Byline: Jorge Arangure Jr. and Barry Svrluga

Washington Post staff writer Jorge Arangure Jr. and Barry Svrluga were online Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 2 p.m. ET to talk about the latest National League news.

The transcript follows .

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Barry Svrluga: Greetings from St. Louis, where the Arch is tall, the weather is cool and they enjoy their Cardinals. Jorge and I are going to try to chat together today, and we're safely in separate rooms here at the Rennaisance Grand, so there should only be minimal bickering.

Of course, he hasn't logged on yet, so I'll try to get as many shots in early as I can.

Ask away.

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Greatestga, Maine: Jorge and Barry, I would greatly appreciate your comments on the following:

Since none of the broadcasters made this observation I am concerned I am way off base (so to speak):

Phil Garner mismanaged the game Sunday and if it wasn't for the miracle blast by Chris Burke he was setting himself up for some major second guessing. The removal of Berkman in the 10th for a pinchrunner was a win-it-now move with ugly consequences if the game continued. As it turned out Berkman's spot came up 3 more times before the conclusion and Garner had removed his biggest bat from the game. Garner's convoluted machinations saw 2 catchers (Ausmus and Chavez) playing 1st base as well as shortstop Vizcaino. Not to mention having to use Roger Clemens as a pitch-hitter. It seems to me that Bobby Cox managed circles around Garner is in this one...regardless of the outcome.

Barry Svrluga: Since Jorge had the pleasure of covering that series, I'll let him answer. But I will also say that some of the questions yesterday to Astros players about Garner definitely had a "what the heck is he doing" tone to them.

Jorge Arangure Jr.: No question it was very risky to remove Lance Berkman, the Astros best hitters, in that situation. I'm not quite sure i would have done so. I must admit that i thought Bobby Cox handled the situation much better and had a full bench mostly going into extra innings. If not for a spectacular effort by the Houston bullpen, including Clemens, then maybe this becomes a bigger issue.

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Mechanicsville, Va.: Barry, Re - The Nats