Before yesterday's game, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? posted the following:

Apparently they weren't.

Win Expectancy Graph
(BR Box Scores are having technical difficulties this morning)
BDD Recaps

Still more reaction to the firing that wasn't: Apparently Ned had a conversation with reporters yesterday that was somewhere between a "mild tirade/venting session" and "a furious Ned Yost," depending on who you ask. Two-Fisted Slopper also has a reaction that should not be missed.

As noted in the Fanshots, Seth McClung has been moved into the rotation, taking the place of Carlos Villanueva. I'm not arguing the decision, but it's proof that baseball can be a funny game sometimes. The Brewers opened camp with Ben Sheets, Jeff Suppan, Yovani Gallardo, Dave Bush, Carlos Villanueva, Manny Parra, Claudio Vargas, Chris Capuano, Zach Jackson and others on the roster, and have since signed Jeff Weaver. Less than a month ago there were those arguing that McClung shouldn't even be on the roster. Who would've guessed he'd start a game before the All Star Break?

We probably won't know more specifics until later today, but Eric Gagne left last night's game with an inability to throw strikes shoulder stiffness.

Jim Powell's most recent blog covers the "PNC Curse," Gagne, McClung, Dale Sveum, Ryan Braun, salmon and Braveheart.

Beyond the Box Score says the Brewers have played a much tougher schedule than their NL Central rivals, and should not be counted out.

The Brewers remained steady at 17 in the most recent Bugs and Cranks Power Rankings.

On injuries:

Gary Bennett hit his home run off Ben Sheets while suffering from plantar fasciitis, which has since landed him on the DL.
A's reliever Andrew Brown is on the DL following an emergency appendectomy.
Mets OF Ryan Chruch got his second concussion of 2008 last night sliding to break up a double play.
Derek Jeter is day to day after being hit by a pitch and being gorilla press slammed by a Bizarro Ray.
Twins IF Matt Tolbert had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb and will miss 4-5 weeks.

This was the first thing today to make me laugh out loud: Hire Jim Essian is not impressed with Mark DeRosa's blog and has some fun with the comments it generates, like this one, for example:

Earlier this week, Jon Lester, a cancer survivor, pitched a no-hitter. On Friday, Doug Davis will become baseball's newest cancer survivor when he returns to the D-Backs rotation.

Mike Piazza announced his retirement yesterday. UmpBump is encouraging us all to enjoy, one last time, his unfortunate facial hair.

Oh, and here's a story from Paul Depodesta about scouts being top secret by reporting on players from porta potties.

Drink up.

The matchup is Carlos Villanueva and Josh Beckett.  No, that's not lopsided at all!

Here's the BR Game Preview.   Fun fact of the day: In 14 PAs, David Ortiz has a 2.615 OPS against Seth McClung, including three homers in consecutive at-bats against him.  Wow.  Bring on DiFelice!

Game time is 12:35 CT.

Go Brewers!

Penny.  Villanueva.  Preview.  7:05 CT.  Go!

So, sometime around the sixth inning of last night's game, I got an email from a Cubs fan, offering a thank you for taking 3 of 4 from the Cardinals. Just to make sure he didn't get too far ahead of himself, I sent him this.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

Obviously, it's smiles all around after Dave Bush put up a nice performance last night and Ryan Braun's bat sent a couple more baseballs screaming into the masses. But, in the JS Online game story, there's still a hint of Ned being Ned:

Kudos to Anthony Witrado for publishing that exchange and coming through with more than just the "it's early" refrain.

Adam Charles at Bugs and Cranks thinks last night's game was just part of an elaborate plot by Tony LaRussa. We're still waiting for the twist.

The Grand National Championships has a quick rant on bullpen management and closers. I will give credit to Ned for pitching Gagne in a non-save situation last night and giving him an opportunity to straighten himself out.

Last night's game didn't involve a save situation, but it did involve two teams going closer by committee. Baseball Musings asks what happens if it works.

Not only did Dave Bush pick up his first win of the season last night, he also qualified to start in row 7 of the Hank Aaron 755, Big League Stew's race for players with NASCAR names.

The Padres have designated Rule 5 pick Callix Crabbe for assignment (also noted here in the Fanshots), meaning the Brewers could have him back. Al doesn't seem to think they'll be interested, but it's middle infield depth, how could they not be?

On injuries:

Rafael Furcal will miss the upcoming series with the Brewers after being placed on the DL with a lower back injury.
Marlins P Scott Olsen isn't hurt, but he was having a hard time regaining velocity after his 8 2/3 inning, 121 pitch outing against the Brewers last week.

Here's pretty much all you need to know about Dayn Perry: He thinks Carlos Zambrano should win the Cy Young even though Brandon Webb is 8-0, has thrown more innings, struck out more batters and has a lower WHIP. I know compiling award ballots can be hard, but writing Webb in for Cy Young is a no-brainer at this point.

Apparently he hits other teams, too: Lance Berkman had stretches last week where he went 16-for-20 and 19-for-25. That second feat had only been accomplished once in the last 50 years.

David Sloane is the agent for Carlos Delgado. He's making Delgado a lot of money, but the Mets 1B is his only client. Why, you ask? Because he's insane.

Oh, and here's video of an unassisted triple play.

Drink up.

Last year after 34 games, the Brewers were 24-10.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they're not going to match that this year.

Here's the BR Game Preview, and here's our discussion of the Sunday lineup (on a Thursday!)

Let's hope regression to the mean rules the day, as Carlos Villanueva is surely better than his 5.56 ERA, and Mark Hendrickson is certainly not as good as his 5-1 record.  Right?

Go Brewers!

It's Carlos Villanueva vs. Roy Oswalt.  Last year, that would've sounded like a mismatch, and if it still sounds like it's lopsided, it might be in the other direction.  Villa has give us two straight outings with 6+ innings and 2 ER, while Oswalt has an ERA of 5.75.

That said, I don't think it's time to talk about Oswalt being toast.  He's been unlucky in just about every possible way: very few popups (Rickie will help that), and a disproportionate number of fly balls leaving the part.  Summed up in the Hardball Times stat xFIP, Oswalt *should* have an ERA more like 3.64.  ZiPS projected 3.48, so that makes a lot more sense.

Here's the BR Game Preview.  Game time is 7:05 CT.

Project-a-tron trusts ZiPS more than a few flukish bad starts in April, so here's what it spits out:

• Astros 4.6
• Brewers 4.2
• Brewers WinExp: 42.99%

Go Brewers!

I missed most of last night's game, but when I got home, I liked what I saw.  Another clutch bomb from Prince (against a lefty, no less), some stylish defense from Ryan Braun, and an inning without pain courtesy of Eric Gagne.  The Cubs are in Washington playing the NL East team that actually does suck, so we're still two games back.

The regulars:

• FanGraphs Win Probability chart
• BR Box Score
• BDD Daily Recap
• BP Postseason Odds:  84.7 wins and 22% chance of the division.

Before we get to some articles, I'd like to present to you a photo essay in four clicks that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face:

1. Carlos!
2. Ryan!
3. Prince!
4. Gagne!

The Junkball Blues looks at the efficiency of our starting pitching --that is, how many innings are they getting out of the pitches they throw?  The conclusions aren't surprising, but the degree to which Parra is working for his number of frames might be.

Ben Sheets threw yesterday and said, "It felt good."   I would've given this top billing, but you all know as well as I do how little Sheets updates can mean sometimes.

At The Book Blog, MGL tries to rate pitching coaches.   I had considered doing something very similar to this, so I'm glad he did.  As he acknowledges, it's a very difficult effect to nail down, but as it turns out, Mike Maddux appears to have been a positive influence--though not overwhelmingly so--over the last five years.

Some injuries:

• Scott Baker left his start last night with a groin strain , leaving the Twins wondering if they'll have any starting pitching left by June, and dejectedly realizing that the Rangers have Sidney Ponson this year.
• Kevin Correia got all of one out before leaving with a back injury.   Ouch.
• Kerwin Danley got hit.   Hard.  (Link has video.)

In former Brewers news, it's a big day to be a part of the old Brewers-Braves trade.  Dan Kolb (yes, that Dan Kolb) was released by the Red Sox, and Jose Capellan (yes, that Jose Capellan) was promoted by the Rockies.

Speaking of the Rockies, somebody had to go to make room for Capellan, and that someone was...Jayson Nix .  Doug: Gyt oyn thy phoyne, immydyatly!

The Pirates are bad.  Charlie at Bucs Dugout sums it all up in one brilliant post.

I'm guessing most of you haven't heard of Danny Ray Herrera, but he's a great story.  He was part of the Josh Hamilton trade in the offseason, and he just made a successful debut in Triple-A.   For the whole Herrera tale, from being a too-short-for-the-scouts college pitcher to a surprise success in A ball, click here.  (It's a great article.)

That's it for today...at least for the next two hours, until game time.

Carlos Villanueva's last start was his best yet -- 2 ER in 7 IP against the Cardinals.   Let's hope he can build on that and save our hopelessly overworked bullpen (TM).  Let's also hope that the offense can put something together against the overperforming Mark Hendrickson and send the fans home after nine innings.

Ah, but is Hendrickson really overperforming?  (And why does Firefox's spellcheck not like "overperforming?"  Or "spellcheck?")  The Palm Beach Post has the scoop: Mark is crediting LASIK with his hot start.   I can't wait for the first time Kendall comes to the plate--I think something might explode.  It's a good thing they didn't have LASIK in the 18th century, or else the American Revolution would've been a lot bloodier.

Here's the BR Game Preview.   Ignoring for a moment the last two games and focusing on larger trends, this again figures to be a high-scoring contest, as the Marlins have the best team OPS against righties, and the Brewers have the second best team OPS against lefties. 

Game time is 6:05 CT.  Let's go Crew!

I haven't read any official announcements as to who is in or out of the starting rotation, but for tonight anyway, it appears that Villanueva's spot is safe.  Maybe that means Ned is trying to keep his main guys on a regular schedule; maybe it means Bush is out of the rotation.  Whatever it means, we have Carlos to look forward to tonight, and he's taking on Adam Wainwright.

Tom H has the lineups, and there are no surprises.  With a righty on the mound, Gross is in there again.  I know some of you are apoplectic about all the playing time Gross has gotten, but he does have a .763 career OPS against righties, while Kapler's OPS vRH is .724.  It's not a slam-dunk decision either way, but there's no reason to think that just because Gross is off to a rough start (in all of 44 PAs) means that his career is over and the Brewers are handicapped every time he's in the lineup.

While you're waiting for the game to start, give KLSnow some feedback as to who the AL award winners are up to this point.  So far we've got a grand total of three votes, including his and mine.

Finally, the project-a-tron likes our chances back at Miller Park:

• Brewers 5.1
• Cardinals 4.65
• Brewers WinExp: 58%

It didn't look that way in the last series, but I still maintain that the bottom of the Cardinals lineup (Molina/Kennedy/pitcher/Izturis) could be brutal.  Let's hope Villanueva got that memo.

Go Brewers!

So, as Jeff mentioned in yesterday's Plastic Cup, I was on the road yesterday. A brief anecdote from the road:

The fiancee and I were traveling together yesterday, and my last item of business was finished a couple of hours before hers. So there I was, in the back of a coffee shop, headphones in, listening to the Brewers, waiting for the call that would say "it's time to go." I tuned in around the time Manny Parra was exiting. I spent about 4 innings wishing she would hurry up and call, as the game was...well, less than encouraging. But I was there when Prince's double tied it in the 8th, and I was trying hard not to make a scene when Ryan Braun singled to lead off the 10th...

And the phone rang. "Ok, I'm ready for you to pick me up." I reluctantly packed my things, walked to the parking garage, and by the time XM Radio could pick up reception, it was 5-3 in the bottom of the 10th. Not only did I miss Prince's first home run, I didn't even know that's how they scored until the post-game show. Hopefully I'll catch about 50 more of them this season to even it out.

Win Expectancy Graph
Baseball Reference Box Score
ESPN Video Highlights
Baseball Digest Daily Recaps

With the win, Baseball Prospectus' Postseason Odds have the Brewers winning exactly 81 games, with a 16.2% chance of winning the Central.

All kinds of stuff about Prince following the game:

Also, if you're looking for quotes from the Cardinals regarding yesterday's game, Fungoes has a wealth of them.

Bugs and Cranks has a nice review of the situation at the back end of the rotation, with Bush, Villanueva and Parra holding spots and Gallardo looking for one.

Speaking of Villanueva, John Sickels has an in depth look at him.

He's had one at bat in the last three days, but Ken Rosenthal still can't get enough Gabe Kapler.

Forbes has released their annual valuations of all 30 MLB teams. The Brewers rank 24th.

Brief Alphabetical Morning (BAM) Injury Reports:

Erik Bedard may have torn cartilage in his hip. I'm not sure what that means for his return.
Carlos Beltran missed last night's 14-inning marathon with a stiff neck.
Rangers OF Marlon Byrd has been placed on the DL with a sore knee.
Braves reliever Peter Moylan is out for the season with a bone spur pressing against the UCL in his elbow.
Rays reliever Al Reyes is on the DL with an impinged shoulder.
Richie Sexson will miss a game or two with nagging shoulder and leg pain.
Miguel Tejada isn't hurt, but he sure is aging fast.

Speaking of things that'll make you age fast, the Rockies and Padres played 22 innings last night. Even Fangraphs gave up after 17.

Two stories out there today showing Cub fans in a (well deserved?) negative light: First, via Redleg Nation, I found this clip of Marty Brennaman's reaction to Cub fans throwing dozens of balls on the field following a home run. Also, Fukudome's reaction to a racist t-shirt being sold by vendors outside Wrigley is a must read. I know a lot of very bright, intelligent Cubs fans that are a credit to their franchise...it's just unfortunate they seem to be in the minority.

Bucs Dugout continues their search for baseball's worst GM. Polls are open right now for Omar Minaya v. Jim Hendry and Ken Williams v. Wayne Krivsky.

Gaslamp Ball wants to hear about your favorite baseball books.

Finally, in response to a question asked in the game thread a couple of nights ago, TheJay has compiled a list of the last players to wear #42 for every franchise. Scott Karl was the last Brewer, and also the last Rockie. Interestingly enough, Mo Vaughn was the last player to wear #42 for three teams.

That's all for today. I'm back on the road in a few hours, so Jeff will be filling in again tomorrow and Sunday. If you have something to submit for inclusion in a future Mug, please post it in the comments. Drink up.