Wednesday's Plastic Cup

KLSnow will be back with the Frosty Mug tomorrow, which is a darn good thing, because I really haven't gotten the hang of drinking before noon.

There's not a ton of interesting stuff out there today--I'm much more interested in the game in a couple of hours, for one thing--but here goes...

The most important thing today is that I want to know how the Brewers bullpen payroll compares to that of the other 29 teams.  So I ran the numbers...just kidding.

Richard Griffin, a Toronto columnist, is the sort of writer I never, ever, agree with, but he lands on one of my favorite topics: abuse of the suspension appeal system.  Once again, a player (this time, Melky Cabrera) is appealing his suspension and will probably drop it when his team is going to play a weaker opponent.  Most galling in this case is that he plays in New York, where the hearings are held.  It's one thing when Prince Fielder gets to hold the hearing off, but at least there are geographical reasons when that happens.

The new Ernie Banks statue at Miller Park South is missing an apostrophe.  Instead of "Let's Play Two," it says "Lets Play Two."  Technically, this is correct: In tennis, a "let" is a point that is to be replayed, so once a let occurs, the point is played for the second time.  But I don't think that's what Ernie was talking about.

Michael Salfino compares the Braves and the Mets.  The Braves have gotten a surprising amount of love from the predictors this year--which, as we well know, has little to do with actual likely success.  What I'm most impressed by is the fact the Braves are in it at all; they've been steadily cutting payroll for years while the Mets are making one high-profile move after another.  I don't think Atlanta has much of a chance, but they're worth rooting for.

Here's a breakdown of the birthplaces of all Major League players, along with some interesting stats on minor leaguers, too.  Follow the link to a PDF to see the complete list.

I generally don't read Cubs blogs, but I'm glad I checked out Goat Riders this morning.  You have to see this picture.  Having now visited one Cubs site, I think I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

Speaking of quitting while I'm ahead, I think the plastic cup is about to overflow.  Enjoy!