And I'm back. Thanks to Jeff, who did a great job filling in with the Plastic Cup while I was away. I should be good to go with the Mug every day for a couple of weeks now.

It's always good to start off the day with a FanGraphs graph that slopes in the right direction. And if you missed any other games from yesterday, Baseball Digest Daily has recaps.

It didn't take long for Eric Gagne to become the center (centre?) of everyone's attention. Since Monday's game, I've seen the following:

Bugs and Cranks thinks Riske should already be the closer.
Dayn Perry says not to be surprised if Riske is the closer soon.
Ken Rosenthal is also concerned.
The Yahoo MLB Blog is too busy trying to come up with a nickname for Gagne's beard.

This may be the last day for 2008 predictions, but they're everywhere:

Baseball Digest Daily picked MVPrince to win the MVP.
They also have the Brewers losing the NLCS to the Braves.
Bleeding Blue and Teal (Mariners) got it wrong.
Bugs and Cranks ranked the Brewers 15th in their first power rankings.
Dugout Central's voters got it wrong by a 2-to-1 margin.
The Hardball Times got it right.
John Sickels at Minor League Ball thinks the Brewers will lose to the Tigers in the World Series.
He also thinks Braun and Hart will hit .333 and .329, respectively.
Nick and Nick's Twins Blog got it right.
Oriole Central got it wrong.
Purple Row got it right.
Redlegs Rundown got it wrong.
Rowland's Office (Braves blog) got it right.
True Blue LA got it wrong.
UmpBump.com says the Brewers are the 14th most interesting team in 2008, for whatever that's worth.

Brief Alphabetical Morning (BAM) Injury reports:

Chad Cordero missed Sunday night's game with stiffness. Has he pitched since? I'm out of the loop.
Orlando Hernandez will throw the banana in 3 rehab starts.
Kelly Johnson is playing through some pain in his knee, but apparently can't do it every day.
Pedro Martinez is out 4-6 weeks with a hamstring strain.
Victor Martinez hurt his hamstring too, and his return date is uncertain.
Jorge Posada missed last night's game with shoulder stiffness.
J.J. Putz is on the DL with a rib injury.
Carlos Zambrano's cramping problems are apparently related to caffeine. Maybe he was attacked by THE SPAZZOSAURUS!

Ok, now other stuff. Bugs and Cranks is looking for a Brewers writer.

On former Brewers:

The Phillies designated Wes Helms for assignment.
The Rays might have acquired former Brewer Ben Hendrickson, but we're not sure.
The Good Phight is already concerned about Geoff Jenkins' inability to hit lefties.

FanGraphs posted 3 "Get to know a stat" posts while I was gone: Clutch, Win Expectancy, and Win and Loss Advancement.

And, finally, Home Run Derby has a post on the guy who made Miller Park out of Legos.

That's all for today. Drink up.