Tuesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:56:01 -0000

by Morry Gash - AP

Fans go after a foul ball hit by Milwaukee Brewers' Jody Gerut during the sixth inning Sunday.

Some things to read while finding a use for mini helmets.

As of this writing I haven't heard any news on September callups today, but it's widely expected that J.J. Hardy will join the team tonight in St. Louis. Hardy said he feels like he was being punished by the club, and definitely sounds disappointed and upset with the way things have gone. Keep Turning Up the Heat! says the timing of Hardy's return "makes it clear to everyone that service time was the primary factor in Hardy’s demotion."

The Brewers open a three game series in St. Louis tonight, meaning one of two things is about to happen:

They'll lose the series and more or less end any hope of playoff contention, or
They'll win, and we'll all spend the next week hearing about how "disrespectful" they are.

In fact, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch didn't even wait for the series to get started, sneaking some jabs about Ryan Braun into this interview yesterday.

At least the Brewers can look back at this season and remember dominating the Pirates at home. Andy Smith of Bugs & Cranks takes a look back to May 3, 2007, the last time the Pirates won at Miller Park.

Also at Bugs & Cranks today, Tyler Maas and Jack Moore have teamed up to take a look at some lesser known Brewer stats.

Over the weekend, I reported the Brewers and Giants' deadline to work out a deal on Trevor Hoffman had passed, and he wouldn't be moving. It turns out the deadline was actually yesterday. Weekend hours apparently don't count. If that's the case, why do they say "48 hours" and not "two business days?"

In the minors:

Alcides Escobar is representing the Brewers on the PCL Postseason All Star Team. He was the only Brewer selected.
Second baseman Eric Farris, outfielders Caleb Gindl and Logan Schafer and pitcher Amaury Rivas were selected to the Florida State League All Star Team, joining coach Mike Guerrero.
No Brewer farmhands were named to the Southern League All Stars. I was really hoping a Star would win Best Hustler.
With Efrain Nieves heading out to represent Puerto Rico in the International Baseball Federation tournament, long time BCB favorite Maverick Lasker started last night for Wisconsin, and pitched seven shutout innings in his A-ball debut.

WhatifSports moved the Brewers up three spots to 16th.
The Hardball Times has the Brewers at 19th.
The Sporting News has the Crew at 17th.
Jon Heyman listed the Brewers as this season's sixth biggest disappointment.
Sweeping the Pirates moved the Brewers from 12th to 14th in Andy Seiler's projected 2010 draft order.

Dodgers:

acquired Jon Garland

infielder Tony Abreu

placed Guillermo Mota on the DL

will lose about $12 million this season

concession-area fruit stands

C. Trent Rosecrans

Kevin Orie

Phillies in the World Baseball Classic

WholeCamels — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:12:03 -0000

Final rosters for the World Baseball Classic have been announced. Confusion about his faux-Italian heritage notwithstanding, Shane Victorino was not named to the Team USA roster. With an outfield featuring Brad Hawpe, Ryan Braun, Curtis Granderson, and Grady Sizemore, it's hard to gripe. The dudes can play.

Jimmy Rollins will be the only Phillies player represented on Team USA. The Phillies do, however, have additional starpower in the dugout, with Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt serving as the team's bench coach.

Matt Stairs -- slugger and muse to mediocre poets everywhere -- will represent Team Canada.

Catcher Carlos Ruiz will be playing for Team Panama, or as Tim McCarver calls it, Team Venezuela.

"Oops wrong pills" J.C. Romero will pitch for Puerto Rico.

Team Australia will feature three Phillies minor leaguers -- Brad Harman, Drew Naylor, and Joel Naughton. Starting catcher for the team will likely be Lord Humongous.

As widely discussed previously, both Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge were offered spots on Team USA, and both (wisely, in my opinion) declined.

I'm probably among a minority of Americans who really enjoyed the WBC in 2006. It was really fascinating and fun to see fans in other nations embracing the game, cheering on their teams. Nationalism is FUN when it comes to sports! It'd be nice to see a few more Phillies on the rosters, but well, if WFC means no WBC, I'm fine with that.

SB Nation - Brad Harman

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

Phillies in the World Baseball Classic