Finally.

Fangraphs is still showing Monday's Win Probability Graph. That made me wonder for a second if I'd only imagined yesterday's win.
BR Box Score

So, obviously the biggest news from yesterday is this: Ben Sheets left the game after 2 innings with what was at the time called "forearm tightness," but has now been renamed an elbow injury. Sheets says he's had lingering pain, but there's no structural damage. All of this has been cleverly hidden from the fans enemy until now, when it may end Sheets' season and Brewers career.

Tyler Maas of Bugs & Cranks is trying to put Sheets' Brewer career into perspective.

Jim Powell's blog from after last night's game discussed the Yost firing, last night's win and his usual collection of links to other stuff he's done.

Speaking of the Yost firing, news on it continues to trickle in. Jon Heyman is confirming what many have suspected: the order to fire Yost came from Mark Attanasio himself. Also, Sabernomics HAS NO CONCEPT.

The Brew Town Beat wonders if the Yost firing might have been a turning point for Prince Fielder.

Major League Baseball released the schedules for 2009 yesterday. You can read Tom H.'s highlights here or see the whole thing here.

Sky Kalkman has a post over at Beyond the Box Score taking a look at candidates for NL MVP. No Brewer ranked above #15 (Ryan Braun), but Gabe Kapler managed to make it all the way up to #65 with just 245 plate appearances.

The new Bugs & Cranks new power rankings have the Brewers at 11.

I haven't seen it noted anywhere else, but Al is reporting that the West Virginia Power have signed a player development deal with the Pirates for next season, making it all the more likely that the Brewers will have their low-A team in Appleton next season.

On injuries:

Orioles SP Daniel Cabrera was scratched from his scheduled start Friday after experiencing tingling in his elbow during a bullpen session.
Nomar Garciaparra left last night's game in the fourth inning after reinjuring his knee running the bases.
Torii Hunter was hit in the face during BP last night, and while the injuries aren't believed to be serious, he sat out last night's game.
Hanley Ramirez left last night's game with a sore shoulder after hitting two home runs.
Jarrod Washburn's disappointing season with the Mariners is ending early due to a strained abdominal muscle.

Also, the Nats have shut down Ronnie Belliard, Jesus Flores, Austin Kearns and Dmitri Young for the rest of 2008.

One record was broken quietly last night: Ichiro Suzuki reached 200 hits for the 8th consecutive season last night. No AL player has ever done that (Ty Cobb never did it more than 3 straight), and the last player to do it in either league was Willie Keeler, 107 years ago.

In other monumental feats, twice in three days a Red Sox hitter has hit a home run ball at Tropicana Field that will never come down.

The wheels continue to spin as MLB teams work to figure out where their AAA affiliates will play next season. Walkoff Walk has a map for you, if you haven't been keeping up.

Did you realize it's been 74 years since a left-handed thrower played shortstop in the major leagues? I had no idea. Tangotiger looks at the reasons and asks if a superior fielder could still handle the position throwing left-handed.

Oh, and I got Rickrolled by John Hodgman yesterday.

Drink up.

Some things to read while I work on training Gorman to accurately predict the weather.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Ok, let's start with the positive from last night: Manny Parra picked up a couple of doubles, meaning he's only a little more than 500 hits away from the all-time pitcher record.

Ok, done being positive. Brewed Sports noted that Eric Gagne has the highest HR/9 of any major league pitcher that hasn't been released. So why is he still pitching in high leverage, or really any, situation? The Official Site says Ned is trying so hard to get himself fired Gagne is staying in the eighth inning role.

Jayson Stark listed CC Sabathia as a top-three candidate for NL Cy Young, but decided Tim Lincecum deserves it more. Via The Hardball Times, I found Tim Marchman of the NY Sun, who argues that the sleeper candidate may be Ryan Dempster. That's probably a reach.

Others are still weighing in on Sabathia's near no-hitter. Hal McCoy thinks it was a hit. UmpBump doesn't like Doug Melvin's idea for a new official scoring system.

Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, Adam Dunn...and Ray Durham? MLB Trade Rumors has a list of top upcoming free agents sorted by OBP. Ray Durham makes the top ten.

On injuries:

White Sox 3B Joe Crede left last night's game after 5 innings with tightness in his back.
Nats C Jesus Flores left last night's game on a stretcher, but preliminary reports say it was just an ankle sprain.
Ken Griffey missed his second straight game with a sore back.
Cards OF Joe Mather is done for the year with a broken hand.
White Sox OF Carlos Quentin was scratched from last night's game with forearm soreness.
Rangers C Jarrod Saltalamacchia is done for the year with a strained muscle in his forearm.
Carlos Zambrano left last night's game after five innings with arm trouble. He'll be re-examined today.

We're getting close to the window for teams to negotiate with potential minor league affiliates, and two stories today imply their could be some significant movement in AAA: The Indians are leaving Buffalo and will likely sign a deal with Columbus. Meanwhile, the Dodgers are reportedly moving from Las Vegas to Albuquerque.

Drink up.

So on Friday I saw a friend, who greeted me with a hug. We had the following exchange:

"Hey, how are you?"
"Good. I'm finally getting over my cold."
"Oh...thanks for the hug, then."

I'm guessing you can about imagine how that turned out.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So CC Sabathia threw 130 pitches last night to finish his fifth complete game with the Brewers, giving him the outright NL lead in CG. Ben Sheets has 4. Only five other NL pitchers have more than one. Only 29 NL pitchers, given a full season to work on it, have accumulated more than 8 wins. Sabathia's done that since July.

But the fact remains that he threw 130 pitches last night in a situation where it almost certainly wasn't necessary. Baseball Musings and Defensive Indifference came down hard on Ned Yost for letting Sabathia finish the game.

In the meantime, Chop-n-Change notes that 7 of Sabathia's top ten most comparable pitchers were done by age 31, which is why they're hoping the Braves won't sign him.

Even if no one else in the bullpen was ready, Salomon Torres was available to pitch last night. Also in that story: Rickie Weeks is feeling better and may not hit the DL after all.

Ryan Braun left last night's game after aggravating his intercostal strain swinging and missing. After the game, Braun downplayed the severity of the injury...I guess we'll see. In-Between Hops correctly predicted the development.

A lot was made of Cecil Cooper's prediction that the Astros would sweep the Brewers this week. There weren't very many people on the bandwagon with him, though. A poll at Crawfish Boxes showed that 38% of fans thought the Astros would win one game out of 3, and Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart thinks they'll get swept.

One note got buried in today's The Official Site's Game Preview: Jason Kendall needs seven more starts to tie the record for the most starts by a catcher in a single season in franchise history. Even if Mike Rivera starts 3 times in the next 10 games, Jason Kendall will have caught more games than any catcher in Brewer history before September 1st.

On injuries:

A's SP Justin Duchsherer left last night's game in the 3rd inning with inflammation in his hip.
Twins SS Adam Everett was hit in the hand by a foul ball last night, but X-rays were negative. He's day-to-day, just like the rest of us.
Nats C Jesus Flores hasn't played since Saturday with a sprained knee.
Ian Kinsler is likely done for the year after being diagnosed with a sports hernia.
Twins OF Delmon Young jammed his ankle last night and may miss some time.

Has there ever been a post-deadline trading period that was this active? The Dodgers reportedly acquired Greg Maddux yesterday.

This is why teams don't want their top prospects playing in the Olympics: Matt LaPorta is day-to-day (and lucky to not be much worse) after being hit in the head with a pitch during Monday's game against China.

Al Reyes is not one of TheJay's active pitchers who faced the AL Brewers, but he did spend 3 seasons as a member of the AL Brewers. Today, he's looking for work after refusing an outright assignment and being released by the Rays.

Oh, and Sabathia's win last night may not have looked that surprising, but according to NBC Olympic announcer Al Trautwig, winning when everyone expects it is one of the most difficult things in sports. Click the link to read Keith Law's reply.

Drink up.

If you're like me, you haven't spent a lot of time this season thinking about the Washington Nationals.  But that doesn't mean they're not an interesting team--quite the contrary.  As Brewers fans well know, losing teams can have a lot going for them, and the Nationals have more than their fair share of promising youngsters and surprising (well, somewhat) veterans.

To help introduce us to this team, I turned to Cathy of Miss Chatter, an excellent Nats blog.  Here's what she had to say:

Q: Usually I start with something more general, but I can't restrain my curiosity.  Jesus Flores, last year's Rule 5 pick, has been filling in at catcher, and now I read that he may keep getting playing time when Paul Lo Duca returns.  Tell us about Flores -- what are your impressions so far, and do you think he's ready to leave the minors behind for good?

A: Jesus Flores has worked out wonderfully for a rule 5 pick. He was respectable as Brian Schneider's backup all last season, and since he's come up this season with Paul Lo Duca on the DL, he's made it hard to send him back to the minors. I think he's proven he can hit at the major league level and the pitchers have raved about his game-calling skills. The pitching coach (Randy St. Claire) and manager Manny Acta praise how he sticks to the game plan. I would far rather have him and Wil Nieves as backup than Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada, who haven't been hitting and can't seem to throw runners out (but Lo Duca does give juicy quotes). If this season is all about giving the younger guys a shot and seeing what shakes out, why not? I guess there's about six million dollars tied up in the other contracts why not.

Q: Speaking of youngsters from other organizations, how are Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes fitting in?  Something must be working, because they seem to have been controversy-free for quite a while now.

A: Yes, Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge have been controversy free so far. Dukes has an ex-cop assigned to him 24 hours a day as a mentor, counselor, and friendly ear. He's wrapped up all his court appearances and community service time, so hopefully he can dedicate himself to the team and baseball without any distractions. I think for both of them, a lot of it was getting them out of the environment they were in, although the transgressions of the two aren't really comparable. It'll be interesting to see if Dukes can stay out of trouble and turn his season around at the plate. We haven't yet seen the raw power and stroke Jim Bowden raved about when he took a chance on him. Milledge seems to have a hoot of a personality and I have no issues with that - in fact, I was impressed he high fived fans.

Q: I would understand if you had a negative view of the Brewers, since the Milwaukee alums in your organization this year are Johnny Estrada and Ray King.  Really, I swear they were overweight and ineffective before we got them.  Do you think Estrada was worth picking up, and do you wish (as I do) that Ray King would pitch as long as Jesse Orosco did?

A: Ha, thanks for them! No, I absolutely don't think Johnny Estrada was worth picking up, but at the time, who knew Wil Nieves would have a breakout season as a backup catcher? Plus, Estrada was recovering from elbow surgery when he was signed and he's still sidelined and on the DL due to that. It's a shame that Ray King was let go, but as a lefty specialist who wasn't particularly effective with right-handed batters, the Nats didn't have room for him on the roster. For the first several weeks, our starters couldn't get more than 5 or 6 innings in before turning things over to the bullpen and we needed more long relief. Ray King recently said he'd like to do sports commentary or play by play and I heard he was on Baseball Tonight the other day. I wish I had caught that! (I haven't yet found a YouTube or Red Lasso of the segment).

Q: Over the weekend, the Brewers are going to face Odalis Perez, John Lannan, and Tim Redding, all of whom have pitched quite well so far this year.  Can you give us an idea about what to expect from these guys?

A: I can't tell you much about Odalis Perez other than he's pitched above expectations so far. I expected Tim Redding to do well based on the last half of last season and he seemed pretty confident in the off-season that he would win a spot in the rotation. He's proved he deserved it. John Lannan is an awesome story unless you're a Phillies fan (he broke Chase Utley's hand hitting him with a pitch in his debut last year and was ejected from the game). Lannan keeps his cool and focus at a level far beyond his years and experience. All of them are more control pitchers than flame throwers.

Q: To wrap up, let's go big picture.  Jim Bowden has always gotten mixed reviews as a GM, but I've been impressed with the job he's done amassing youngsters and putting together a passable pitching staff on the cheap.  Do you think the Nats are on the road to contending in the near future--if not, what has to change to get them pointed in that direction?

A: Baseball is a funny thing - a constantly changing beast. Expectations constantly shift due to injuries, slumps, etc. I would like to think the Nationals will be ready to contend in two years based on "The Plan", but they still have some holes in the farm system, particularly in the infield. The future pitching is shaping up to be ready in two years, if not sooner, plus the outfield has plenty of options. Ryan Zimmerman will hopefully be entrenched at third base, but who will be the shortstop? Second baseman? Hard to say. 

Unless they start making major trades or signing big free agents, when they contend is hard to predict. Bowden and Rizzo have done a great job amassing young arms and without as many high picks this year, it'll be interesting to see who they get in the draft in a couple weeks. They are also aggressively pursuing talent in the Dominican. Jim Bowden still gets mixed reviews - many fans are critical of how his trades have worked out for the team, but everyone agrees he's done well with the drafts he's overseen. Kearns and Lopez were supposed to be the steal of the century when he traded for them with the Reds.

Thanks, Cathy!