Gorman graduated from puppy class yesterday. We're all so proud.

Oh, and the Brewers won big, too.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

And of course, after the game the Brewers continued to commit the most dastardly crime against humanity ever recorded in the book of "Are You Really Still Complaining About This?": the untucking of shirts. Please consult the proper authorities.

Bird Land has a post up on, you guessed it, untucked shirts. He actually explains the reasons, though. Maybe people will read it and learn something. Probably not, though.

According to Tyler Maas at Bugs and Cranks, Ryan Braun wore a different kind of uniform yesterday. Not sure if he kept it tucked in.

A friend of mine was recently working on compiling a list of things that are completely unnecessary to say. For example, he'll walk into a store, pick something up off the shelf and exclaim, "Oh, I wonder if they have these?!" Tom H. has apparently picked up the trend. This morning he's letting us all know that the Brewers, who won game 1 of a series last night, are also hoping to win game 2 to complete the sweep.

He did include this note in today's game story, though: Should CC Sabathia win the NL Cy Young? Steve Aschburner of SI.com makes a case for him.

One other awards note: Fungoes has Ryan Braun 12th in their rankings for NL MVP, behind, among others: two pitchers, an outfielder who's out for the season and an outfielder that no longer plays in the NL.

There have been times in the not-so-distant past when stuff like this would have been the only Brewer news in September: The Brewers announced their contributions to the Arizona Fall League yesterday.

Three members of the West Virginia Power (low-A) were named to the South Atlantic League's post-season All Star Team.

Also, here are some photos from Nashville including (relatively) rare photographs of Mat Gamel in a Sounds uniform.

Book your vacation days now, the postseason schedule has been announced.

On injuries:

J.D. Drew's herniated disc landed him on the DL after all.
Nats OF Austin Kearns has a stress fracture in his foot and will miss 2-4 weeks.
Rangers SP Vicente Padilla is still having issues with his neck and may not pitch Friday.
Marlins RP Renyel Pinto has been placed on the DL with a "sore hamstring" that couldn't possibly be related to this.
Rays C Dioner Navarro had to leave yesterday's game with cramping in his hamstrings and may not play today.
Nick Swisher left last night's game in the 4th inning after fouling a pitch off of his foot.

Again, this is the kind of stuff that used to be the biggest Brewer news in September: MLB Trade Rumors has projected free agent compensation for players likely to be on the move this winter.

Also likely to be on the move: most, if not all of your favorite Florida Marlins, as it seems unlikely the team will come to terms with all 18 arbitration eligible players they'll have this winter.

So let's say you're an MLB general manager and you're looking to upgrade your pitching this offseason. If CC Sabathia is out of your reach, who's the second best free-agent pitcher? Dave Cameron at Fangraphs suggests it's Derek Lowe.

I guess now that J.D. Drew has been DL'ed this move is mildly relevant, but it still feels like a yawner: The Red Sox acquired Mark Kotsay yesterday.

The race to 20 wins got a little closer yesterday: Cliff Lee picked up his 19th win last night, while Brandon Webb took the loss in his first shot at 20. If Cliff Lee reaches 20 wins, and all the signs would suggest he will, will it be the quietest 20 wins ever?

Oh, and do you hate love poems? Would you like them more if they were about Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame Catcher Carlton Fisk? I thought you would.

Drink up.

Some days witty opening lines just don't write themselves. The Brewers were off yesterday, but there were 10 other MLB games, and you can see their Win Expectancy Graphs here.

The Brewers start a quick 2-game series with the Cardinals tonight, the two teams' last scheduled meeting in 2008. So what are our expectations? Tom H. says a split is good enough. Screw that. The Brewers can't bury the Cardinals this week, but going into Thursday's off day 5.5 games up would feel a lot better than 3.5.

MLB Fanhouse notes that the Cardinals still play several contending teams down the stretch, while the Brewers have 2 series each against the Reds and Pirates.

Adam McCalvy over at The Official Site has a mailbag up, and the first question is about Jason Kendall wearing down. Yes, it is a slow news day.

So the Brewers have sold out 21 straight games, and will likely (if they haven't already) sell out both games in the Cardinals series (or at least they would have, if the series was in Milwaukee. Oops). So what exactly is a sellout? Don Walker says the Brewers call a game a sellout if only individual tickets are available. I'm not sure where I got the impression that "sold out" meant no more tickets are available. Why would the Brewers want to advertise that all of their games are sold out if there are individual tickets left?

Today's Sabathia rumor comes from Jon Heyman, who heard from an unnamed source that Sabathia would prefer to play for the Giants. El Lefty Malo sees it as unlikely. Is playing close to home so important to CC that he'd spend the next 2-3 years playing on terrible rebuilding teams? Even with Sabathia and Lincecum, does anyone think the Giants would contend anytime before 2011?

Jayson Stark dropped the ball. Even with CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets and a choice between Parra, Bush or Suppan, he doesn't think the Brewers rank within the top five postseason rotations.

Maybe starting pitching is overrated. Recondite Baseball discovered that two former Brewers are among the pitchers with the worst game score ever to record a win.

The latest WhatIfSports Power Rankings have the Brewers 3rd, behind the Cubs and Rays. The Whisnant Rankings have them 9th.

I'm not usually one to self-promote, but again, slow news day: I'm enjoying the debate in this FanPost about how to select an MVP and Ryan Braun's qualifications.

Only two injuries to report:

Johnny Cueto is only expected to miss one start with his recent elbow trouble.
Carlos Guillen left last night's game with lower back spasms and is day to day.

I'm sure the Pirates thought only scoring 3 runs on 16 hits Sunday was bad, but the Dodgers now have a feat to compare: Last night they became just the 13th team ever to collect 13 hits without scoring any runs. So now the 2008 Dodgers have won a game where they didn't pick up a single hit, and been shut out on 13 hits.

In the meantime, their manager is blogging about carrying around tiny dogs.

Drink up.

No.

Wow, that could've been the most boring Fanpost ever.

Several months ago, a group of bloggers came together to create a weekly blogpoll for MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year. I'm pretty sure that's defunct now (haven't heard about it in a while, at least), but it forced me to really think about how to pick an MVP. As a result, I have a spreadsheet sitting on my desktop. I put in the raw numbers and it gives me the following output:

The Snow Index:(TB+(BB*.864)+(SB-(2*CS)))/(AB+BB)

If you're curious about how I developed that or want to see what people at Baseball Think Factory said about it years ago, here's the explanation from back when I thought I knew everything. Certainly, people who are smarter than me have come up with better stats. But this one is mine, which means it's the one I use when I've got time to kill and no one is here to attempt to publicly tear it to shreds.

From there, I tinker with the numbers a bit by adding bonuses or penalties for the following:

Playing for a winning team, or a playoff team: I added .0075 to a hitter's Snow Index for teams at or above .500, and .015 for playing on a team that would make the playoffs if the season ended today.

Playing a premium defensive position: For this purpose, I give catchers a .02 bonus and second basemen, shortstops and center fielders a .01 bonus. In the AL, I subtract .02 from the score of designated hitters.

Plate appearances per game: This doesn't always get thrown into the MVP conversation, but a guy who plays enough to rack up 4.5 PA/G is more valuable than a guy who produces at the same rate but only comes up 3.5 times per game. For these purposes, I give .02 points to batters who hit more than 4.2 times per game, +.01 for over 4, -.01 for under 3.6 and -.02 for under 3.2.

Since I'm usually drawn to a spreadsheet when I've got time to kill, today I dumped 50 top NL players into the spreadsheet to see how close Ryan Braun is to being MVP:

1. Albert Pujols, STL .689
2. Lance Berkman, HOU .673
3. Matt Holliday, COL .664
4. Ryan Ludwick, STL .635
5. Ryan Braun, MIL .630
6. Chase Utley, PHI .628
7. Hanley Ramirez, FLA .622
8. Pat Burrell, PHI .616
9. David Wright, NYM .612
10. Chipper Jones, ATL .610

Other Brewers making the top 50:
15. Mike Cameron, .582
20. Prince Fielder, .573
26. Corey Hart, .551
32. J.J. Hardy, .533

So what do you think? Where does Ryan Braun belong on this list? Are you bored enough on this off day to make a better list?

How quickly fortunes change: one season and now Pirate fans are wondering why they can't win in Milwaukee.

Sunday's Win Expectancy Graph
Sunday's BR Box Score

Saturday's Win Expectancy Graph
Saturday's BR Box Score

Friday's Win Expectancy Graph
Friday's BR Box Score

Obligatory photgraphic evidence of the world's most hyperbolic crime against humanity: the untucking of shirts.

So, how about Guillermo Mota as an unlikely hero? I'll admit I wasn't too excited when he was called into yesterday's game, but after the game even Tom H. gave him the credit he deserves.

Lost in everything else that happened yesterday: CC Sabathia was pulled after 6 innings, possibly because of the media uproar that occurred after his 130 pitch outing last week. In fact, 6-4-2 and the LA Times are still talking about Sabathia's likely free agent destinations and how his future performance might be affected by this season.

In other pitching news, The Junkball Blues is concerned about the inconsistency and workload of Manny Parra. He's already thrown 7 more innings in 2008 than he did in all of 2007, and still has a month to go in the starting rotation.

As noted in the Fanshots, Mat Gamel will spend the last week of the minor league season in Nashville as a tryout for a potential September callup. I'm curious: what kind of production do people expect from him in the big leagues at this point, as a guy who's spent one week above AA? Let me know in the comments.

As you may know, Baseball Tonight is conducting a series this season featuring the best player in the history of each franchise. Via Batter's Box Interactive, I discovered that ESPN.com's Page 2 is featuring the worst 3 players in each franchise's history. The NL is featured here, and the AL here. Feel free to check my math if you want, but I spotted 13 former Brewers on the list, including Hideo Nomo's appearance on the list for two different teams.

The Brewers rank 6th in Phil Rogers' most recent power rankings.

On injuries:

Josh Beckett still has numbness in his hand and his scheduled start has been pushed back once again, to Friday this time.
Johnny Cueto left yesterday's game after just 3 innings with a sore triceps tendon, and will get an MRI today.
J.D. Drew has a herniated disc in his back but is trying to avoid the DL.
Royals 3B Alex Gordon is on the DL with a torn muscle in his leg.
Orlando Hernandez will be out for at least a year following surgery on his big toe and may never throw the banana again.
Royals SP Luke Hochevar is done for the season with a bruised rib cage.
Rangers SP Eric Hurley is being shut down for the season with shoulder inflammation.
Geoff Jenkins strained his hip running out an infield single and has been placed on the DL.
Royals RP Ron Mahay has been placed on the DL with a sore left foot.
Mets SP John Maine may be shut down for the rest of the season with a bone spur in his shoulder.
Blue Jays OF Brad Wilkerson has been placed on the DL with convenient timing back spasms.

Remember when this was the most prominent event in Brewer second-half baseball? With a loss and an Angels win today, the Mariners could be the first team eliminated from playoff contention. If they don't do it today, the Nationals could sneak up on them and do it tomorrow.

Everyone has a bad day sometimes, and equipment guys are no exception: Twins SS Adam Everett had to change jerseys mid-game Friday to ensure he was wearing the proper spelling of Minnesota.

Oh, and this 1970's era Brewers commercial is...well, it's everything you'd expect it to be.

Drink up.

There's not exactly a ton of fresh material out there coming off the off day, but here are some things I put together once I finally got Gorman to stop chasing ducks:

20 other teams did play yesterday. Here are their win expectancy graphs.

The Brewers open a series with the Pirates tonight. Get used to hearing that, we're going to say it 3 more times between now and October. The Brew Town Beat is pretty excited about playing the Pirates without Jason Bay and Xavier Nady. Also, his bar of the week is The Safe House, which is a bizarre experience if I've ever seen one.

The Beat also wants to know why Laynce Nix is still a Brewer but Tony Gwynn Jr. is not. I left a comment with a handful of reasons (one turned out to be wrong), but Chuckie Hacks sums it up pretty nicely too.

While we're on the subject of minor leaguers, The Junkball Blues warns us not to count our chickens before they've hatched regarding Alcides Escobar.

Maybe Escobar can play second? 64% of voters at Brewers Fanatics want Ray Durham to play at second over Rickie Weeks. Next step: a blind taste test.

Of the three remaining contenders in the NL Central (sorry, Houston), the Brewers have the lowest opponent winning percentage and most home games on their remaining schedule.

Baseball Prospectus (via Sports Illustrated) has released 26-50 of their list of best players to build a team around. Milwaukee's favorite vegetarian checks in at #35.

Injuries are really brief today: The A's placed two-fifths of their starting rotation on the DL yesterday and Royals OF Mitch Maier broke several bones in his face being hit by a pitch.

Home Run Derby's Jersey of the Week is a must see if you enjoy making fun of the Cubs, and I do. If the Cubs fail to win the World Series again, I'm hoping he'll untuck it.

Oh, and would you have guessed that Brett Myers has pitched almost as well as CC Sabathia since the All Star break? Me either.

Drink up.

I drank another Nutrisoda yesterday. And the Brewers won. I'm going to need more Nutrisoda.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

After losing 2 of 3 to the Brewers, the Astros are just one game over .500, 8.5 games behind the Brewers (and behind four other teams) for the Wild Card, and BP Postseason Odds has them at .13%, or about 1 in 756 to make the playoffs. But Crawfish Boxes wants you to know that if the Astros sweep 4 games from the Mets and the Brewers lose 4 in a row, they'll only be 4.5 games back.

Rickie Weeks was back in the lineup yesterday, and went 0-1 with 3 walks and scored 3 times. Al says he's the best leadoff hitter the Brewers have had since Paul Molitor. That's a study waiting to be done.

This much is for sure: Weeks did give J.J. Hardy a high-five following the home run that more or less sealed yesterday's game.

Prince Fielder hit two sac flies yesterday and leads the NL with 10.

Will Ben Sheets be the next injury-prone but dominant-when-healthy SP to sign a big deal with the Blue Jays? The Southpaw is hearing rumors that the Jays will make a run at Sheets this winter, but Jordan Bastian says the Jays likely won't look to replace pitching via free agency. Next spring only one of them will be right.

If the Jays would like a headstart, they could overspend on Brewer pitchers right now by picking up the contracts of Eric Gagne and David Riske, who both cleared waivers.

CC Sabathia is making the NL better one start at a time. Not only did CC Sabathia pitch his fifth complete game Monday, he also inspired Pirates SP Ian Snell, who watched footage of Sabathia on his iPhone, translated some things over to his delivery and dominated the Cardinals.

Ken Rosenthal seems to think the Brewers will exercise their $10 million option on Mike Cameron for next season. I guess the Eric Gagne experiment has shown us that there are worse ways to spend $10 million.

Jeff Moore at Dugout Central considered both Ryan Braun and CC Sabathia for NL MVP before deciding the only real candidate is Albert Pujols.

Yesterday, I took a quick look at Brewers who have hit 20 home runs and stolen 20 bases. Corey Hart needs one home run to become the first Brewer ever to do it twice. Today, Recondite Baseball takes a look at a more dubious 20/20 club: players who committed 20 errors and grounded into 20 double plays. No Brewer has ever made this list. None will in 2008, either.

Dayn Perry says the Brewers' biggest weakness is right handed middle relief. I can live with that.

On injuries:

A's SP Sean Gallagher has a tired arm and will miss his next start.
Rockies RP Matt Herges has been placed on the DL with lower back stiffness.
Hanley Ramirez will likely miss a day or two after bruising his thumb stealing a base last night.
Jim Thome was scratched from last night's game with slight soreness in his leg.
White Sox CF DeWayne Wise left last night's game with a strained abductor muscle.

Dixieflatline is everywhere these days. Today, he's posting at new SBN affiliate Driveline Mechanics about the stuff of Jeff Samardzija, whose name I still can't spell. That's the only name I've ever written, looked at and thought, "shouldn't there be another z in there?"

Finally, The Griddle handicaps the race between the Mariners and Nationals to be the first team mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Another look at the BP Postseason Odds shows that the Royals, Mariners, Nationals, Pirates and Reds have already been all but eliminated, with the Padres holding onto a slim .00005% (1 in 2 million) chance.

I filtered out 6 unnecessary commas from the original draft of today's Mug to make it smooth and add drinkability. Drink up.

So I mentioned in this morning’s Mug that I was surprised that no Brewer has ever gone 20/20 twice. I decided to take a minute to take a deeper look at it.

First, here are the five Brewers who have done it:

Tommy Harper, 1970: (31 HR, 38 SB)
Robin Yount, 1980 (23 HR, 20 SB)
Jeromy Burnitz, 1997: (27 HR, 20 SB)
Marquis Grissom, 1999: (20 HR, 24 SB)
Corey Hart, 2007: (24 HR, 23 SB)

Among players with 20 SB, here are the nearest misses:

Paul Molitor, 1982: (19 HR, 41 SB)
Paul Molitor, 1987: (16 HR, 45 SB)
Paul Molitor, 1983: (15 HR, 41 SB)
Eric Young, 2003: (15 HR, 31 SB)

And among players with 20 HR:

Robin Yount, 1987: (21 HR, 19 SB)
Robin Yount, 1989: (21 HR, 19 SB)
Cecil Cooper, 1980: (25 HR, 17 SB)
Jose Valentin, 1996: (24 HR, 17 SB)
George Scott, 1972: (20 HR, 16 SB)

Coming into 2008, only 31 Brewers had ever hit 20 HR in a season:

Geoff Jenkins (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007)
Jeromy Burnitz (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001)
Cecil Cooper (1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983)
Rob Deer (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990)
Gorman Thomas (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982)
Greg Vaughn (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996)
Robin Yount (1980, 1982, 1987, 1989)
Ben Oglivie (1979, 1980, 1982)
George Scott (1972, 1973, 1975)
Richie Sexson (2001, 2002, 2003)
Johnny Briggs (1971, 1972)
Prince Fielder (2006, 2007)
Jose Hernandez (2001, 2002)
John Jaha (1995, 1996)
Carlos Lee (2005, 2006)
Sixto Lexcano (1977, 1979)
Dave Nilsson (1997, 1999)
Ryan Braun (2008)
Marquis Grissom (1999)
Bill Hall (2006)
J.J. Hardy (2007)
Tommy Harper (1970)
Corey Hart (2007)
Wes Helms (2003)
Larry Hisle (1978)
Dave May (1973)
Don Money (1977)
Dave Parker (1990)
Ted Simmons (1982)
Dale Sveum (1987)
Jose Valentin (1996)

But only 20 Brewers have ever picked up 20 SB:

Paul Molitor (1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992)
Mike Felder (1987, 1989, 1990)
Jim Gantner (1988, 1989)
Marquis Grissom (1999, 2000)
Darryl Hamilton (1992, 1993)
Tommy Harper (1970, 1971)
Eric Young (2002, 2003)
Robin Yount (1980, 1988)
Pat Listach (1992, 1996)
Rick Auerbach (1972)
Jeromy Burnitz (1997)
Corey Hart (2007)
Don Money (1973)
Scott Podsednik (2003)
Alex Sanchez (2002)
Gary Sheffield (1990)
B.J. Surhoff (1988)
Fernando Vina (1998)
Rickie Weeks (2007)
Gerald Williams (1997)

So I'll admit it: I was thinking sweep after Monday's game. It was a trap.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

After the game, Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart had this to say: Geoff Blum is hitting .229/.269/.419 with 12 HR. Rickie Weeks, for comparison purposes, is hitting .229/.331/.381 with 10 HR. We complain an awful lot about Tom H. around here, but wow...even he wouldn't have said something like that.

Brewer management is still playing defense after leaving CC Sabathia in to throw 130 pitches Monday. Ned says it's ok because Sabathia only averages 13.7 pitches per inning. That's a "math is still on our side" moment if I've ever seen one. Ken Rosenthal got some similar quotes from Doug Melvin.

Over at Fangraphs, Dave Cameron compares Sabathia to the greatest mid-season pitching acquisitions of all time. Dugout Central and Rob Neyer both make a case for him to win NL MVP.

Corey Hart needs to hit one home run to be the first Brewer ever to finish with 20 HR and 20 steals more than once. Does it surprise anyone else that it's never happened twice? It surprised me.

Between this catch last night and this one Saturday, Gabe Kapler is giving me a reason to scroll through the Yahoo photos that doesn't involve searching for untucked shirts.

Ben Sheets ERA for August is up over 4. In-Between Hops notes that Sheets had a similar stretch in 2004, and it's probably nothing to worry about.

Power Rankings, quickly:
Whatifsports: Second, behind the Cubs.
Bugs and Cranks: Seventh.
Whisnant Rankings: Ninth.

Between the Green Pillars has made a list of four things to watch for the Brewers down the stretch. Let me summarize them for you:

1. Health
2. Health
3. Bullpen
4. Someone needs to get hot.

Tomorrow, we apply these needs to every other playoff team.

On injuries:

Josh Beckett's next start has been pushed back 3 days while doctors try to find the source of numbness in his pitching hand.
Braves IF Ruben Gotay has been placed on the DL with a hamstring strain.
Jason Isringhausen is likely out for the season with elbow tendinitis and a partially torn tendon.
O's closer George Sherrill is on the DL with shoulder inflammation.
Billy Wagner's elbow isn't getting any better and he's likely done for the year.

So, let's say for a moment you're a Reds fan. You signed Francisco Cordero before the season, hired Dusty Baker to manage and showed all the signs of "going for it." Then, you underperformed, cleaned house in the front office, traded away Ken Griffey and Adam Dunn, and now it doesn't look like you'll be any better in 2009. Is one letter to season ticket holders really going to make you feel better? Me either.

Oh, and the Cardinals season really must be over, because Cardinals Diaspora is talking about The Hills. Seriously.

Drink up.

So on Friday I saw a friend, who greeted me with a hug. We had the following exchange:

"Hey, how are you?"
"Good. I'm finally getting over my cold."
"Oh...thanks for the hug, then."

I'm guessing you can about imagine how that turned out.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So CC Sabathia threw 130 pitches last night to finish his fifth complete game with the Brewers, giving him the outright NL lead in CG. Ben Sheets has 4. Only five other NL pitchers have more than one. Only 29 NL pitchers, given a full season to work on it, have accumulated more than 8 wins. Sabathia's done that since July.

But the fact remains that he threw 130 pitches last night in a situation where it almost certainly wasn't necessary. Baseball Musings and Defensive Indifference came down hard on Ned Yost for letting Sabathia finish the game.

In the meantime, Chop-n-Change notes that 7 of Sabathia's top ten most comparable pitchers were done by age 31, which is why they're hoping the Braves won't sign him.

Even if no one else in the bullpen was ready, Salomon Torres was available to pitch last night. Also in that story: Rickie Weeks is feeling better and may not hit the DL after all.

Ryan Braun left last night's game after aggravating his intercostal strain swinging and missing. After the game, Braun downplayed the severity of the injury...I guess we'll see. In-Between Hops correctly predicted the development.

A lot was made of Cecil Cooper's prediction that the Astros would sweep the Brewers this week. There weren't very many people on the bandwagon with him, though. A poll at Crawfish Boxes showed that 38% of fans thought the Astros would win one game out of 3, and Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart thinks they'll get swept.

One note got buried in today's The Official Site's Game Preview: Jason Kendall needs seven more starts to tie the record for the most starts by a catcher in a single season in franchise history. Even if Mike Rivera starts 3 times in the next 10 games, Jason Kendall will have caught more games than any catcher in Brewer history before September 1st.

On injuries:

A's SP Justin Duchsherer left last night's game in the 3rd inning with inflammation in his hip.
Twins SS Adam Everett was hit in the hand by a foul ball last night, but X-rays were negative. He's day-to-day, just like the rest of us.
Nats C Jesus Flores hasn't played since Saturday with a sprained knee.
Ian Kinsler is likely done for the year after being diagnosed with a sports hernia.
Twins OF Delmon Young jammed his ankle last night and may miss some time.

Has there ever been a post-deadline trading period that was this active? The Dodgers reportedly acquired Greg Maddux yesterday.

This is why teams don't want their top prospects playing in the Olympics: Matt LaPorta is day-to-day (and lucky to not be much worse) after being hit in the head with a pitch during Monday's game against China.

Al Reyes is not one of TheJay's active pitchers who faced the AL Brewers, but he did spend 3 seasons as a member of the AL Brewers. Today, he's looking for work after refusing an outright assignment and being released by the Rays.

Oh, and Sabathia's win last night may not have looked that surprising, but according to NBC Olympic announcer Al Trautwig, winning when everyone expects it is one of the most difficult things in sports. Click the link to read Keith Law's reply.

Drink up.

Major League Baseball doesn't care about me, so for a day I didn't care about Major League Baseball.

Living in Iowa, I don't get to see the Brewers on TV very often. So I was pretty excited for yesterday's game on TBS. I planned my day around it. At 3, my commitments were done, the dog had been walked and I was on the couch waiting to catch game 3 of the Brewers-Dodgers series. Except I couldn't.

You see, I live in Iowa. And even though I'm hundreds of miles from Milwaukee, Iowa is technically part of the Brewers' "home market." So yesterday's game on TBS? Blacked out. Major League Baseball does this to encourage me to watch the game on FSN Wisconsin. But I don't live in Wisconsin.

All I wanted yesterday was to see a rare national television broadcast involving a team I listen to everyday but have only actually seen about a dozen times in 2008. Major League Baseball took the possibility away from me. So I skipped the game. I didn't watch it, obviously. I didn't listen to it. I didn't watch the highlights. This morning while preparing the Mug I heard it was an exciting game. I would've liked to see it.

Sunday's Win Expectancy Graph
Sunday's BR Box Score

Saturday's Win Expectancy Graph
Saturday's BR Box Score

Friday's Win Expectancy Graph
Friday's BR Box Score

The biggest weekend news is injury related. As noted in the fanshots, Rickie Weeks sprained his (surgically repaired) left thumb yesterday. I'm assuming an MRI is in the not-so-distant future, but he hasn't been DL'ed yet, so there must be a possibility it's a minor problem. Of course, there are some that would suggest that keeping Weeks from playing isn't a problem at all.

Furthermore, Salomon Torres was pulled from Saturday night's extra-inning extravaganza after one inning of work due to stiffness in his groin. If it lasts more than 4 hours, he should call a doctor.

All of these injuries are, of course, retribution for the Brewers' consistence on continuing to commit baseball's greatest atrocity: the untucking of shirts. Go ahead and click that link, if for no other reason than to look at the look on Ned's face while he's "congratulating" Prince.

I'm a few days behind on this one, but In-Between Hops was upset over Ned's decision to bat Laynce Nix third in Thursday's lineup. I was upset over how dumb it made me look for predicting Nix wouldn't get a single at-bat as a Brewer just hours before the lineup was announced.

The Hopster also took a moment to point out that if Mike Rivera kept up his current production and had been given Jason Kendall's playing time, he'd have 35 more hits and 65 more RBI.

Over the weekend, John Sickels reviewed his preseason Top 20 Prospects for the Brewers. Turns out he hit the nail on the head on most position players, but there's still pretty much no pitching in the pipeline.

After watching Saturday night's back and forth exchange during the final few innings, Adam Charles of Bugs and Cranks thinks the Brewers are showing signs of bipolar disorder. Also at Bugs and Cranks, Tyler Maas commemorates the one-millionth article on Prince Fielder's vegetarianism.

Worth noting: Of all 30 Major League Baseball franchises, the Brewers charge the lowest "convenience fees" for ordering advance tickets. They're still too high.

The Brewers rank 8th in Phil Rogers' most recent Power Rankings, seven spots behind the Cubs and five spots behind Scott Boras.

Jon Heyman has predicted the contracts some upcoming free agents will receive this winter. For Sabathia: six years, $150 million. For Sheets: three years, $51 million.

Apparently Ted Simmons likes art, but doesn't want to talk about it.

Marc Hulet of Fangraphs compares Jeremy Jeffress' drug situation to that of Josh Hamilton. Maybe I'm missing something, but last I heard Jeffress likes pot and has been suspended one time, right? That's a bit different from having to go back to living with your grandmother while recovering from cocaine addiction.

On injuries:

Chris Carpenter is back on the DL with a posterior shoulder strain.
Tom Glavine is on the DL with a strained elbow.
Angels SS Maicer Izturis is done for the season with a torn ligament in his thumb.
Jeff Kent is going to get hurt if he keeps talking trash about Vin Scully. (h/t Jim Powell)
Kazuo Matsui is on the DL with an irritated disc in his back.
Carlos Silva is on the DL with triceps tendinitis.

The Mets pulled off a trade over the weekend, acquiring reliver Luis Ayala from the Nationals. Just when you think the trades are over, there's another one. And the Nats, never one to miss an opportunity to make things worse, followed up the trade by failing to sign their first-round pick.

Three former Brewers in the news today: the Yankees DFA'd Richie Sexson after he hit .250/.371/.393 in 35 plate appearances. Gary Glover is back in the big leagues with the Tigers, and R.A. Dickey tied a major league record with 4 wild pitches in one inning.

Oh, and do you need a new tailgating grill? go win one here.

Drink up.