Wednesday's Frosty Mug

Well, here we are. I'm pulling out all the superstition stops today. I'm having a Nutrisoda and pumpkin pie for breakfast. Even Gorman is excited for an afternoon on the couch. I might even let him take the cone off his head for a bit.

It's Yovani Gallardo vs Cole Hamels at 2 today. Let's start with the previews and predictions:

• Another Baseball Blog has the Brewers at 46% to win the series.
• Baseball Digest Daily has three keys for victory for each team.
• Cardinals Diaspora has the Phillies in 5.
• The Good Phight has the Phillies winning in 4.
• Some guy named Jeff Sackmann predicted a Brewer victory over at The Hardball Times.
• Two other, less knowledgable guys predicted a Phillies win.
• Ken Rosenthal has the Phillies in 4.
• 8 of the 10 writers at MLB FanHouse have the Brewers winning. They're also staging a debate?
• MLB Playoff Odds has the Brewers at 45.7%.
• Peter Schmuck has the Brewers winning the series.
• I have no idea how betting on baseball works, but Results Disoriented has the Brewers at +190 today and +164 to win the series. Whatever that means.
• Rohan Chatterjee of Bugs & Cranks predicts the Phillies in 4.
• WhatIfSports gives the Brewers a 49% chance of winning the series.

Want to make your own predictions? Beyond the Box Score wants to hear them.

Still need tickets for Games 3 and 4? Big League Stew notes there are tickets available for trade on Craigslist, if you've got tickets to a Celine Dion concert or a tab of generic Viagra to give away. And if you're visiting Milwaukee and looking for food, Keith Law has some restaurant reviews for you.

Even if you don't have tickets, you can still follow the Brew Town Beat's postseason roadmap. Or you could follow the Brewers by reading Ryan Braun's postseason blog. By the way, Braun's errorless 2008 season made Umpbump's list of biggest surprises.

It doesn't look like Dale Sveum will be asking Ryan Braun or anyone else to bunt all that often in the postseason, as the small ball experiment is out. A rule against wasting outs in the postseason makes me feel better about the Brewers' chances.

Another thing that could help: Pat Burrell left BP yesterday with discomfort in his lower back. He'll be re-evaluated today.

It's time for the daily gathering of links about CC Sabathia. Jon Heyman has him second for NL MVP, behind Manny Ramirez. Marc Hulet of FanGraphs thinks the Brewers won this trade. MLB Trade Rumors says the Indians are leaning towards taking Michael Brantley as the PTBNL.

Then, on the other end of the postseason-usefulness spectrum, we have Ben Sheets. Sheets was left off the NLDS roster and revealed he has a torn muscle near his right elbow yesterday. The Brew Town Beat thanks Sheets for his efforts as a Brewer.

If you could have any first baseman in baseball for the 2009 season, where would you draft Prince Fielder? Baseball by Paul has him sixth.

Would you have guessed the best offense of any NL playoff team belongs to the Los Angeles Dodgers (of Los Angeles)? Me either.

On the coaching carousel: the Indians have fired bullpen coach Luis Isaac, who had been with the team since 1993. Hopefully he didn't punch anything on the way out, because apparently that can get expensive: The Padres are trying to recover some of Khalil Greene's salary after he missed about a third of the season with injuries sustained punching a storage cabinet.

Oh, and here's the Youtube video of Salomon Torres' speech from Monday's rally, which is now my second favorite Youtube video of the week, behind If I Were A Bond Girl.

Drink up. Then have another. See you back here at 2.