It's just after 1PM on the east coast- do you know where your regular game threader is?

If you want the lineups Hyatt posted them below.

Manny Parra pitches today, and I'm pretty excited to see him...but not as excited as I am to see Sheets tomorrow, and certainly not as excited as I am that Sheets is matched up against Barry Zito and not Cain or Lincecum.  That's right, I like 'em easy. (you might think that there was a sexual joke in there, but that's because you're a pervert)

Manager Tony La Russa has signed a two year deal to remain with the Cards.

I have to say I'm a little suprised, with Jocketty gone I expected La Russa to move on- or at least to wait until the Cardinals had named a new GM before coming back.

I'd say he will have his work cut out for him with a roster that seems to get exponentially older and more decrepid every year.

So I'm loving life, watching playoff baseball, when what do I see?  An Aquafina commercial starring Lou Pinella pretending to be angry about an umps' call; he feels obligated to argue but isn't really upset b/c drinking aquafina has made him happy. He is really just yelling pleasantries at the ump.

 Now, at this point I'm seeing a stupid, but unremarkable commercial - Until in the last frame none other than soap opera star JJ Hardy is shown leading off of third base as he remarks to the cubs third baseman (presumably ARAM, but I didn't notice) that ol' Lou seems like a great guy.

What I need to know is: did JJ choose to be in this commercial, or was it just MLB footage with a randon voice over with JJ having no say in the matter?

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't like seeing Brewers players appearing in commercials featuring Cubs managers or players or whatever.  Especially scant days after they won the division over us by a couple of games....JJ Hardy: you are under the eye.

Tonight the Crew sends out Yovani Gallardo against Brian Bullington for Pittsburg.

With a small sample size warning, I can tell you this: While Bullington gives up 5 runs every three innings, he also gets a hit EVERY TIME HE BATS!!!!

Anyhow, Your Milwaukee Brewers:

Weeks 2B
Gross LF
Braun 3B
Fielder 1B
Hart CF
Jenkin LF
Estrada C
Hardy SS
Gallardo P

Note to the Nedder: Pitch around this Bullington guy- he hasn't made an out this whole year!

Go Brewers!!

Tough break for the Cards, as Carpenter will miss not only the rest of 2007, but a chunk of 2008 as well.

You hate to see anyone get hurt, but this is a very significant loss for a division rival...so it is kind of nice.  This not only seals the deal on the Cardinals for this year, it puts them in the hole to start next year too.  With aging players all over their roster and no ace (at least for the early part of the season) it could be rough in St Louis for a while.

No real surprise to anyone.  Prince was voted in, of course, and also making the team are: JJ Hardy, Ben Sheets, and Francisco Cordero.

No Brewers made the 'final vote' gimmick, which is also not really a surprise.

Unlike some past years, I don't really think that anybody on the team could say that they have been passed over.  Ned's advocacy of Turnbow aside, I really don't think he deserved to go.  

In fact, I'd almost say the Crew came out ahead in the props department, as Hardy could have been fairly easily passed over- and I think in years past he very well might have.  I suppose that is one of the benefits of having a winning team.

Anyhow here's hoping that the National league makes us all proud and gets the Crew home field advantage for the World Series. :)

Another one of our old buddies has beeen DFA'd.  Unfortunately for Victor Santos, not only has he been told to leave town, he has been told to leave town by the worst team in the major leagues- the 30 and 50 Cincinnati Reds.

Now, I'll admit, my first thought when I saw this was to wonder when the Cardinals would make a play for 'ol Vic, but then I started to think.

Consider Brewers' pitcher A and pitcher B
Pre All Star Break:

 GS  W  L  IP   H  ER  HR  BB  K  ERA  WHIP  BAA

 14  8  3  81.2 84 37   5  31  64 4.08 1.41 .269

 14  6  1  77.2 84 37  15  33  69 4.29 1.51 .275

Pitcher A is Santos in 2004 at age 27.5ish, Pitcher B is none other than Claudio Vargas this year at age 29 putting up a slightly worse (aside from the very much worse HR totals) half season in comparison.

Does this mean anything?  Ehh, probably just that I have too much time on my hands, but it does make me think two things:

1. It's almost scary how close those numbers are,and
   
2. I'm really glad that I can't think of a scenario in which Vargas is in the Brewers' long term plans.

Continue reading this post »

Former Brewer JDLR for the Royals, Jeff Suppan for the Crew.  

Hopefully Jorge pitches the way he has been lately, and hopefully Suppan Doesn't.

Hardy is out of the lineup again, presumably with his sore hip/knee, and for some reason Counsell is in the lineup instead of Graffy; anyone know whats up with that?

[bumped, eventually, by roguejim]

The Cardinals have traded a ptbnl for Tigers starter Mike Maroth, and he will likely make his first for the cards against New York next week.

The Cards are revamping a bit; having added our buddy Tomo Ohka recently, as well as being rumored to be interested in Mark Buehrle if the White Sox decide to deal him.  Personally I find the Buehrle speculation far fetched: he will be a free agent this offseason, the Sox are going to want the world for him, and the Cardinals just aren't very good- I don't think adding Buehrle makes them a playoff contender unless Cris Carpenter comes back much, much sooner than expected.

Either way, they are trying- anybody worried?
Yeah, me neither.

Wow, Great poll Jeff; I spaced out after staring at it for about five minutes while thinking about what I wanted to see happen next year.  After that I decided a poll this good needed a diary breaking down the candidates, so here's my thoughts...

CORDERO:  This season has driven home how nice it is to actually have a decent bullpen, and Coco has definately been the lynchpin of the operation.  However, I've never been a believer in paying mega dollars for bullpen guys, and 3/45 (or therabouts) certainly qualifies as such.  It seems to me that aside from an elite few, bullpenners in general are up one year and down the next so making major financial committments to said bullpenners usually ends up being unfortunate.  Given the Crew's financial status I can't see making a closer the highest paid player on our roster in any case, so Coco, sorry, but we'll be seeing you.

TURNBOW:  Let me get this out there: I love THE BOW - I really do.  But c'mon, are any of us prepared to see him out there in the ninth?   I didn't think so.

YOVANI GALLARDO:   If he's anywhere but in the rotation next year, well, unhappiness will be the best way to describe my personal aura.

DAVE BUSH:   This is sort of intriguing, but somehow I just can't see him as a closer.  I don't think I would do it, but I'd be really interested if the Brewers tried it.

CARLOS VILLANUEVA:   Probably my favorite option, although in my heart of hearts I'd still like to see him get a real shot at starting.

JOSE CAPELLAN:   At this point he's really just one more bad outing away from ME calling Doug Melvin and demanding that he be traded.

MYSTERY FA:   While I'm not especially well informed on bullpen free agents-to-be, it seems unlikely to me that anyone worth installing at closer could be had at a reasonable price, so I'll rule this out.

MYSTERY MINOR LEAGUER:   As the word mystery suggests, this one is tough to call but, I'm going to do it anyway.  I'll rule out Manny Parra, Mike Jones, and Mark Rogers while reserving the right to change my mind if the six million dollar man lends out any arms, shoulders, elbows, etc.  Dennis Sarfate I'll rule out because he couldn't crack the roster this year even as guys like Greg Aquino and Chris Spurling were sucking up spots with the big club.  The two aforementioned fellows I'll exclude for obvious reasons.  I don't know too much about most of the rest of the farm boys, but barring a miracle from Max St. Pierre, I'll say no to the mystery minor leaguer.

BROOKS KIESHCNICK:  Hmmm- I'm thinking that saving him to close every night cuts down materially on his pinch hitting ops- and I just can't have that.

So, in conclusion, I'm going to vote for Carlos Villanueva unless Melvin and Co. pull off another ridiculous trade or waiver pickup.