Look at this lineup. Just. Look. At. It. I’m envisioning Don Mattingly writing it up with his feet up on his desk puffing away on an enormous cigar. “Andre Ethier? Who needs him? Center field? Nah, not you Tony. Scott Van Slyke hitting cleanup, and Jerry Sands second? Sure, why not? Dee Gordon, back in against a lefty? Sounds good!”

Honestly, I love everything about this. With a day off tomorrow, getting Ethier two days in a row off makes total sense, considering he’s yet to sit out and has dealt with nagging injury much of the last two seasons. There’s not usually a good time to play the “house money” lineup, but when you’re going for the sweep against a team you just dumped 11.5 back, that might just be the time to do it. Other than Bobby Abreu, not a single other member of the starting eight has as much as a full year of playing time; hell, besides for 31-year-old A.J. Ellis, none is even older than 27. (Update: okay, that was true before Justin Sellers was scratched with a stiff back and replaced by Adam Kennedy.)

This lineup is either going to get no-hit or put up 17 runs. There’s really not much of a middle ground here.