Last night's game was fun.  I liked this, and I also liked this.

• BR Box Score
• FanGraphs Win Probability Chart

Yesterday was better for the NL--the senior circuit won 6 of 14 interleague matchups.  For the second day in a row, though, the Brewers were the only Central team to win.  That moves us 3 back of the Cards and 6.5 back of the Cubs.

Speaking of the Cubs, you may have heard that Carlos Zambrano left with some kind of injury last night.  Jim Edmonds left too.  No word yet on what's going on with Z, but we do know he's getting an MRI.

David Riske will rejoin the team for the finale today.  He was in Milwaukee yesterday, but having pitched an inning in Nashville on Tuesday, the club decided not to activate him until today.

I haven't seen any hints about who will go to make room, but I looked up the Brewers relief stats for the last 14 days.  DiFelice has thrown the most innings out of the pen, with a 2.70 ERA and a 8/0 K/BB ratio.  Dillard has thrown the fewest (2 innings).  Julian Tavarez has a 13.50 ERA in 4 frames in that stretch.  Not that we need an extra arm, but as I said yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised if Iribarren goes back down and we end up with 13 pitchers.

Russell Branyan is very good against righties.  Bill Hall is very good against lefties.  Neither of them is very good against same-side pitchers.  Please remember this if you are at a game and are tempted to boo when Hall pinch-hits for Branyan with a lefty on the mound and no one warming in the bullpen.

Battlekow fanshotted it, but I figured it deserved a spot in the Cup as well: This summer, you'll be drinking Robinade Old School Lemonade.  So this is why Robin Yount didn't want to be on the coaching staff anymore.

Richie Sexson has been a disaster for the Mariners, but I didn't think it would come to this: The Mariners may just release him.  That would be the most serious condemnation of Bavasi's tenure--I don't have time to track down a link, but I believe that either Will Carroll or Ken Rosenthal reported last July that someone claimed Sexson off of waivers, meaning that the Mariners could have just dumped his contract for nothing.  Speaking of Bavasi, it's worth a few minutes to listen to Dan Szymborski's audio tribute.

Finally, here's the last installment of Geoff Young's interview with Sandy Alderson.

Day game today, so see you back here around 1 CT.

So the Brewers win, the Cardinals lose, the Cubs lose, and they appear to be signing Jim Edmonds. That's win-win-win-win if I ever saw it.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

The circle of life continues: Chris Capuano will have Tommy John surgery as soon as Thursday, giving up the effort to come back without it. Also on Thursday, 2006 first round pick Jeremy Jeffress will return from his 50-game drug suspension and report to Brevard County.

Beyond that, it's kind of a slow day for Brewer news. Baseball Analysts, though, did take a look at players looking to avoid a sophomore slump, including one guy you may have heard of who's hit 6 extra base hits in 3 days.

On injuries:

Milton Bradley was held out of last night's Rangers game with a sore shoulder.
J.D. Drew injured his wrist making a sliding catch and is day-to-day.
A's 2B Mark Ellis missed last night's game with a hamstring injury, and will miss a few more.
O's C Ramon Hernandez missed last night's game with a sprained left wrist.
Reds SS Jeff Keppinger fouled a ball off his knee last night and has a fractured kneecap.
O's 3B Melvin Mora was hit by a ball in warmups yesterday and missed last night's game.

If you haven't been paying attention, Lance Berkman is pretty hot right now. He's hitting .605 in his last 11 games, and has scored a run in 15 straight games, leaving him 2 games shy of tying the NL record Rickie Weeks tied earlier this season.

Berkman also won this week's BaseballHappenings blogpoll for NL MVP. Brandon Webb ran away from the field in the Cy Young voting, and Geovany Soto dominated the Rookie voting. Here's the ballot I cast:

MVP:
1. Lance Berkman
2. Chase Utley
3. Chipper Jones

Cy Young:
1. Brandon Webb
2. Edinson Volquez
3. Carlos Zambrano

Rookie of the Year:
1. Geovany Soto
2. Jair Jurrjens
3. Kosuke Fukudome

Click the link above for the full results.

A rare former Brewer trifecta happened yesterday: The Mets designated Nelson Figueroa for assignment, called up Claudio Vargas and activated Matt Wise from the DL in the same day.

Oh, and here's a story about Tigers P Nate Robertson's unrequited love for bats.

Drink up.

Now I remember what life was like in the late '90s, when winning was a nice surprise. Not only did they somehow manage to sneak out a 9th inning win against a first place team, they did it while wearing the accursed retro jerseys.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

Michael Hunt is calling for the end of the Yost Era. It'd be more interesting if it came from someone relevant or well informed. But I'll take what I can get. This Yost quote from a later article, however, I refuse to tolerate: The people who know the game. Those are the people who support Ned. And if you don't support Ned, it's because you don't know what's going on. I usually try not to be outright inflammatory in this space, but after that line, the gloves are off. Arrogant crap like that is the biggest reason why Ned Yost shouldn't even be allowed to manage a Wendy's.

Moving along: Yovani Gallardo will have surgery soon to repair his torn ACL. The timetable suggests to me that there's no chance he'll pitch again before next spring. If there was a chance, they wouldn't have waited this long for surgery and the current timetable would be more specific than "sometime next week."

With Gallardo out, there's a possibility that Seth McClung could get an opportunity to start at some point this season. Al notes that his numbers out of the bullpen, when you remove one bad mop up appearance, are pretty impressive.

Only two injury notes today: Reds reliever Kent Mercker is on the DL with a strained lower back and Twins reliever Pat Neshek, who left Thursday's game with pain in his elbow, has torn ligaments and will miss the rest of 2008.

As noted in the fanposts, Kevin Mench is back in the big leagues with the Blue Jays.

Richie Sexson, on the other hand, has been suspended for six games for charging the mound and throwing his helmet Thursday night.

The Padres have released Jim Edmonds. Here's a question to discuss in the comments: Of Barry Bonds, Kenny Lofton and Jim Edmonds, which could make the biggest difference to a contending team?

Reportedly, Peter McGowan is getting ready to step down as president and managing partner of the Giants. By itself, that wouldn't really be Mugworthy, but the first line of this post at El Lefty Malo was just strange enough to catch my eye: Huh? I must need another Mug. The Mug is off tomorrow but will return Monday. Drink up.