The Weekend Mug

Some things to read while continuing your misery.

It hasn't been a good weekend in Brewer-land so far.  The Crew lost on Friday 9-5, then followed that up with a 10-6 loss yesterday.  In the process, they also managed to let Chris Narveson throw 130 pitches (the most in the Majors this year) in just 5.2 innings. 

Meanwhile, there might be a new deputy in town as Prince Fielder kinda sorta called out the teams pitching after Fridays game, causing adam McCalvy to wonder if there is a divide starting in the clubhouse between the pitchers and hitters.  Ken Macha responded, saying he didn't mind Prince's comments but wants the players to focus on their own jobs.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of talk about the teams bullpen.  Brewers daily looks at specific examples of how Ken Macha misuses the Bullpen.  Brewed Sports chimes in and opines that Zach Braddock would have been the better choice to call up over John Axford.  Meanwhile, Brewers Daily chimes in again, this time with suggestions on how to fix the bullpen.  Namely, cutting Jeff Suppan and Claudio Vargas (this was written before Vargas' terrible game yesterday) and calling up Zach Braddock and Chris Smith.

A couple BCB members have participated in Q&As this weekend.  Nicole answered some questions about the Brewers for Phillies SBN blog The Good Phight.  Also, Royals Review got in touch with both Kyle and Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker and asked them for a briefing on Ned Yost.

Other little Brewers tidbits:

• Jim Edmonds had to leave the game yesterday with a strained muscle.  He'll be day to day.
• Milwaukee sent Adam Stern back to Nashville and called up John Axford.  (Fanshot)
• The Rays DFA'd Pat Burrell this weekend.  Disciples of Uecker compared that situation to Jeff Suppan, calling both players sunk costs and saying the Brewers should drop Suppan.
• Rickie Weeks defense seems to have improved, but a poster at brewerfan.net quotes Fielding Bible numbers showing that Weeks has been a butcher in the field this season.
• Remember the Cubs fan who fell on to the field at Miller Park while trying to catch a ball a few weeks ago, causing him to be taken to the hospital?  Sad news as he suffered a brain hemorrhage from the injuries and passed away over the weekend.  
• Good news, though, as Bob Uecker is feeling well and is looking to be back in the booth for home games as early as June.  (Fanshot)
• Adam McCalvy has an interesting note on Randy Wolf's struggles against lefties this year compared to how well he pitched against them last year.
• McCalvy also found that Brewers catchers had 4 HR all of last year.  This year, they already have five.  George Kottaras is awesome.

Meanwhile, in the minors:

Could Chris Capuano be a savior to the Brewers pitching staff sometime soon?  The Brewers are going to be very cautious with him as he continues to work his way back from a second Tommy John surgery.

Battlekow notes that Kentrail Davis has been hit by a pitch six times in just 72 plate appearances already this year.  He should fit right in with Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks.

Brevard County will remain a Brewers affiliate for a few more years yet as Milwaukee extended their player development contract through 2012.  (Fanshot)

A few people have been wondering when Jeremy Jeffress was scheduled to return from his second suspension for marijuana.  He is eligible for reinstatement on Friday, May 21, but probably will not return until later as he has experienced forearm stiffness while working in extended Spring Training.  It's a minor injury, so hopefully he'll be back on a mound soon.

Around the Majors:
Dodgers: Andre Ethier has a broken bone in his pinky.  It is still unclear how much time he might miss.
Nationals:  Jason Marguis will be out eight weeks after undergoing elbow surgery.  They also demoted Willy Taveras and called up Mike Morse
Rays: Designated Pat Burrell for assignment and called up  Hank Blalock
Tigers:  Sent Max Scherzer and Scott Sizemore to AAA and called up Armando Galarraga and Danny Worth.

The only player that I know even a little about that is eligible for this years MLB draft is Bryce Harper.  That being said, if you are interested in the draft and the players involved, Andy Seiler has an updated top 100 draft prospects list.  Josh Sale, who I've seen the Brewers taking in a lot of mock drafts, is ranked #10.

Alex Rodriguez is now in sole possession of seventh all time in career homeruns, passing Frank Robinson's 586 HR over the weekend.

Braves pitcher Kenshin Kawakami, born in Japan, apparently has a bit of a fan club going in Atlanta.  I think this is pretty awesome.

Joe Posnanski has an, of course, wonderfully written article on former Royals manager Trey Hillman and claims that Ned Yost will not turn the Royals into winners.  How about that, huh?

That's all for me this weekend, unless you need some help moving boxes.