Monday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while failing twice.

In two out of three games in the Rockies series, the Brewer pitching staff kept the team in games and gave them an opportunity to win. Yesterday it was Randy Wolf, allowing one run on three hits in seven innings. In-Between Hops noted that he was pitching to George Kottaras for the fourth straight start: Kottaras went 2-for-5 with a double. After the game, Ken Macha suggested that the pitching staff might have reached a turning point.

Jim Edmonds was unavailable to play yesterday and is day-to-day with a sore right shoulder. If Edmonds can't go tomorrow the Brewers will almost certainly have to make a roster move: Joe Inglett hasn't been able to play the outfield for quite some time now, meaning the Brewers are down to three healthy outfielders.

One of those healthy outfielders is Carlos Gomez. He went 0-for-5 yesterday and struck out twice, lowering his 2010 OBP to .272. Brew Crew Daily notes that Gomez is actually swinging at more pitches outside the strike zone than he did last year.

Casey McGehee (hitting .188/.243/.313 in June) was given the day off yesterday, with Craig Counsell playing third base and batting fifth in his place. Jaymes Langrehr of The Brewers Bar wonders if McGehee's current skid is tied to regression to the mean or simply fatigue. Counsell went 0-for-4 with a walk in the game, and is now hitting .241/.317/.241 with no extra base hits in his last 25 games.

John Axford pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation yesterday, but told the Toronto Sun he still doesn't consider himself the closer. He also cites some things he's learned from Trevor Hoffman about getting ready to work the ninth inning.

Other notes from the field:

• You Can't Predict Baseball notes that Manny Corpas' appearance yesterday was his fourth in four games for the Rockies. He's been used nine times this season on zero days' rest and hadn't allowed a run in those games until Saturday. Jim Tracy isn't ready to pull him out of the closer role just yet.
  
• Plunk Everyone has everything you ever wanted to know about Prince Fielder's HBP yesterday (making him the second major leaguer with ten) and Yovani Gallardo plunking Melvin Mora Saturday (tying him for 51st on the all time list).
• Randy Wolf, George Kottaras and Aaron Cook are leading FanGraphs' Star of the Game voting.
• CoolStandings has the Brewer playoff chances at 1.6%.
• Here's yesterday's MLB.com video highlights.

In this weekend's lone roster move, the Brewers activated Todd Coffey off the DL and outrighted Chris Smith to Nashville (FanShot). If you missed it in the FanPosts, click here to see TheJay's case for Smith as the most mistrusted reliever in Brewer history.

Another day, another note on Prince Fielder: Stat Speak estimates Fielder's surplus value at $15.25 million for the remainder of his time under team control, and says it's probably not worth it for the Brewers to trade him at this point.

Ryan Braun remains the lone Brewer in position to be voted onto the All Star team, and Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker says Braun is the only Brewer position player who deserves to appear in the game.

Doug Davis could be back with the Brewers by the end of the week: He pitched a successful rehab start for Nashville over the weekend and is expected to make one more this week.

In the minors:

• Tom Haudricourt has a roundup on his top ten pitching prospects in the Brewer organization, and how they've fared so far this season.
• On the field, Jeremy Jeffress pitched another scoreless inning for Wisconsin yesterday. He has yet to allow a hit in four innings as a Timber Rattler, walking two and striking out eight. You can read about that and the rest of the affiliates' 2-1 day in today's Minor League Notes.
• It's opening day in Helena and Arizona: 2009 17th round pick Tyler Cravy is scheduled to get the ball tonight for the H-Brewers. You can see their full roster here.
• Meanwhile, many Arizona Summer Leaguers are coming into the United States for the first time. ESPN has a look at teams' preparations to help their prospects avoid problems with Arizona's new immigration laws.
• College Splits has a review of the Brewers' draft. Brewerfan.net's list shows the Brewers have signed 26 of their 50 picks. They've also reportedly signed undrafted free agent pitcher Reggie Keen, who pitched for Radford this season.
• One of those signed players is fourth round pick Hunter Morris, who skipped rookie ball and is playing first base for Wisconsin. Adam McCalvy has a look at other Brewer farmhands who have bypassed rookie ball.
• The Brewers have released 2001 1st round pick Mike Jones, who had been pitching in Nashville (FanShot).
• Minor League Baseball Prospects has updated their prospect rankings, and have Brett Lawrie (#47) as the only Brewer in their top 100. You can see their top 1000 here: Kentrail Davis, Cody Scarpetta, Evan Anundsen, Mat Gamel, Dylan Covey, Caleb Gindl, Jake Odorizzi, Eric Arnett, Lorenzo Cain, Jonathan Lucroy, Logan Schafer, Kyle Heckathorn, Scooter Gennett, Angel Salome, Taylor Green and 23 other Brewer farmhands appear.
• The Appleton Post-Crescent has a profile of Wisconsin shortstop Michael Marseco.

On power rankings: Yahoo has the Brewers holding steady at 24.

Meanwhile, this weekend featured a couple of great historical notes: Wezen-ball remembers the time Bernie Brewer was accused of stealing signs and FtJ has a Fathers Day-themed look at second generation Brewers.

Also, if you're looking for more on Father's Day, check out Miller Park Drunk's awesome post.

Around baseball:

Angels: Designated infielder Michael Ryan for assignment.
Astros: Designated reliever Casey Daigle, catcher Kevin Cash and outfielder Cory Sullivan for assignment.
Blue Jays: Signed infielder Nick Green.
Dodgers: Placed pitcher Carlos Monasterios on the DL with a finger injury.
Marlins: The team is expected to designate reliever Jorge Sosa for assignment.
Phillies: Designated pitcher Scott Mathieson for assignment and placed pitcher Antonio Bastardo on the DL with left elbow ulnar neuritis.
Pirates: Pitcher Jack Taschner has refused an outright assignment to the minors and is now a free agent.
Red Sox: Designated pitcher Boof Bonser for assignment and signed first baseman Ryan Shealy to a minor league deal.
Rockies: Placed Troy Tulowitzki on the DL with a broken wrist.
White Sox: Designated infielder Jayson Nix for assignment.
Yankees: Signed infielder Eric Bruntlett to a minor league deal.

The Rays are one of baseball's best teams, yet they consistently play in front of tiny crowds in arguably baseball's worst facility. As such, I'm curious to hear what owner Stu Sternberg will day at a press conference this afternoon where he's supposed to make an "important announcement about the team's future."

The Pirates, meanwhile, fired a pierogi for making a negative comment about the team on Facebook.

Elsewhere in poor management decisions, the Marlins gave away vuvuzelas to fans before Saturday's game. The result was about what you'd expect.

I don't know why I found this particularly interesting, or if anyone else will, but Braves catcher Brian McCann, who has struggled with vision issues for most of the last two seasons, appears to have solved the issue by giving up caffeine.

Happy birthday to:

• 1973-86 Brewer Charlie Moore, who turns 57 today.
• 1978 Brewer Andy Etchebarren, who turns 67 today.
• 2006 third round pick Cole Gillespie, who turned 26 yesterday.
• 2005-06 Brewer Carlos Lee, who turned 34 yesterday.
• 2002 Brewer Paul Bako, who turned 38 yesterday.
• 1993 Brewer Dickie Thon, who turned 52 yesterday.
• Davey Nelson, who turned 66 yesterday.
• Claudio Vargas, who turned 32 Saturday.
• 1971-77 and 79-83 Brewer Jim Slaton, who turned 60 Saturday.
• 1989 Brewer Jerry Reuss, who turned 61 Saturday.

Oh, and Blue Jays outfielder Fred Lewis is "the hardest man you'll ever see in capris."

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to set up my pendulum.

Drink up.