SB Nation - Mitch Stetter

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:09:33 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

LaTroy Hawkins and Glenn Robinson faced each other in high school. This is the kind of thing that passes for news in December.

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Some things to read while trying not to dance.

LaTroy Hawkins was in Milwaukee yesterday for his physical, making his deal official (FanShot). As mentioned previously, he's due $3.5 million in 2010 and $4 million in 2011, plus $550k available if he maximizes his incentives. One thing I didn't know until reading it afterwards: Hawkins grew up in Gary, Indiana and played basketball against former Buck Glenn Robinson.

I've mentioned previously that the bullpen situation is starting to fill up, but realized yesterday that I've been leaving Carlos Villanueva out of all of my projections. As Adam McCalvy noted in his story on Hawkins, the bullpen now has Trevor Hoffman, Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Mitch Stetter, Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva and David Riske, and barring a trade or injury, it looks like Chris Smith, Chris Narveson, Chuck Lofgren and Zack Braddock, among others, are on the outside looking in.

While there may not be much competition for a spot in the bullpen, there will be an interesting race to see who opens the season as the backup catcher. View From Bernie's Chalet handicaps the candidates, and is hoping for George Kottoras to open the season in the majors, with Jonathan Lucroy in AAA and Angel Salome on the trading block. Two quick thoughts on that:

Kottoras is out of options, so unless one of the prospects blows him out of the water this spring, he'll likely make the team.
You can never have too many catchers, so don't be surprised if the Brewers hang onto both Lucroy and Salome and try to work out some kind of rotation in Nashville.

Speaking of competitions involving backup catchers, we need your vote to help select a backup catcher for the BCB All Decade Team. As of this writing, Mike Rivera leads Jason Kendall by 15 votes.

At Mike Cameron's press conference in Boston yesterday, we heard some insight for the first time into Ken Macha's feeling toward the running game last season. 2009 was the first time in Cameron's career he's had single-digit stolen bases, and he said he "ran into a little situation where I had to abide by the rules of the manager, even though I’ve been pretty successful, I mean, 80 percent of the time that I’ve ran." Macha has admitted he'll have to open up the running game a little more this season, but this is the first time I can recall hearing a player talk about restraints last season.

Every now and then the Mug provides me an "Ask and you shall receive" moment. Yesterday I asked about differences in attendance at Miller Park based on the starting pitcher, and Wisconsin Sports Tap did the research, discovering no correlation. Many, if not most, Brewer tickets are probably purchased too far in advance to predict starting pitching assignments, so that's likely what I should have expected.

In the minors: FanGraphs unveiled their Top Ten Brewer Prospects yesterday. Alcides Escobar sits atop the list, as he likely will in just about every set of rankings coming out this winter, but Brett Lawrie climbed in front of Mat Gamel for the #2 spot. We'll be doing our Community Prospect Rankings in January, and I'm curious to see where Lawrie will rank there.

Around baseball:

D-Backs: Signed pitcher Rodrigo Lopez to a minor league deal.
Dodgers: Signed infielder Jamey Carroll to a two year deal worth $3.85 million and signed reliever Luis Ayala to a minor league deal.
Orioles: Signed reliever Mike Gonzalez to a two year deal worth $12 million, and third baseman Garrett Atkins to a one year deal.
Rangers: Signed pitcher Geoff Geary and infielder Ray Olmedo to minor league deals.
Tigers: Re-signed infielder Ramon Santiago to a two year deal.

The Blue Jays, Phillies, Mariners and A's also finalized their four way deal involving Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. It's been a time for change in Toronto over the last few months: Jordan Bastian noted that the Rogers Centre features three-story images of Alex Rios, Scott Rolen, B.J. Ryan and Roy Halladay. All four will now need to be removed.

In the interest of keeping conversation going and providing fresh content on the site each day, I occasionally post things that wouldn't be front page-worthy during the season, but keep things lively in December. Occasionally when I do that, someone stops by the comments to make sure I know I'm wasting their time, or ask why we're voting for bench players on the All Decade Team. Yes, I know those posts aren't hard-hitting news, but they beat spending a day ranking and discussing your favorite Pixar movies, like Keith Law and Rob Neyer did yesterday.

Earlier this week he celebrated a birthday, and today former Brewer Matt Kinney is the subject of Lookout Landing's Faces series.

Happy birthday today to 1986 and 1989 Brewer Bryan Clutterbuck, who turns 50.

Drink up.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:18:55 -0000

by Jim Prisching - AP

Craig Counsell is expected to re-sign today.

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Some things to read while John Tesh rocks the NBA on NBC theme (h/t Amy K. Nelson).

Randy Wolf is expected to undergo a physical this morning and once he does, expect his contract to become official sometime later today. That might not be today's only announcement, though: the Brewers are also expected to finalize a deal with Craig Counsell today. With Counsell, Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Alcides Escobar, Mat Gamel and Casey McGehee all on the roster, the Brewers' Opening Day infield is probably set, barring injury or trade.

Meanwhile, Mike Rivera is surprised to be looking for work after being non-tendered over the weekend. He thought the decision not to retain Jason Kendall would give him an edge as the only returning catcher familiar with the Brewer pitching staff.

As of this writing, roughly 4% of voters in the poll on your right listed the decision to offer Dave bush a 2010 contract as the one Brewer move from this weekend they would change. That's not exactly a large chunk of the fanbase, but In-Between Hops is taking on that vocal minority, making the case that the Brewers made the right move by giving Bush another shot.

If you missed Morineko's Weekend Mug, follow the link over to it for full coverage of the Brewers' arbitration decisions, and a link to this list of all the non-tenders leaguewide.

Looking back at last week, Jon Heyman ranked the Brewers among the Winter Meeting winners. Meanwhile, Marc Hulet of The Baseball Analysts listed Rule 5 selection Chuck Lofgren in the "Why Bother?" category.

The more I think about it, the more I think Lofgren will have a tough task ahead of him if he's going to make the team out of spring training. With Trevor Hoffman, LaTroy Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Claudio Vargas and Mitch Stetter back, there's only two bullpen spots left that are potentially available (barring injury), and Chris Smith, John Axford, Chris Narveson, Zach Braddock and now Lofgren fighting for them. I like Lofgren's potential and hope the Brewers will get an opportunity to realize it, but right now he might be the third or fourth best lefty in the bullpen competition.

If you have a vague interest in Brewer baseball, but wish there was less analysis and more profanity on this site, then Miller Park Drunk's RUNNING series might be just the ticket for you. Follow these links for bad Prince Fielder jokes, some fan fiction involving Ryan Braun trying to rap, and a vague musical reference to Rickie Weeks.

In the minors: Baseball Intellect has video footage of some at bats featuring Cameron Garfield, Cutter Dykstra and Josh Prince from a Pioneer League game back in July. They're pay-only, but there are worse ways to spend $2.95.

If you were gone this weekend, you didn't miss the opportunity to help select a center fielder and catcher for the BCB All Decade Team. Voting closes at 4 pm today for center fielders and 4 pm tomorrow for catchers. We'll open the voting for the final starting outfield spot later today.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Signed catcher John Buck to a one-year deal worth $2 million, signed Joey Gathright to a minor league deal,
Braves: Signed Matt Diaz to a one year, $2.55 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
D-Backs: Re-signed infielder Augie Ojeda to a one year deal, and avoided arbitration with Blaine Boyer.
Dodgers: Signed pitcher Josh Towers to a minor league deal.
Giants: Signed shortstop-turned-pitcher Tony Pena Jr. to a minor league deal.
Indians: Re-signed pitchers Adam Miller and Anthony Reyes to minor league deals.
Marlins: Signed catcher Ronny Paulino to a one-year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Nationals: Re-signed Scott Olsen to a one year deal. Also signed pitcher Ryan Speier to a minor league deal.
Padres: Signed pitcher Kevin Correia to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Pirates: Signed Ronny Cedeno to a one year, $1.125 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rangers: Signed infielder Esteban German to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rays: Avoided arbitration with catcher Dioner Navarro and pitchers Grant Balfour, Rafael Soriano, Lance Cormier and Randy Choate.
Royals: Avoided arbitration with pitchers Brian Bannister and Kyle Davies. They also signed pitcher Bruce Chen and catcher Vance Wilson to minor league deals.
White Sox: Signed J.J. Putz to a one year deal.

Meanwhile, the market heated up immediately for Yankees non-tender Chien-Ming Wang, with Ken Rosenthal reporting that six teams have already expressed interest. He doesn't list the teams, but I wouldn't be surprised to discover the Brewers are one of them.

I promise, I'm not going to mention it every time someone says something new about Jason Kendall. In fact, I might try to go the rest of the week without mentioning him at all. With that said, I thought these three links about him were interesting:

Joe Posnanski has a look at the potential Opening Day lineup for the 2010 Royals, now including Kendall.
He also compares Kendall to a superball on the field at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
Reminding us all how far and how fast Kendall has fallen, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? named Kendall the Pirate Catcher of the Decade.

Weeks ago I linked to a post from minor league veteran Garrett Broshuis, mentioning the challenges in finding quality, healthy food in minor league clubhouses. It looks like that problem may be on its way to being resolved: After discussing it at the Winter Meetings, several teams are making an effort to provide healthier options, and remove the constant flow of junk.

If you're a fan of sabermetrics, or just want to learn more about them, I've got two links for you today:

TangoTiger has a look at OPS+, and some minor adjustments that could be made to it to make it more useful than some other advanced metrics.
That post links to this one, Big League Stew's beginner's guide to wOBA. I learned a fair amount by reading that one.

Gorman Thomas celebrated a birthday over the weekend, and while this probably isn't what he had in mind for a gift, David Chalk of Seventh Inning 'Stache has inducted him into the MLB Mustache Hall of Fame.

On this day in 1998, the Brewers acquired Alex Ochoa from the Twins for a minor leaguer named Darrell Nicholas. Ochoa spent one season as a Brewer, hitting .300/.404/.466 before being traded to the Reds for Mark Sweeney after the season.

Happy birthday today to:

Former Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer Greg Goossen, who turns 64.
Dave Nilsson, who appeared in 837 games as a Brewer and turns 40.
Marcus Jensen, who appeared in 18 games over two tours as a Brewer and turns 37.

Sean Forman, founder of Baseball Reference, is also celebrating his birthday today. You can help him celebrate by sponsoring a page. I know someone around here will want this one.

Drink up.

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:33:52 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

I've done pictures of Randy Wolf for three straight days, so here's one of LaTroy Hawkins.

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Some things to read while compounding the problem.

The Brewer front office staff is back home from the Winter Meetings, so it's time to take a look at the recaps:

MLB FanHouse lists the Brewers as the big winner in the NL Central.
In-Between Hops ranked the Brewers #1 in free agent signings.
Big League Stew ranked the signings of Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins as the meetings' 6th and 7th biggest moves, respectively.
John Steinmiller has a recap with pictures of what the Winter Meetings looked like from inside the Brewers' suite.

For the time being, the title of "newest Brewer" belongs to Rule 5 selection Chuck Lofgren, and he's excited for the opportunity. He's been a starter throughout the minors, but it sounds like he'll be given a shot to make the team as a situational lefty. Don't underestimate the value of having one more guy in the bullpen who could be called upon to make a spot start if needed. With that said, he is at best a complement to Mitch Stetter, not a replacement.

Meanwhile, for the second straight day I'm writing about a pitcher who doesn't actually want to be here. Yesterday, it was LaTroy Hawkins, who was "very disappointed" not to return to Houston. Today it's Randy Wolf, who really wanted to return to the Dodgers. Kudos to these guys for being honest, I guess, but would throwing in a "The Brewers are my team now, and I'll work my butt off for them" be too much to ask for?

We could be waiting a while longer for a decision from Mark Mulder. The Brewer front office staff will reportedly visit Mulder in January. Given the fact that this was being reported as a nearly done deal months ago, I'd guess there's a question about Mulder's health.

With Rickie Weeks, Alcides Escobar and Carlos Gomez all projected as members of the opening day starting lineup, Ken Macha has acknowledged he'll probably have the runners in motion much more often during the 2010 season. That prompted Miller Park Drunk to launch their "RUNNING" series. I'll link to the Ken Macha and Corey Hart chapters here...the other two are a little too obscene to even be linked from this site.

In the minors:

Tom H. has a great look (with a terrible headline) at the situation faced by Jeremy Jeffress, as he prepares to return to the minor leagues knowing that one more positive drug test will be the end of his baseball career. Jeffress, who will spend the first few months of the 2010 season in extended spring training, is saying all the right things, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Earlier this week I mentioned Project Prospect's look at the speed of AFL players, and mentioned the absence of Lorenzo Cain from the rankings. Adam Foster filled in the gap for us by looking back at video and giving Cain a 55-65 rating, which is well above average.

Voting continues for our BCB All Decade Team: You have until 4 today to cast your vote for a shortstop, where J.J. Hardy leads Mark Loretta by 281 votes as of this writing. The voting is much closer at third base, where Bill Hall leads Craig Counsell by 54 votes with Russell Branyan and Ryan Braun not too far behind. Voting for our first outfield spot will open at 4 today.

Around baseball:

Astros: Signed Pedro Feliz to a one year, $4.5 million deal and reliever Gary Majewski to a minor league deal.
Athletics: Released reliever Santiago Casilla.
Nationals: Released pitcher Zach Segovia.
Reds: Signed infielder Chris Burke to a minor league deal.
Rockies: Signed Chris Iannetta to a three year deal worth $8.3 million, buying out his arbitration years.

I've already mentioned the Brewer Rule 5 draft pick, Chuck Lofgren, but he's nowhere near the best name selected in the draft. Those honors go to former National/new Blue Jay Zech Zinicola.

The possibility of winter league injury probably keeps some front office execs up at night during the offseason, and in all honesty I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. D-Backs outfielder Gerardo Parra suffered a muscle tear in his left thigh and is coming home from winter ball in Venezuela (h/t AZ Snakepit).

If you like charts and graphs and you're looking for something to play with today, you should check out Chartball. I only spent a few minutes there this morning, but they've got some fun interactive tools to work with. (h/t Baseball Musings)

On this day in 1997, the Brewers traded Gerald Williams to the Braves for Chad Fox. The deal worked out pretty well for both sides: Williams hit .286/.341/.475 over two seasons as a Brave, and Fox was healthy for two of four seasons in Milwaukee, including the 2001 season, where he appeared in 65 games and posted a 1.89 ERA.

Happy birthday today to Josh Butler, who turns 25.

Oh, and I'm writing today's Mug before breakfast, so this was fascinating. I'm off to go find food.

Drink up.

Brewers 9, Cubs 5

KLSnow — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:01:54 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Alcides Escobar is safe at home after a single by Braden Looper during the second inning Wednesday.

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W: Braden Looper (13-6)
L: Rich Harden (9-9)

HR: Aramis Ramirez (13)

MVP: Alcides Escobar (+.237)
LVP: Mitch Stetter (-.071)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

Tonight might be remembered as the night Alcides Escobar came into his own.

Escobar was the star of the night tonight, going 4-for-5 with a double and turning a fantastic double play in the eighth. All told, the Brewers racked up 13 hits and five walks, and despite leaving eight runners on base, took a 5-0 lead early and never really looked back tonight.

Braden Looper continued to be blessed with excellent run support, and picked up his 13th win despite allowing five earned runs on nine hits and three walks in just five innings. Four Brewer pitchers combined to pitch four scoreless innings and keep the Brewers out of a save situation.

At the plate, the Brewers' #1, 2 and 3 hitters (Felipe Lopez, Corey Hart and Ryan Braun) each picked up two hits. Every Brewer starter reached base safely in the game, with both Mike Cameron and Jason Kendall going 0-for-4 with a walk. Braden Looper hit an RBI single in the second inning.

Brewers 5, D-Backs 3

KLSnow — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:27:38 -0000

More photos » by AARON J. LATHAM - AP

Prince Fielder hits a solo home run in the fourth inning Sunday.

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W: Carlos Villanueva (3-10)
L: Daniel Schlereth (0-4)
S: Trevor Hoffman (32)

HR: Prince Fielder (39), Chris Young (13)

MVP: Claudio Vargas (+.288)
LVP: Mitch Stetter (-.203)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

Hey look, a sweep!

Seven Brewer pitchers combined to hold the D-Backs to three runs today, and the Brewer bats came together to make it stand up. Chris Narveson started and pitched very well through three innings, but allowed the first three batters he faced in the fourth to reach, forcing Ken Macha to go to the bullpen early, and the problem got worse when Mark DiFelice left with a shoulder strain.

After that, though, the bullpen held the D-Backs in place the rest of the way. Chris Smith and Carlos Villanueva combined to pitch 2.2 scoreless innings, and after Mitch Stetter allowed three hits in the seventh, Claudio Vargas came in and pitched out of a bases loaded, one out jam. Trevor Hoffman pitched a scoreless ninth for his 32nd save.

At the plate, Prince Fielder gave the Brewers an early 1-0 lead with a solo home run, tying Cecil Cooper's franchise record with 126 RBI. That was all the offense the Brewers could muster until the seventh, when Alcides Escobar hit a two run single to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead. The Brewers went on to score four in the seventh and the game was decided.

The Brewers had eight hits in the game today, but Fielder, Escobar and Felipe Lopez accounted for six of them. Ryan Braun went 0-for-5, going hitless for just the second time in eleven September contests.

Brewers 2, Giants 1 (12 innings)

KLSnow — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:06:22 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Felipe Lopez throws to first to complete a triple play during the sixth inning Sunday.

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W: Mitch Stetter (4-1)
L: Merkin Valdez (2-1)

HR: Prince Fielder (37)

MVP: Braden Looper (+.257)
LVP: Jason Bourgeois (-.333)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

It took 12 innings and nearly four hours, but the Brewers managed to take one game in this series, as Prince Fielder hit a walk off home run and untucked in the 12th inning, giving the Brewers a 2-1 victory in a series of three one run contests.

Braden Looper pitched well, scattering ten baserunners (eight hits and two walks) over seven innings while allowing just one earned run. He's posted a 3.24 ERA over his last four starts, lowering his season ERA from 5.03 to 4.77. He also benefited from a 5-4-3 triple play in the sixth inning, the fifth triple play in Brewer franchise history and their first since 1999. The Brewers got a scoreless inning each from David Weathers, Trevor Hoffman, Todd Coffey, Claudio Vargas and Mitch Stetter.

Looper received a no-decision for his trouble, though, as the Brewers managed to score just one run through the first eleven innings of today's game. Casey McGehee drove in a run with an RBI single in the sixth, but the Brewers managed just eight hits in the game and left 13 runners on base. Ryan Braun and McGehee each reached base three times, but the starters in the 6-9 spots in the Brewer lineup (J.J. Hardy, Jason Kendall, Jody Gerut and Braden Looper) went 1-for-14 with three walks. Kendall struck out with runners on first and third in the eighth, and lined out with the bases loaded in the tenth.

Brewers 4, Cardinals 3

KLSnow — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:04:48 -0000

More photos » by KYLE ERICSON - AP

The Brewers won just one of three, but neither of the losses were Casey McGehee's fault.

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W: Manny Parra (10-10)
L: John Smoltz (3-6)
S: Trevor Hoffman (30)

HR: Casey McGehee (13), Julio Lugo (3), Matt Holliday (21)

MVP: Casey McGehee (+.242)
LVP: David Weathers (-.175)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

And somehow, Manny Parra owns the Cardinals.

Despite posting an ERA over 7 against the rest of baseball, Manny Parra has pitched well against the Cardinals in each of his four outings against them, posting a 2.42 ERA in 26 innings, including allowing just two earned runs in 6.1 innings today en route to his tenth victory.

The Brewer bullpen made it interesting in the seventh, as Parra was lifted with one out and a runner on and David Weathers loaded the bases with a hit and a walk, but Mitch Stetter struck out Khalil Greene and Claudio Vargas got Albert Pujols to ground out to end the inning. Pujols came up again with two outs and a runner on in the ninth, and Trevor Hoffman struck him out to end the game.

Casey McGehee hit his second home run of the series and his thirteenth of the season in the sixth inning, giving the Brewers the lead. He was the MVP of all three games in the series. Ryan Braun also went 2-for-4 and was the only Brewer to record a multi-hit game.

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:50:46 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

Milwaukee Brewers' Jason Kendall reacts after being hit by one of two pitches Wednesday.

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Some things to read while looking thinner.

The Brewers are changing things up a bit as they prepare for today's series finale with the Reds. As players were leaving the clubhouse last night, a sign was posted informing them of mandatory stretching on the field at 11:30 today. I'm as happy as anyone to see management trying to do something to improve the team's performance in day games, but "mandatory stretching" as a shakeup raises two questions in my mind:

Isn't stretching mandatory before pretty much every game? Wouldn't the entire roster be a mess of muscle pulls and tendon strains if it wasn't?
11:30 is only about ninety minutes before the start of today's game. If this stretching wasn't mandatory, are there players who wouldn't be there?

Meanwhile, the Brewers lost in extra innings for the second straight night last night. Ryan Braun says he took "a real bad route" to the fly ball that became the game winning double for Darnell McDonald. The loss dropped the Brewer playoff chances to .3%, according to CoolStandings.

Jason Kendall, meanwhile, gritted his way on base three times last night, drawing a walk and getting hit with two pitches. It was the 12th time in his career he's been hit twice in a game, and moved him into sole possession of fifth place on the all time list. Plunk Everyone has those tidbits and six more.

Felipe Lopez was limited to pinch hitting duties last night, and the classification of his injury has been modified a bit: Adam McCalvy is reporting Lopez actually injured a tendon that runs from his big toe through the arch of his right foot. He has not undergone an X-ray, and doesn't believe the injury is serious. Two notes on that:

Lopez is about a month away from becoming a free agent and possibly collecting a major paycheck, so even if this injury is worse than he's letting on, he'll most likely try to play through it and finish the season.
With that said, the injury didn't seem to hinder him that much when he was running to first after his ground out last night.

The Brewers made a minor roster move yesterday, removing Chase Wright from the 40-man roster. That likely means Wright will not be a September call up, but if frees up a 40 man spot for the Brewers to call up someone who isn't on the roster at the moment, like Corey Patterson (or, although this is a long shot, a guy like Jonathan Lucroy or Brett Lawrie).

Speaking of Lawrie, he was left off of the Midwest League's postseason All Star Team, along with all of his teammates. Instead, Angels prospect Alexi Amarista was chosen at second base. Amarista is hitting .313/.384/.461 for Cedar Rapids this season.

Brewer fans got the opportunity to talk prospects yesterday with Brewer Amateur Scouting Director Bruce Seid, and the transcript is up here. There's a fair amount of filler in there to skim around, but also notes on Nick Bucci, Scooter Gennett, Eric Arnett and Michael Fiers.

Mitch Stetter has had most of the last two weeks off, which gave him time to sit down with Adam McCalvy to tell the story of how he almost lost his leg. Interesting stuff.

The Bucky Channel took a look at the list of six Brewer veterans placed on trade waivers this week, and of all of them, he's hoping the Brewers don't trade Felipe Lopez. To me it seems like the only one that could be dealt is Braden Looper, as his 2010 option means a team could feasibly pick him up for the rest of this year and all of next. The rest of them would be one month rentals, and it's hard to get fair value for that.

Around baseball:

Angels: Designated pitcher Shane Loux for assignment.
Marlins: Placed Nick Johnson on the DL with a hamstring strain.
Mets: Oliver Perez will undergo knee surgery this week and miss the rest of the season.
Pirates: Placed Jeff Karstens on the DL with a lower back issue.
Red Sox: Released Brad Penny at his request.
Rockies: Designated outfielder Matt Murton for assignment.

The Brewers aren't the only team struggling in day games this season. The Rays are having a similar issue, and R.J. Anderson of DRaysBay takes on the theory that the struggles have been caused by young players staying out too late.

If Mike Cameron won't be back next season, and it's pretty likely he won't, then the Brewers need to keep looking at options in center field. Jorge Says No! noticed that Coco Crisp wants the Royals to pick up his $8 million option for next season, but it seems unlikely at that price.

Big League Stew has an interesting story today on John Danks, the White Sox reliever who has struggled at times this season with numbness in his fingers. Danks quit chewing tobacco, and the issue went away. Perhaps Jason Kendall and Bill Hall should be taking notes. Or maybe Major League Baseball should.

If you were impressed by Kendall's 2 HBP performance last night, prepare to be blown away by this one: On this day in 1975, Craig Kusick was plunked three times by Bill Travers as the Twins beat the Brewers 1-0 in eleven innings. Bert Blyleven pitched an eleven inning shutout for the Twins. On this day in 1982, Rickey Henderson went 0-for-1 with three walks and stole four bases, setting a new single season record at 122, but the Brewers beat the A's anyway, 5-4.

Happy birthday today to 2004-2005 Brewer Trent Durrington, who turns 34, former Brewer pitching coach Mike Maddux, who turns 48, and Marshall Edwards, who appeared in 160 games as a Brewer between 1981 and 1983 and turns 57.

Oh, and if you've got nothing else going on this weekend, you could always dress like a zombie and roam the streets in Oshkosh.

Drink up.

Brewers 7, Nationals 1

KLSnow — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:47:27 -0000

More photos » by Charles Dharapak - AP

Today wasn't Yovani's best day, but he pitched well enough to give the team a chance to get him his 12th win, and for once, the bats came through.

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W: Yovani Gallardo (12-10)
L: Collin Balester (1-4)

HR: Ryan Braun (27), Jody Gerut (5)

MVP: Ryan Braun (+.168)
LVP: Alcides Escobar (-.024)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

A series win!

The Brewers, perhaps weirded out by a 4:30 local time start, were held nearly silent for the first five innings of today's (tonight's?) game, but exploded for six in the sixth and never looked back. The first eight Brewers reached in the inning, including a two run shot from Ryan Braun and RBI base hits from Jason Kendall and Jody Gerut. Gerut also added a solo shot late in the game, becoming one of just two Brewers to record multiple hits: Prince Fielder was the other, going 2-for-3 with a walk.

Yovani Gallardo struggled today but managed to pitch just well enough to keep the Brewers in the game. Despite allowing eight baserunners, Gallardo allowed just one earned run in five innings, partly due to his eight strikeouts. Claudio Vargas, David Weathers and Mitch Stetter combined to pitch four shutout innings to close the door.

Padres 6, Brewers 5

KLSnow — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:18:51 -0000

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

Jason Kendall looks to the bench as pitcher Mitch Stetter reacts to walking in a run during the seventh inning Wednesday.

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W: Kevin Correia (8-9)
L: Todd Coffey (4-2)
S: Heath Bell (29)

MVP: Prince Fielder (.311)
LVP: Todd Coffey (.-406)

The Brewers are now 0-1 since sending J.J. Hardy to Nashville.

Carlos Villanueva didn't pitch poorly tonight, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks in 5.2 innings, but the bullpen couldn't keep him in it. Tonight it was Todd Coffey who couldn't manage a lead, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk while retiring just two batters. Mitch Stetter followed him to the mound, faced three batters, and retired none.

The Brewers trailed 6-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, but scored two runs on a double by Prince Fielder before stranding the potential tying and go-ahead runs on first and second. Fielder went 3-for-5 tonight with that double. Jason Kendall was the only other Brewer with multiple hits. Jody Gerut and Frank Catalanotto each came to the plate twice as the right fielder, and went a combined 0-for-4.

Alcides Escobar made his 2009 debut in the ninth inning, pinch running for Fielder, stealing a base and advancing to third on a wild throw, but was stranded there when Mike Cameron popped out to end the game.