Sunday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while getting interesting.

The celebration over the last couple of days has been incredible, but it's time to get back to business.

The lasting memories from the win Friday night are almost too many to count. The Outside Corner has audio of Bob Uecker's call of Morgan's walkoff hit. Uecker, by the way, usually doesn't call the tenth inning. Miller Park Drunk has a gif of the champagne celebration in the clubhouse. The JS has a collection of Brewer quotes.

Other notes from the field:

• Jordan Bastian of MLB.com has a photo of confetti falling on Miller Park.
• Andrew Wagner points out that it had been 10,590 days since the Brewers won the 1982 ALCS, their last postseason series win.
• Rickie Weeks was the first player ever to be hit by a pitch in an NLDS Game 5. Plunk Everyone has coverage from every possible angle.
• Craig Counsell has now been a part of four teams that have had walkoff series victories.
• If you missed it, we had a transcript of Ron Roenicke's postgame press conference (now with the gap filled in), a note on Nyjer Morgan's place among all time great Brewer postseason moments and links to video highlights from the game's turning points.
• The Polish won the Sausage Race.

With all of that said, today the celebration is over and it's time to get back to work. The Brewers and Cardinals open the NLCS at 3:07, the roof is expected to be open and Brian Anderson will have the call for TBS. Zack Greinke will start against Jaime Garcia. If you're headed out to the game, John Steinmiller has some things you should know.  Mark Attanasio's father Joe will sing the national anthem, and Gorman Thomas will throw out the first pitch. Here are some previews to peruse this morning:

• Mark Townsend of Big League Stew has five things the Brewers have to do to win the series.
• Bill Petti of Beyond the Box Score has their preview.
• Jeff Sullivan of Baseball Nation nails it, as usual.
• Carson Cistulli of NotGraphs wrote a prayer for the Brewers.
• Matthew Leach of MLB.com says the Cardinals will aim to contain Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder.
• Mark Bowman of MLB.com says this series will help shape the legacies of Fielder and Albert Pujols.
• Babes Love Baseball considers the possibility that this series could get ugly.
• Jennifer Langosch of MLB.com talked to players from both sides of 1982's "Suds Series."
• You Can't Predict Baseball is calling the Cardinals the YCPB Team of the Year.
• Dave Seminara of the New York Times notes that no one predicted this outcome.
• Keith Law is picking the Cardinals in 6, and cites Ron Roenicke as the reason.
• Baseball Nation wants your help picking a winner.
• Reviewing the Brew compares "Beast Mode" and the "Rally Squirrel."
• Colin Fly noted that "Monsters, Inc." was on Disney last night. My wife and I also stayed up to watch it.

Meanwhile, this series preview graphic created by @bish is spot on:

While Zack Greinke is on the mound this afternoon, Yovani Gallardo will be getting ready to start Game 3 on Wednesday. Ron Roenicke hasn't announced yet if he plans to start Randy Wolf of Shaun Marcum tomorrow night. The rotation may be shuffled a bit, but the Brewers don't plan to make any roster moves.

Nyjer Morgan's incredible season continues, and his late inning heroics and antics afterward on Friday have propelled him into the national spotlight. Morgan cursed pretty loudly several times during TBS postseason coverage, although I'm having a hard time blaming him for all of them: The video at this Baseball Nation post shows Morgan pretty clearly stepping away from a TBS interview to interact with the crowd, only to have Sam Ryan go out of her way to keep the mic in his face while he curses.

Big League Stew captured Morgan's night in pictures. Meanwhile, FJB blames Jim Riggleman for creating a situation where Morgan had to leave Washington.

You can almost certainly bet that at some point this week we'll hear at least one Cardinal complaining about "Beast Mode" and "disrespect." Alex Poterack of Disciples of Uecker has a great counterargument to that point.

The bottom line is pretty simple: These are two teams that just don't like each other. Even Zack Greinke had some harsh words regarding Chris Carpenter in his media session yesterday (FanShot), which Tony LaRussa took offense with.

The Brewers won't be seeing Skip Schumaker this week: He strained an oblique in Game 5 of the NLDS and was left off the roster for this week.

Jonathan Lucroy had a rough night at the plate Friday night, but his work behind it probably kept the Brewers in the game. Lori Nickel of the JS talked to Lucroy about his defense.

The timing seems a little weird, but Ryan Braun is apparently campaigning for Jose Reyes to come to Milwaukee.

Miller Park is sold out and will be rocking today, as it has been much of this season. The Business Journal is reporting that the Brewers ranked third among MLB teams this season in fan support.

As other teams are eliminated, the Brewer bandwagon grows by the day. Even heated rivals are joining forces to root on the Crew in October: It's About The Money is encouraging Yankee fans to root for this team, and a plurality of Red Sox fans at Over the Monster are joining them.

Of course, not all national coverage is positive: Take, for example, Mychael Urban of CSN Bay Area. He called John Axford a "hillbilly" in somewhat unprompted fashion. (h/t @NotRonRoenicke via @keithlaw) To his tremendous credit, Axford took it in stride.

If you see someone standing by the river watching the fish after today's game, it might be Ron Roenicke. Apparently he spent some time doing that on Thursday.

In the minors: Four Brewers made an appearance and two of them stole a base in Peoria's 7-1 loss to Surprise. You can read about that and more in today's AFL Notes.

If you haven't had a chance yet, there's still time to make your predictions for today's game: The Prognostikeggers thread is open.

Around baseball:

Braves: Catcher Wil Nieves has elected to become a minor league free agent.
Phillies: First baseman Ryan Howard's 2012 season is in doubt after he tore his Achilles tendon Friday night.
Royals: Pitcher Robinson Tejeda has elected to become a minor league free agent.

After joining the Braves, Nieves played in just 21 games for AAA Gwinnett and hit .282/.333/.352. The Braves probably wish they could get that dollar back.

In all the excitement of the last few days, I almost completely forgot that the ALCS started last night. Noah was on the case, though, and has a full recap in this morning's edition of Around the MLB Playoffs.

I can't help it: I love playoff puns. Lookout Landing has a recap of the last two days.

How incredible have the last few months of this season been? While many have pointed out that two NL Central teams will meet in the NLCS, @ShallBeLevon99 is the only one I've seen mention the Pirates were ahead of both teams in July.

If the Brewers weren't in an NLCS game today, I probably would have had more time to spend enjoying Benjamin Hill's photo post of contemplative mascots.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my morning plans have been approved.

Drink up.