The final paragaph of Mostly Harmless, the final book in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series:

All told, it wasn't THAT bad of a month, but still, I'm not quite ready to turn on the light music yet.

Game 4 Win Expectancy Graph
Game 4 BR Box Score

Obviously, most of the season wrap-up posts haven't been written yet, but among those already completed, here are a handful of my favorites:

• Between the Green Pillars
• The Brew Town Beat
• Ryan Braun
• MLB Fanhouse

It's good to know someone else is as superstitious as I became this season: Just two games into the postseason, Ryan Braun took a break from his postseason blog because the team was losing while he was writing it. The combination of his blog hiatus and my pumpkin bars led to a win in Game 3. Unfortunately, my pumpkin pudding wasn't very good, and neither was Game 4. I made the pumpkin pudding into pumpkin shakes last night, though, and that was much better.

Also not very good in Game 4: Jeff Suppan. The Brew Town Beat reviews Suppan's 2008 efforts. Baseball Musings wants to know why Yovani Gallardo didn't start.

Of course, members of the local (and in many cases, national) media were too busy watching the Packer game to get ready for yesterday's game. Perhaps the Brewers would have been better off if Corey Hart and Jeff Suppan had been watching the Packers, too.

This Brewer dugout photo, taken post-game, sums things up pretty nicely. Afterwards, Ben Sheets said his goodbyes in the locker room.

So would the NLDS have turned out differently if they had played best-of-7 instead of best-of-5? The Official Site says best-of-7 is the way to go, but Crashburnalley says proponents of the idea are wrong. Bud Selig says it won't happen. In that last link, Selig also notes the huge attendance increases in Milwaukee and Tampa, and cautions clubs against raising ticket prices for 2009 in the face of a down economy.

So what now? Well, I guess we could start with another Sabathia Smorgasbord. Here's a photo of CC's final (pinch hitting) appearance as a Brewer in 2008. After the game, he left the door open for a 2009 return. Jon Heyman says the Brewers are preparing to make a run to re-sign him. It Is About The Money, Stupid thinks Sabathia is posturing himself for a big payday by keeping New York, Milwaukee and the west coast as options for 2009.

The Brewers played Game 4, and most likely would have played most of the subsequent games without Rickie Weeks. Would it surprise you to discover that Baseball by Paul rated Weeks as the 11th best second baseman for 2009? They must not take defense into account, but still, I think Weeks' 2008 season was closer to average than most give him credit for. And yes, Dad, I do know you're going to text or call the second you read that.

2008 isn't over for everyone in the Brewer organization, though. If I got to award medals, I'd give one to TheJay for this roundup of Brewer prospects playing fall and winter ball in Arizona and Hawaii, and how you can track their progress. Also, if you take a trip to see the Venezuelan Winter League, and you see former Nashville Sounds manager Frank Kremblas coaching the Caracas Lions, be sure to tell him we said hi.

It does appear that the end of the 2008 season will also be the end of Fire Ned Yost. Marty, I still think you're making a mistake letting it go.

So today the effort begins to find the pieces to the puzzle that will form the Milwaukee Brewers in 2009. Feel free to click any or all of these links if you're ready to fire up the hot stove:

• Crawfish Boxes says the Astros are already posturing to make a move on Ben Sheets.
• Brewed Sports has a quote from J.J. Hardy, acknowledging the possibility that he could be traded and recounting his first encounter with Alcides Escobar.
• Al has a quote from Mark Attanasio suggesting Doug Melvin will be back in 2009.
• At some point this offseason, we're going to need to revise our statistical formulas for grittiness to include catching fly balls that bounce off support cables.
• Remember the Erik Bedard deal? Remember how that turned out? Want to try sending six prospects away for one player and see if you fare any better? The Padres may auction off Jake Peavy.
• Third base will probably be an area that gets a lot of attention during the offseason, but we can all breathe a sigh of relief now that we know the position will not be filled by Wes Helms, who signed a multi-year deal with the Marlins.

Fresh off a year where he opened up the checkbook in a fashion unprecedented in Milwaukee, Mark Attanasio wants MLB to do more in regards to revenue sharing. All this amidst reports that the Yankeees will exceed $400 million in revenues this season, even without making the playoffs, and will make more next season with the increased revenues related to a new stadium.

Speaking of new stadiums in New York, a movement is underway to save feral cats living in Shea Stadium. In a related note, apparently the Rays and White Sox had some fun with the pigeons at US Cellular Field yesterday.

Here's a project for someone with a better knowledge of the rules than I've got: Reds Blog is compiling a list of Reds that would need to be protected to avoid the Rule 5 Draft. Which Brewer prospects need protection as well?

Eight of Francisco Rodriguez's record-breaking 62 saves this season were achieved while pitching less than one full inning. If the save rule were retroactively changed to eliminate those saves, 1 current and 2 former Brewers would be among the all-time single season leaders.

Some people get statistics, and some don't. On the positive side, Baseball Musings has a study suggesting lineup "protection" may be a myth. On the negative, we have (newly extended) Mets manager Jerry Manuel, who says scrappy players are more comfortable playing in the postseason.

So let's say you are Astros SP Brandon Backe. You posted an ERA+ of 70 in 2008, your first full season since 2005. One could make an argument you're among the worst pitchers in baseball. You're probably in "take a chance on a minor league deal" territory at best. What would you do to raise your value before hitting the market? If you said, "get arrested for rioting in Galveston," you could not possibly be more wrong. (hat tip to Lone Star Ball)

My job is so much easier when other people say negative things about the Cubs so I don't have to write them myself. Brian McTaggart is happy the Cubs lost. Meanwhile, The View From the Bleachers thinks the Cubs should trade Carlos Zambrano.

Oh, and here's an introduction to the world of inflatable art.

Drink up.