Looks like the Brewers could use an upgrade.

Saturday's Win Probability Graph
Saturday's BR Box Score

Sunday's (Game 1) Win Probability Graph
Sunday's (Game 1) BR Box Score

Sunday's (Yes, we lost Game 2 too) Win Expectancy Graph
Sunday's (The 2008 Brewers can be compared to 2004 Howard Dean) BR Box Score

Ok, let's just be honest with each other for a moment. You probably feel like reading about and re-living this weekend about as much as I feel like writing about and re-living this weekend, right? So let's just do bullet points and get back to enjoying a rare September day where the Brewers probably won't lose, because they're off.

• In-Between Hops noted on Friday that the Brewers had been held under 5 runs for 9 straight games. It's 12 now, longest streak since 1972.
• Chuckie Hacks is comparing this season to a Peanuts cartoon you'll recognize.
• Fire Ned Yost delivered the beatdown and Yost offers an explanation for why Brian Shouse was allowed to blow a game wide open this weekend.
• Shouse reacts.
• Ryan Braun called it a "complete and total disaster."
• Jim Powell was already worried on Friday.
• Al still blames the umpires.
• Ken Rosenthal says Yost is gone if the Brewers miss the playoffs. A rare silver lining.
• Already gone: Nashville manager Frank Kremblas.
• CC Sabathia may be an Angel next season.
• Phil Rogers ranked the Brewers 13th, down from sixth, and behind the accuracy of hurricane forecasts.
• Rod Barajas, Adrian Beltre, Mets OF Damian Easley, Tom Gorzelanny, Vlad Guerrero and Joel Zumaya got injured.
• Carlos Zambrano no-hit the Astros at Miller Park last night.
• Crawfish Boxes says Miller Park was the wrong place to play these games. Brian McTaggart says they should've played in Arlington.
• Micah Owings made his Reds debut yesterday, and beat the D-Backs, his former team, with a pinch hit in the 10th.
Drink up. Or just dump it on the ground.

I'm getting old. Last night's game was played in a neat and tidy 2:34, but since it started at 9 I still couldn't stay up through it.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

All of today's reads will be better if read in the comforting voice of Morgan Freeman.

So, a nice start to the road trip and a 7-game winning streak, right? So what's the national media talking about? CC Sabathia went shopping for houses yesterday.

Ryan Braun doesn't seem to know exactly what's wrong with him. Doctors are still using phrases like "puzzling symptoms." But Gord Ash says Ryan Braun will be back in 2-4 days. I just asked the Magic 8 Ball if Ryan Braun will play on this road trip and was told, "Don't count on it."

Jeremy Jeffress was supposed to make his first start in AA last night at Huntsville, but the game was rained out. I'm assuming that means he'll pitch Game 1 of tonight's doubleheader, which starts at 5:05.

Adam McCalvy of The Official Site is reporting that Yovani Gallardo is along on the road trip and could throw off a mound before the Brewers return home. A September return looks a little more plausible every day.

Are the daytime shadows in Miller Park the worst of any park in the majors? Nats C Wil Nieves seems to think so.

On injuries:

Carl Crawford will have surgery to repair damaged tendons in his finger and will be out until at least September 25.
Andruw Jones has been placed on the DL with patellar tendinitis.
Tim Lincecum took a line drive off his knee last night, but X-rays were negative. He shouldn't miss a start.
Rangers SP Vicente Padilla is doubtful for his start Thursday.
White Sox OF Carlos Quentin missed last night's game after being hit by pitches on five straight days.
Phils OF Shane Victorino left last night's game with lower back stiffness.

Quick transaction notes from around the web: The Red Sox acquired Paul Byrd yesterday and Micah Owings has been confirmed as one of the PTBNL in the Adam Dunn deal.

Both the Red Sox and the Rangers will need more pitching after last night's 19-17 slugfest. If you're bored today, go look at the Win Expectancy Graph and play log front last night's game. The Red Sox were at 98.6% to win in the first inning, came all the way back down to 18% in the 7th, and still somehow snuck out with a victory.

Oh, and the people who make TV ads for 24-Hour Fitness can't count.

Drink up.

So, fresh off a four game sweep of the Nats, the Brewers are headed out to the West Coast. Get ready to adjust your sleep cycle to Pacific time.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to forget last year's San Diego-Los Angeles road trip, where the Brewers dropped five straight on their way to a season-high six game losing streak. So in my mind three wins on this six game trip would be a real victory. Here's the Official site's series preview.

The Padres will play tonight's game without bench coach Craig Colbert, who was suspended for a game for arguing with the umpires. The circumstances of the argument seem a little odd: Any Padres fans out there, or anyone who saw the game for that matter, who can explain what happened that caused the umpires to refuse a double switch?

While the Padres are playing without their bench coach, the Brewers will continue to play without Ryan Braun, who still isn't sure when he'll be ready to return. Here's a thought: if he's having back problems and you're not sure when he'll be able to play again, why are you putting him on a plane to San Diego today? I'm sure a cross-country flight is just what he needs right now.

On the plus side, Statistically Speaking accidentally discovered that Braun has the highest career OPS in history among players who have never led their team in the stat.

There are two things worth noting in this Nationals Journal post on the sweep: First, Garrett Mock is only the second pitcher all season to record 9 strikeouts in a game where he failed to pitch 5 full innings. Second, he also had this to say after the game: Whatifsports new MLB Power Rankings have the Brewers at third, and the reconfigured (again) Whisnant rankings have them 9th.

On injuries:

Evan Longoria has been placed on the DL with a fractured wrist and should miss around 3 weeks.
Marlins SP Scott Olsen rolled his ankle in his last start and could miss a start Thursday.
Marlins RP Doug Waechter hasn't pitched since Wednesday with shoulder stiffness.
Rangers closer C.J. Wilson is having arthroscopic surgery on his elbow and is done for the year.

In easily the biggest non-Brewer news of the day, the Diamondbacks traded a minor leaguer and two players to be named to the Reds for Adam Dunn. Redleg Nation reports one of those players to be named later could be Micah Owings or Max Scherzer. Getting one of them for a six-week rental of Adam Dunn would be a pretty good deal.

Baseball Digest Daily takes a look at the declining numbers of Kosuke Fukudome. I hadn't noticed, but the trends are certainly there. Also declining: the spirits of two Cubs fans who faced a judge yesterday for a parking lot assault at Miller Park. Anyone heard how that turned out?

The Pacific Coast League is kind of a strange case, as the league now includes teams on the coast, as the name would imply, but also in Iowa, Nashville, New Orleans and Omaha. As a result, when the price of airfare goes up, their travel budgets become a concern. They're supposedly considering an extreme unbalanced schedule next season, because spending a full season playing most of your games against 3 other teams is exactly what big league clubs want their top prospects to do.

Recondite Baseball explores the history of the single baseball rule that even the smartest baseball fans frequently can't explain.

Oh, and if you were about to finish construction on a brand new ballpark, would you want a second-rate summer football league to come in and tear up your grass in July and August? Me either, but apparently Fred Wilpon does.

Drink up.

Two sweeps in a row?  Dare to dream...

It's Micah Owings vs. Manny Parra.  Whaddya think, more hits this afternoon from the pitchers' spots or the catchers' spots?

Game time is 1:05 CT, and here's the BR Game Preview.

Go Brewers!