"There's a chance both will be back sometime within this series," Clint Hurdle said Thursday afternoon with a smile -- before his incumbent third baseman and shortstop keyed a 4-0 win over San Francisco.
That might not be the facial expression you'd expect from a manager who currently has Aramis Ramirez hitting .340 with 13 RBIs over his past 14 games and Jung Ho Kang hitting .318 since the All-Star break. It's an impending problem that might make even a diplomat like Henry Kissinger scowl.
"What problem?" Hurdle asked. "Yeah, won't it be fun?