There were bright spots in this mostly hazy season. Two were on display in last night’s game.

Martin Perez and Nathanial Lowe. 

Yes, there’s the arrival, with a bang, of Josh Jung. And the baby core of Bubba Thompson and Leody Taveras showing they might have staying power.

And, of course, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, the free agent twins. They were expected to the catalysts of the offense.

But nobody short of Perez’s and Lowe’s parents and agents had any idea they would have the kind of season they are having.

Perez wasn’t as sharp last night as he normally has been, allowing nine hits in 5.1 innings, but he allowed only three earned runs, bent but never broke (in the past, he was more brittle than a piece of dry spaghetti), and gutted out his twelfth win of the season. 

Lowe, who seemed to lose his job, or at least the confidence of his manager earlier this season (a manager who, coincidentally, lost his job), has been a one-man wrecking crew since June. He hit his twenty-fifth home run of the season last night, kept up his torrid hitting that’s now at ,308.

According to C.J. Haddad of mlb.com, since the All-Star break, Lowe leads the American League in hit, with seventy-seven, and is batting a scorching .331 on the road this season.

Perez is a free agent after this season. Lowe is not. One, or both—in the case of a blockbuster trade—might not be here next year. 

Hopefully, they both are here. Hopefully, they both continue having the season next year they are having this year. 

Because then there really would be hope.

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