So Gorman and I were out for a walk last night, and came across some ducks. Gorman loves ducks. So we chased the ducks around for a bit, until an old man sitting on his porch yelled at us to stop. I immediately thought of Murray Chass.

Also, the Brewers won their second straight road series.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Rickie Weeks was the unlikely hero yesterday, going 4-for-5 with 2 RBI and 11 assists in the field. After the game, though, he dramatically and unforgivably insulted the game of baseball by untucking his shirt. Note the veteran grittiness of Craig Counsell, who refused to participate in such an egregious affront to the game and left his shirt stuffed firmly in his pants.

With the loss yesterday, the Reds have lost each of Homer Bailey's first eight major league starts. In fact, he hasn't participated in a win at any level since April 30. It's gotten so bad he's quoting Nietzsche.

The Brew Town Beat has joined me and Tom H. in wondering if Ned Yost is trying to kill Jason Kendall.

Apparently Twins backup catcher Mike Redmond takes ground balls at third everyday, even though he's only played there one game in his career. If Mike Rivera had devoted his spare time this year to learning new positions, could he play everywhere by now?

Mike Cameron narrowly missed robbing a home run yesterday. I feel like I've seen this picture, where he swings and misses at what would've been a great catch, 15-20 times this season. Has anyone done the numbers to figure out if/how much Cameron has actually helped in the field this season?

The latest Bugs and Cranks power rankings have the Brewers 8th.

There might have been more, but Robinson Cancel, Raul Casanova and Claudio Vargas are all Mets this year: Of the 99 former big leaguers playing independent ball this season, I was only able to find two former Brewers, Wayne Franklin and Will Cunnane.

On injuries:

Joba Chamberlain has rotator cuff tendinitis, less serious than previously expected.
Nats OF Elijah Dukes' calf strain is worse than expected and could end his 2008 season.
A's SP Sean Gallagher will have his next start pushed back at least 6 days to recover from shoulder inflammation.
Indians reliever Matt Ginter has been placed on the DL with a forearm strain.
Rangers RP David Murphy strained a ligament in his knee in a collision at home plate yesterday and should miss 2-4 weeks.

This is when you know you're having a tough season: Jeff Francoeur is slugging .357 in 2008, which is the same as the career slugging percentage of a pitcher (Mike Hampton) on his team.

I think we'd all like to see all 30 big league parks, but 30 parks in 26 days with overnight drives like Kansas City to Detroit and Minneapolis to Arlington seems a little extreme.

Drink up.

I had a Nutrisoda yesterday. It was fantastic. Then the Brewers won. I went online and ordered a case.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Ok, I'm as eager as anybody to move on, but most of today's most interesting Brewer links are still about Fielder/Parra, so let's bust out some more bullet points:

• Prince apologized, but not to Manny.
• Big League Stew wants to know if you think this will affect the Brewers.
• It obviously didn't affect Prince's performance.
• Adam Charles wonders if the whole thing was about Brett Favre.
• After the game, Fielder continued to commit the crime many find so intolerable: untucking his shirt.

I know we're all sick of conversations about Fielder's diet too, but Red Hot Mama has a post on Fielder's caloric intake that actually raises interesting questions.

Does it seem to you like the Brewers might be on pace to set a single-season record for solo home runs? They're not.

If Corey Hart stays hot, pretty soon we'll all be stealing hairstyle ideas from Vanilla Ice.

The Canadian Olympic team won't return from Beijing until after the signing deadline, so the Brewers went ahead and signed Brett Lawrie yesterday. If his Olympic performance is anything like his triple-crown winning performance in the Junior World Championships, his stock should go up pretty fast.

On injuries:

Joba Chamberlain is going to see Dr. James Andrews.
Blue Jays utilityman Joe Inglett missed yesterday's game with "a wonky left knee." Apparently medical terminology is different in Canada.
O's OF Adam Jones has a broken foot and is likely out for the year.
Billy Wagner is on the DL with a strained forearm.
Rangers closer C.J. Wilson is headed to the DL with bone spurs in his elbow.

A mystery has been solved and we can all rest easier. MurrayChass.com's real author is...Murray Chass.

I don't know if MurrayChass.com is banned in China, but I can tell you that joeposnanski.com is, which will probably make it difficult for him to blog from the Olympics.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz is still upset over Monday's Cubs/Astros game being played through a tornado warning. He's calling for discipline for crew chief Wally Bell, and raises the question of whether the game would have continued if the Cubs were winning. As is frequently the case, MLB has no interest in publicly disclosing their thought process on the matter.

Jim Caple says closer is the most overrated position in sports. His favorite team must have a good one.

Would you like to preserve a piece of history in your home? How about a seat from Shea Stadium? Willing to pay $869 for one? I didn't think so. Consider making an investment in this flood relief charity auction instead.

Drink up.

So, a series opening loss, and a fight in the dugout? Seems like we could be in for a rough Tuesday.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

As one might expect, talk about last night's little dust-up is all over the web this morning. Let's see if I can remember how to bust out the bullet points:

• Here's Tom Haudricourt's initial reaction.
• Voros McCracken has the video, if you haven't seen it, along with a reference to the Fielder/Sabathia Onion article of a week ago.
• Afterwards, Tom H. attempted to put together the pieces on what happened, and asks if it's a big deal.
• In-Between Hops has a list of phone calls Mark A. should be making today.
• The Brew Town Beat is calling this the beginning of a second half swoon.
• Babes Love Baseball wonders if maybe Parra was just being a dick.

Hey, I can do bullet points after all! Jeff will be so proud.

Speaking of Jeff, he's got a new article up over at The Hardball Times where he takes a look at the remaining 50 games for the Brewers and reveals what he wants for his birthday.

A couple of months ago, I asked if Jason Kendall might be catching a little too much and risking burnout. Response was mixed. Today, Tom H. asks the same question. Does this help or hurt my credibility? I'm unsure.

Another sign July was a pretty good month: The Brewers had both the NL Player of the Month (Ryan Braun) and the NL Pitcher of the Month (CC Sabathia). Our August setback, though, has dropped the Brewers to 5th in the WhatIfSports power rankings.

I'll admit it: I can't get enough Trenni. Today she's talking with Drew Olson about Erin Andrews and appropriate ballpark attire.

I didn't mention the passing of Skip Caray yesterday, mainly because I didn't know where to start. Jim Powell grew up listening to Caray in Atlanta, and has a fitting tribute today.

On injuries:

A's OF Travis Buck has been diagnosed with an inner ear infection.
Joba Chamberlain left last night's start with shoulder stiffness and will get an MRI.
Carl Crawford missed last night's game with a sore hamstring, and will likely miss a day or two more.
Nats SS Alberto Gonzalez left last night's game with a "left glut contusion."

The investigation into bonuses for Dominican players continues, but this time it's baseball's wealthiest franchise being accused of forcing Dominican kids to kick back some of their bonuses. There's nothing like a billion dollar organization stealing money from people in poverty.

I fell asleep before the end of the game, but Jose de Jesus Ortiz is upset about the umpires' decision to keep the Cubs and Astros on the field through a lightning storm last night.

So first Murray Chass wrote and said scathing things about bloggers. Then his employer bought him out. Now he has a website, but we're not sure if it's actually his? Umpbump.com is on the case.

Recondite Baseball takes a look at players returning to the big leagues in 2008 after absences of two years or more. Four of the first six names should look familiar.

Geoff Young of Ducksnorts has apparently been offered a spot in the press box but turned it down. Let me make it perfectly clear now: I don't live close enough to Milwaukee to make use of it every day, but if the Brewers would like to offer me a press pass the answer is yes.

Of course, in the press box at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha they can't even get to Royals.com.

Oh, and if you'd like to wear a locket with a picture of your special someone, favorite Brewer, dachshund or retro logo but you keep changing your mind on which picture to use, today's Woot might be of use to you.

Drink up.

Now I know why they call them the Dog Days of Summer. Yesterday: 95 degrees, heat index over 110. Today's forecast: 96, heat index over 110. If it stays like this I might die, but Gorman can't wait to go outside and lay in the driveway. (UPDATE: New pics of Gorman are up.)

Oh yeah, and the Brewers took 2 of 3 on the road.

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

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

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

Well, the road winning streak is over, stopped at 9 games, but Jim Powell notes that if not for the 9th inning collapse in Arizona a month ago, it would've been a franchise record 12 games coming into yesterday. You can also click that link for his thoughts on Rickie Weeks, Brett Favre and...Roger Federer? Really?

The Junkball Blues takes a look at Prince Fielder, and his climb back from disappointing to stellar in 2008.

Seamheads puts the Brewers at 20-1 odds to win the NL Central. BP Postseason Odds have the Brewers at 13.3%, which is slightly less than 3-in-20, so I guess that's close to fair. Spitting Seeds predicts the three NL division leaders will win their divisions and the Wild Card leader will win the Wild Card. Gutsy.

Phil Rogers ranks the Brewers 9th in his most recent power rankings, but that's actually 8th if you only count MLB teams. The Whisnant rankings at Dugout Central have been revamped and now list the Brewers 10th.

Dayn Perry says the Wild Card is hurting, not helping, baseball in 2008. One could say the same thing about Dayn Perry.

Jon Heyman lists the Brewers among the trade deadline winners. They must have won pretty big, because before the Sabathia trade Heyman hardly noticed their existence.

On injuries:

Mets OF Marlon Anderson has been placed on the DL with a hamstring strain.
A's RP Andrew Brown has been placed on the DL with biceps tendinitis.
Cards OF Chris Duncan will miss the rest of the season following surgery to replace a disc in his neck.
Nomar Garciaparra has been placed on the DL with a strained roster spot.
Ken Griffey, Jr. left Saturday's game with "heat-related cramping."
Royals 2B Mark Grudzielanek left Friday's game after colliding with 1B Russ Gload.
Reds IF/OF Jerry Hairston, Jr. will miss a couple of days at the very least with a sore hamstring.
Orlando Hernandez still needs a special shoe to throw the banana.
Mets SP John Maine won't be able to pitch through a strained rotator cuff after all. He's on the DL.
Phillies RP Rudy Seanez has been placed on the DL with shoulder and back soreness.
Braves RP Rafael Soriano has been placed on the DL for the third time in 2008 with elbow inflammation.

The first trade deadline has come and passed, of course, but trades are still available for those willing to wander through the obscure and byzantine procedures of post-deadline waiver trading. MLB Trade Rumors has a nice roundup of posts explaining the rules.

I'm a little disappointed in myself today. I just realized that Khalil Greene injured himself punching a storage chest and I completely failed to mention that he'd been attacked by THE SPAZZOSAURUS!

Drink up. Drink two, in fact. It's hot out there.

A "friend" left this comment on my Facebook wall yesterday: I responded with the following: Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

The View From the Bleachers has made a list of 9 reasons it sucks to be a Brewer fan. Apparently coming up with a tenth was too much work. I usually try not to troll, but I felt compelled to remind them that being a Cubs fan isn't exactly 100 years of sunshine either.

With that said, after five straight losses to drop from tied to five back, I do feel like I can relate to some of these pictures. XKCD also has a pretty good metaphor for the situation.

In-Between Hops and The Brew Town Beat want me to come down off the ledge. I will, but can I leave Ned up there? Via FNY, I found this list of 10 stupid things Ned has said in the last 4 days.

This did help to cheer me up, though: a Big League Stew interview with CC Sabathia that's almost too funny to be true.

Beyond the Box Score says the Brewers were winners at the trading deadline. That gives us exactly 2 wins in the last 7 days.

Only a couple of injuries today:

Khalil Greene broke his left hand on a storage chest last night. Was he frustrated over his current play or remaining a Padre? We may never know.
Tigers P Todd Jones has been placed on the DL with shoulder inflammation.

You've probably heard endlessly about the Manny Ramirez deal. You've probably heard about Ken Griffey, Jr. going to the White Sox as well. Even if you have, Hal McCoy's interview with Ken Griffey, Sr. covers some things you might not know about Griffey's time in Cincinnati.

Some other transactions you might not have heard about: the Twins are expected to DFA Livan Hernandez today. And the Nationals released Johnny Estrada, Paul Lo Duca and Felipe Lopez in the same day.

Home Run Derby has a story today on obstructed view seats, which come with the added advantage of giving you something to bang your head against when your team drops 5 straight games at home.

People don't usually complain when Erin Andrews obstructs their view, but Mike Nadel is making an exception. The piece goes on and on about her outfit but doesn't include a picture. Thanks to Deadspin for filling that gap.

Oh, and Garfield Minus Garfield is becoming a book.

Drink up.

So I spent 12 innings sitting in the heat at the Iowa Cubs-Colorado Springs Sky Sox game last night. I nearly sweated myself to death and sat way too close to a throng of screaming 10-year-olds...but it sounds like I had more fun than I would have watching the Brewer game.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So, while I attempt to recover from my short night of sleep, the trade deadline is about 6 hours away. The Official Website says the Brewers are done making moves, but here are some other moves that have been made, should be made or could be made:

DONE:

The Yankees sent LaTroy Hawkins to the Astros for a low-level prospect.
The Tigers traded Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees for Kyle Farnsworth.

"DONE," BUT NOT CONFIRMED:

The Reds traded Ken Griffer, Jr. to the White Sox for an undisclosed return.
The Red Sox send Manny Ramirez to Florida in a three-team deal involving the Pirates and Jason Bay.

OTHER RUMORS:

The Cubs are unwilling to give up Felix Pie to get Raul Ibanez.
The Twins may be willing to give up Boof Bonser to get Rich Aurilia from the Giants.
The Marlins may send 1B Mike Jacobs to the Giants for Bengie Molina.
The Rays are working on a deal for Adam Dunn.

Ok, with that out of the way, what else is out there?

Yovani Gallardo's rehab is going well and he's still hoping to start games in September.

Right Field Bleachers compares 2008 Mike Cameron to 2005 Geoff Jenkins, who produced similarly before finishing the season smoking hot. Cameron, of course, has 25 fewer games to work with, but I'd be ok with it if he finished the season with Jenkins' 2005 numbers.

The most recent Bugs and Cranks and Riding the Pine power rankings have the Brewers 7th.

On injuries:
Tim Hudson will likely need Tommy John surgery and will be out until around this time in 2009.
Rangers SP Eric Hurley was removed from yesterday's start after 2 innings and will miss his next start with biceps tendinitis.
Tigers RP Todd Jones "felt something" while pitching Wednesday. That's specific.
Scott Rolen's surgically repaired shoulder is bothering him again. He missed yesterday's game.
Kerry Wood missed his scheduled simulated game yesterday with the blister that never ends.

That's all for today. Drink up.

So, if the Brewers don't manage to win the next two and salvage a split of this series, will this be the most disappointing home series in Brewer history?

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So Ben Sheets didn't have it last night. It happens. I was about ready to give Sheets and Yost the benefit of the doubt before Brewers Bar made me realize that Sheets' entire 6th inning meltdown last night took place without a single mound visit. This is your ace we're talking about, in the 6th inning. I can understand not wanting to pull him, since it is only the 6th with no outs, but he gave up 7 straight hits...don't you at least want to go calm him down?

Complaining about Cubs fans seems to be en vogue today, and they probably deserve it. Viva Cerveceros recounts a post-arrest story, and The Brew Town Beat missed an opportunity to prevent a moron from reproducing last night as well.

On the flip side, The View From the Bleachers doesn't like Ryan Braun, because he's smug and cocky. I was going to retaliate here by calling Carlos Zambrano a hotheaded dick, especially after he stared down Ray Durham going back to the dugout last night after a strikeout in an at-bat where Durham was injured on a foul ball. Classy.

But I've decided not to go that route, since Cub fans have been tortured enough. They've gone 100 years since they won a World Series, and there will be a World Series banner hanging in "Wrigley Field North" before there's one in the real thing.

Ray Durham left the game in the seventh and is day-to-day, by the way.

On to other things: CC Sabathia took out an ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer to thank Indians fans for their support. If you click the link, you can see the full ad. It's a classy move.

And if you're sick of Brewer-Cub nonsense and would like to take a break for a few minutes before it resumes again tonight (or in the comments of this post momentarily), go read Battlekow's post ranking Brewer prospects. I routinely defeat Battlekow at Boggle, but he knows a lot more about prospects than I do, so it evens out.

On injuries:

Hank Blalock has been placed on the DL for the 3rd time this season, this time with shoulder inflammation.
Twins 2B Alexi Casilla has been placed on the DL with torn ligaments in his thumb.
Pirates 1B Adam LaRoche has been placed on the DL with a rib injury.
Mets SP John Maine has a strained rotator cuff but may make his next start anyway.
Scott Podsednik has hit the DL with a broken pinky finger.

Ichiro singled to lead off last night's Mariners game and now has 3,000 hits between Japan and MLB, with 1722 coming on this side of the Pacific. Plus, the M's won to reach eight games over .300.

Blue Jays C Gregg Zaun isn't getting to play as much as he'd like and is asking to be traded. He's only gotten 211 plate appearances in 2008. That's 168 more plate appearances than Mike Rivera.

Three Cardinal minor leaguers have been busted for PED use. Maybe every system has 3 users in it, or more, but how many guys busted from one system at one time before it becomes an organizational problem?

Oh, and if you missed it yesterday, apparently there's still a woot-off today.

Drink up.

From the JS: And everywhere else, for that matter.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

I didn't get a chance to watch the game last night, but I could tell Rickie Weeks was struggling because my dad called twice to complain about him. After the game, Ned Yost said Weeks was rushing his throws. The Brew Town Beat took it to the next level and said he sucks at life. One thing is for sure: you know your defense is bad when people are seriously considering Ray Durham as a defensive replacement.

As noted in the Fanshots, Derrick Turnbow has a partial tear of his rotator cuff. Surgery may or may not be needed, but he's done for 2008, at any rate. In the grand scheme, this is likely good news for Turnbow, who can rehab, recover and attempt a fresh start in 2009, but it probably is the end of his time in a Brewer uniform.

ESPN has opened up the voting for the greatest Brewer of all time. I'm guessing the winner is more or less a foregone conclusion, but go check out the list of candidates anyway.

Robin Yount also made The Hardball Times' list of greatest slugging middle infielders of all time.

Today we have good, bad and bizarre power rankings:
THE GOOD: WhatifSports ranks the Brewers #1 by more than 2 full wins.
THE BAD: The Whisnant Rankings dropped the Brewers from 15th to 16th.
THE BIZARRE: Andrea Reiher of Bugs and Cranks ranks the Brewers 6th. At least I think the Alice Cooper quote represented the Brewers.

Batter's Box Interactive takes a look at players on every NL team with a shot at the Hall of Fame, and comes up with 5 Brewers: CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun...and Eric Gagne. Really? Eric Gagne?

Jonathan Mayo recently posted his notes from the AAA All-Star game, and says that Luis Pena created the biggest buzz with his three-digit fastball...and the home run Pawtucket's Chris Carter hit off of it.

On injuries:

Blue Jays IF Aaron Hill continues to miss time as he slowly recovers from a concussion.
Tim Hudson has been placed on the DL with ligament damage in his elbow.
Chipper Jones' hamstring has landed him back on the DL.
Mets P John Maine will have an MRI today after leaving last night's game with shoulder stiffness.
Jorge Posada will have shoulder surgery after all, and the time spent waiting to decide may mean he's not ready for spring training 2009.
Blue Jays RP Brian Tallet has been placed on the DL with a broken toe.
Michael Young fractured his right ring finger and should miss 5-7 days.

We'll never know how Dennis Sarfate could have fit into this year's Brewer bullpen, but he's sliding into the Orioles rotation on Wednesday.

Thanks to Dixieflatline, who mentioned this one in yesterday's comments: Over at the Hardball Times, John Walsh takes a look at the change-up, why it's not traditionally thrown inside, and how Ted Lilly has gotten away with throwing it inside anyway.

I know Greg Maddux has been around a long time and thrown a lot of pitches, but would you have guessed he's moved into tenth place on the all-time strikeout list? I would not have.

If you or someone in your family would like to win the opportunity to meet Derek Jeter and assess in person the possibility that he'll someday be baseball's least deserving Hall of Famer, weplay.com has a deal for you.

In the wake of last week's ugly minor league brawl in Peoria, the Dayton Dragons released the player whose hard slide started the altercation. The player who tried to throw a ball into the opposing team's dugout, missed and hit a fan faces felony charges. I hadn't heard anything about him being released, but he's not on Peoria's roster as of this morning.

Oh, and by the way, there's a Woot-off going on today, so if you were looking for an opportunity to go impulse buy electronics, here you go.

Drink up.

Well, this weekend was a nice step back into tradition. First, on Friday, the Brewers came home with an 8 game winning streak. They'd just finished what Jim Powell was calling the greatest Brewer road trip of all time. So they put on the retro uniforms and lost.

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

The Brewers are 4-5 in retro uniform home games this season, and 28-14 in all other home games. The Brew Town Beat has joined me in calling for the end of Retro Fridays. We don't need to use 1982 to generate excitement anymore, the team on the field right now is pretty good.

Then, on Saturday, a come from behind victory and high fives all around:

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

Finally, on Sunday, we took a trip through more recent history, and had a good old fashioned Yosting.

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

This should come as a surprise to no one: Ned Yost says Suppan was one pitch away from getting out of the 5th, which is why Ned left him in to surrender 7 runs. Al says most of Suppan's problems can be traced to bad luck. That doesn't change the fact that he walked the leadoff man, gave up hits to 5 of the next 6 batters he faced, and came within about 20 feet of giving up back-to-back-to-back home runs to Carlos Lee, Geoff Blum and Hunter Pence. And he was allowed to do all of this in a pennant race game while an extra starter, Seth McClung, was sitting in the bullpen.

In-Between Hops wants Suppan pulled from the rotation. I still think he can be effective if managed properly. Yesterday was the textbook definition of improper management.

All of this plus the tight races in the AL and NL East have combined to create the closest pennant races in decades. Baseball Musings looks at just how close they are.

Phil Rogers ranked the Brewers 5th in his most recent power rankings. This week, there's only real teams in front of them.

Tom H. ranked the top remaining Brewer prospects by position. I'm curious to hear what people with a better grasp of the minors think of that list. I immediately noticed that Hernan Iribarren is nowhere to be found.

Skyking162 gives Prince Fielder a 3.5 and Ryan Braun a 3.0 in his rating system for hitters. I think Braun belongs on the same level as Fielder, but aside from that I can live with it.

On injuries:

Rick Ankiel was scratched yesterday with an abdominal strain.
White Sox 3B Joe Crede was DL'ed Friday with back stiffness.
Phillies 3B Pedro Feliz missed the weekend series with a stiff lower back but should play Tuesday.
Twins OF Carlos Gomez had to be taken off the field on a cart Friday night after colliding with the wall while making a catch.
Scott Linebrink has been placed on the DL with shoulder inflammation.
Brian McCann left yesterday's game with a mild concussion after a collision at home plate.
Kevin Millwood has been placed on the DL with a right groin strain.
Tigers RP Joel Zumaya left yesterday's game with tightness in his tricep.

Obviously the Sheets-Sabathia 1-2 punch is pretty good, but could a Sheets-Oswalt combination be similar? Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart thinks the Astros should make a run at Ben Sheets this winter.

If that doesn't work out, Gary Glover will likely also be on the market, as the Rays may be getting ready to DFA him.

Major League Baseball has kicked the issue around long enough. Bats are breaking at an alarming rate, and they're calling in...The US Forest Service? What?

Oh, and if you have to postpone a game because of a stabbing a block from the ballpark, maybe you're playing baseball in the wrong neighborhood.

Drink up.