Wednesday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while making the most of it.

Manny Parra bent a lot but didn't break last night, allowing ten baserunners (four hits and six walks) in 5.1 innings of work but allowing just one run. Jordan Schelling noted that he needed 106 pitches to complete 5.1, while Arizona starter Barry Enright got through the fifth with just 69. Parra walked the leadoff man twice in the game and had runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the fourth, fifth and sixth. The fact that he was able to work his way off the tightrope a couple of times is encouraging, but the fact that he was out there in the first place was not. Tom Haudricourt noted that Parra has failed to complete the sixth in eight of his last nine starts.

After an adventurous day Monday, Chris Dickerson made his Brewer debut in center field last night and went 0-for-4. The Official Site has a look at his long road to Milwaukee, which included a taxi that no-showed and some game bats left behind. Adam McCalvy reports that Dickerson is wearing #11 now, but will switch to #7 once the equipment staff has it ready for him. The LA Times notes that Dickerson is the latest in a long line of Brewers from the San Fernando Valley.

Ryan Braun was out again last night and remains unsure how long he'll need to rest his injured wrist. He was healthy enough to pinch run in the ninth inning, though.

Lorenzo Cain got his first start batting leadoff and playing right field last night, and went 1-for-3 with a walk. Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker says "young players like Cain give us reason to watch as the season drags into the dog days of summer."

The Brew Town Beat has quotes from Ken Macha and Manny Parra after the game.

Other notes from the field:

• Manny Parra, Barry Enright and Alcides Escobar are leading FanGraphs' Star of the Game voting.
• Here are last night's MLB.com video highlights.
• Last night's telecast on FS Wisconsin was commercial free as part of the Brewers' Charity Auction.
• The Arizona Daily Star relives Arizona center fielder Chris Young's fifth inning, when he doubled off Manny Parra, stole third and scored on a ball Rickie Weeks caught in shallow right.
• It was also team photo day at Miller Park.

Rickie Weeks batted third last night for the second consecutive day, and went 1-for-4 with no RBI. USA Today notes that he's still on pace for 102 RBI from the leadoff spot, which would be a major league record.

Trevor Hoffman got the day off last night, but moved into ninth place on the all time list with his 1023rd career appearance on Monday. He now needs 27 more to tie Kent Tekulve for eighth.

Jonathan Lucroy went 1-for-3 last night but 0-for-3 throwing out baserunners. Beyond the Box Score has a graph showing the Brewers getting the ninth least production in baseball from their catchers.

In the minors:

• The affiliates went 1-3 last night and it was another rough night for Eric Arnett. He allowed four earned runs in just three innings of work and now has a 6.00 ERA since returning to Wisconsin. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
• The Helena Brewers, meanwhile, were rained out for the second straight day.
• BaseballInsiders.com has an interview with Wisconsin first baseman Hunter Morris (h/t Battlekow).
• The Nashville Sounds have a profile of starting pitcher Chuck Lofgren.
• I guess it's time to start talking about the Arizona Fall League: Adam McCalvy says Brett Lawrie and Logan Schafer are the only Brewers he's heard mentioned as candidates.
• I don't have any progress to report on the Brewers' negotiations with first round pick Dylan Covey, but Jim Callis of Baseball America says he expects 28 of the 30 first round picks to sign, including Covey.
• Baseball America is also handing out honors in the minor leagues. The BA posts are subscriber only, but Brewerfan.net reports that Luis Cruz was named the PCL's best defensive shortstop, and Battlekow notes that Lorenzo Cain was named the Southern League's best defensive outfielder.
• And finally, BA also reports that the Brewers have signed 16 year old Dominican righthander Milton Gomez for $350,000. Gomez is already 6-2 and can hit 92 on the gun.
• Geoff Young of The Hardball Times has a look at walk rates in various minor leagues.

The Brewers will unveil a statue of Bud Selig in a couple of weeks, but at least one notable writer wishes they'd scrap the plans: Jim Caple of ESPN makes the case against building monuments to owners (h/t BBTF).

On power rankings: SB Nation has the Brewers at 19, up one spot.

Around baseball:

Dodgers: Released outfielder Garret Anderson and placed shortstop Rafael Furcal on the DL with a back injury.

Things turned ugly in a hurry in the first inning of yesterday's Reds-Cardinals game, as an argument between Brandon Phillips and Yadier Molina turned into a bench-clearing brawl. While Phillips and Molina started the fracas, it sounds like Cardinals catcher Jason LaRue got the worst of it: He reportedly has a concussion after being kicked in the face by Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto.

Interestingly enough, neither Phillips nor Molina were ejected, but both managers were. That gave Tony La Russa some time to work through some issues from the night before: He told reporters he vomited four times in the clubhouse while watching the game.

Also, even after being publicly called a "whiny bitch," La Russa still doesn't get it. Red Reporter nailed it with this note:

I love this, from ESPN’s story on the brawl: "La Russa wasn’t happy with Phillips’ comment and mentioned it to Reds general manager Walt Jocketty, who worked with him in St. Louis."

Let me translate that for you: "LaRussa wasn’t happy with being called a whiner, so he went and whined to Walt Jocketty."

While we're on the subject of nemeses, here's a story from Hardball Talk piling on former Pirates pitching coach Dave Kerwin Joe Kerrigan.

Oh, and here's a note on Jeff Karstens: R.J. Anderson of FanGraphs notes that he's one of the best pitchers in baseball at throwing strikes. That makes his inability to avoid hitting Brewers seem pretty strange.

And as long as I'm piling on, I might as well include this note on Jason Kendall too: Joe Posnanski notes that Kendall is still playing every day in Kansas City despite a 73 OPS+ and zero triples and home runs.

For all our uni watchers out there: The Nationals took BP last night in Montreal Expos hats. If the Nats occasionally broke them out, I think the Expos unis might be the most popular alternate jersey in baseball, and perhaps in the top five in all of sports.

If you've been reading his site, you might know that friend of the site Larry Granillo of Wezen-ball recently gave a presentation at this year's SABR convention in Atlanta on the career statistics of Charlie Brown. The full presentation is now available online, and comes highly recommended.

On this day in 1961, Warren Spahn won his 300th game, beating the Cubs 2-1. On this day in 1971, Brewer pitcher Skip Lockwood's solo home run was the Brewers' only run in a 2-1 loss to Detroit. Lockwood's shot was the last by a Brewer pitcher until the team moved to the National League.

Happy birthday today to:

• 2002 Brewer Andrew Lorraine, who turns 38.
• 1989-91 Brewer George Canale, who turns 45.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to change clothes.

Drink up.