Wednesday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while doing whatever.

The Brewers picked up their second straight win last night to clinch a series victory at Wrigley, but no Brewers-Cubs series is complete without daily conversations about HBPs. Prince Fielder was hit by James Russell last night, and both benches were warned. Plunk Everyone notes that Cub pitchers have hit Brewer batters 13 times this season, while Brewer pitchers have only hit one Cub.

Meanwhile, Carlos Gomez's status remains uncertain following his beaning on Monday. Gomez told reporters he's fine and doesn't have a concussion, but the training staff disagrees. Lorenzo Cain wasn't in the lineup last night for Nashville: It's possible he's on his way to Chicago in case Gomez needs to go on the DL.

At least the Brewers won't have to see Brian Schlitter again this week: After hitting Gomez in the head on Monday, he was sent back to the minors.

Ten of the Brewers' eleven hits were singles last night, meaning they've hit 32 singles (out of 37 hits) in their last two games. While many have been quick to criticize the Brewers for being too reliant on the home run, Jack Moore makes the case for the long ball, noting that the Brewers needed eleven hits to plate four runs last night.

Other notes from the field:

• As has become tradition, Bob Uecker sang "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" at Wrigley last night.
• Chris Narveson, Prince Fielder and Kameron Loe lead FanGraphs' Star of the Game voting.
• Here are the MLB.com highlights.
• Cubs starter Thomas Diamond struck out ten Brewers in his major league debut, becoming just the second Cub since 1920 to reach double digits in his first outing. He also threw 122 pitches, the most in a major league debut since Jason Jennings threw 124 in 2001 for the Rockies.

When is 26 hits not enough? When you could have had 27. The Brewers reportedly requested a scoring change on Casey McGehee's ninth inning fielders' choice/error in Monday's game. Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro dove for a ball up the middle, stopped it and threw away an attempt to force the runner at second base. The 27th hit would have broken the Cub record for most allowed in a game. The call has not been changed.

McGehee's home run trot Monday was the slowest of the day (25.25 seconds), according to Wezen-ball.

Another day, more Corey Hart reaction: Rubie Q isn't a big fan of the deal, and lays out his thinking over at Quevedo at the Buffet.

In the minors:

• It looks like one of the Brewers' top selections won't be signing this year. Jim Callis of Baseball America reports that seventh round pick Joel Pierce is preparing to attend Coastal Carolina.
• The affiliates went 3-2 last night and got two excellent pitching performances: Maverick Lasker didn't allow an earned run in seven innings in Wisconsin's 5-1 win over Peoria, and Mark Rogers struck out ten in six innings in Huntsville's 10-2 win over Carolina. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
• Kentrail Davis and Jake Odorizzi were Timberrattlers.com's Players of the Month for July.

On power rankings: SB Nation has the Brewers at 21, up two spots.

If you haven't yet, please take a moment this morning to vote in this week's BCB Tracking Poll. It will remain open until the first pitch of today's game, and results will be posted tomorrow.

Around baseball:

Astros: Designated infielder Anderson Hernandez for assignment.
Athletics: Claimed infielder Jeff Larish off waivers from the Tigers.
Diamondbacks: Placed reliever Juan Gutierrez on the DL with shoulder inflammation.
Dodgers: Placed pitcher Jeff Weaver on the DL with left knee tendinitis.
Indians: Placed catcher Carlos Santana (left knee injury) and DH Travis Hafner (sore right shoulder) on the DL.
Marlins: Designated pitcher Jorge Sosa for assignment.
Padres: Signed reliever Mike Koplove to a minor league deal.
Phillies: Placed Ryan Howard on the DL with a sprained ankle.
Red Sox: Placed Kevin Youkilis on the DL with a torn muscle in his thumb.
Reds: Placed shortstop Orlando Cabrera on the DL with an oblique injury.
Rockies: Claimed infielder Wes Hodges off waivers from the Indians.
White Sox: Placed reliever Erick Threets on the DL with turf toe. (h/t hotstove.com)

As Adam McCalvy noted, there's been a sudden rush of beanballs this week, with Carlos Gomez, Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates and Mark Reynolds of the Diamondbacks all getting hit in the head in a 24 hour stretch. Reynolds was hit by Nationals pitcher Collin Balester, meaning he's hit someone in the head twice in nine days. McCutchen was down on the field for several minutes, but that wasn't enough to keep Pirates beat reporter Dejan Kovacevic from taking a cheap shot at the Brewers.

While the Brewers are still hoping to come to terms with first round pick Dylan Covey, the first 2010 pick is getting ready for his major league debut: The White Sox are expected to call up reliever Chris Sale today. Sale pitched just 6.1 innings in AAA, but struck out 15 of the 19 batters he retired.

On this day in 1973, John Briggs went 6-for-6 in the Brewers 9-4 win over the A's. It's one of just two six-hit performances in Brewer history.

On this day in 1997, the Brewers beat the Angels 5-2 behind fourth inning home runs from Jose Valentin, Dave Nilsson and Jeromy Burnitz.

Happy birthday today to:

• Wisconsin pitcher Hiram Burgos, who turns 23.
• 2007 Brewer Scott Linebrink, who turns 34.
• Wisconsin pitching coach Chris Hook, who turns 42.
• 1987-95 Brewer B.J. Surhoff, who turns 46.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to turn up the AC.

Drink up.