. This is both the evidence that there is a higher power and that there is not. This is the nexus. This is the singularity. This is the perfect lineup.

	Rockies			Dodgers
	7:10 p.m.			Los Angeles
CF	Blackmon		2B	Barnes
SS	Reyes		1B	Utley
3B	Arenado		LF	Ruggiano
C	Rosario		SS	Seager
2B	Adames		C	Ellis
LF	Parker		3B	Guerrero
1B	Paulsen		RF	Heisey
RF	Barnes		CF	Pederson
P	De la Rosa (L)		P	Wood (L)

Or, you know, it’s just the inevitable byproduct of having the division sewn up with weeks to go and having played a 16-inning meatgrinder last night. Whichever. Frankly, I’m just glad to have something to break up the tedium of playing out the string.

This is rookie catcher Austin Barnes playing second base for the first time since a Mobile vs. Jackson game on September 1, 2014. This is Chase Utley playing first base for the first time as a Dodger. This is Justin Ruggiano and Corey Seager as your 3/4 hitters. This is Alex Guerrero playing third base for the first time since Aug. 8, which might be even more shocking than Barnes. Hell, forget third base, this is the first time Guerrero’s started anywhere other than DH since Aug. 10.

They’re literally doing a “hey, you guys remember how to do this?” session before the game:

Ron Roenicke is working with Austin Barnes at second base. Don Mattingly working with Utley at first.

— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) September 16, 2015

None of this should be taken as unhappiness. I am so thrilled about this lineup. It’s turned a meaningless game into must-see television. I am so excited about it. Don Mattingly is saying what he has to say here:

"I expect to win," Mattingly said after calling his lineup "weird."

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) September 16, 2015

… and I hope they do. Don’t read the replies to that tweet, though. Just don’t.