So I spent 12 innings sitting in the heat at the Iowa Cubs-Colorado Springs Sky Sox game last night. I nearly sweated myself to death and sat way too close to a throng of screaming 10-year-olds...but it sounds like I had more fun than I would have watching the Brewer game.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So, while I attempt to recover from my short night of sleep, the trade deadline is about 6 hours away. The Official Website says the Brewers are done making moves, but here are some other moves that have been made, should be made or could be made:

DONE:

The Yankees sent LaTroy Hawkins to the Astros for a low-level prospect.
The Tigers traded Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees for Kyle Farnsworth.

"DONE," BUT NOT CONFIRMED:

The Reds traded Ken Griffer, Jr. to the White Sox for an undisclosed return.
The Red Sox send Manny Ramirez to Florida in a three-team deal involving the Pirates and Jason Bay.

OTHER RUMORS:

The Cubs are unwilling to give up Felix Pie to get Raul Ibanez.
The Twins may be willing to give up Boof Bonser to get Rich Aurilia from the Giants.
The Marlins may send 1B Mike Jacobs to the Giants for Bengie Molina.
The Rays are working on a deal for Adam Dunn.

Ok, with that out of the way, what else is out there?

Yovani Gallardo's rehab is going well and he's still hoping to start games in September.

Right Field Bleachers compares 2008 Mike Cameron to 2005 Geoff Jenkins, who produced similarly before finishing the season smoking hot. Cameron, of course, has 25 fewer games to work with, but I'd be ok with it if he finished the season with Jenkins' 2005 numbers.

The most recent Bugs and Cranks and Riding the Pine power rankings have the Brewers 7th.

On injuries:
Tim Hudson will likely need Tommy John surgery and will be out until around this time in 2009.
Rangers SP Eric Hurley was removed from yesterday's start after 2 innings and will miss his next start with biceps tendinitis.
Tigers RP Todd Jones "felt something" while pitching Wednesday. That's specific.
Scott Rolen's surgically repaired shoulder is bothering him again. He missed yesterday's game.
Kerry Wood missed his scheduled simulated game yesterday with the blister that never ends.

That's all for today. Drink up.

From the JS: And everywhere else, for that matter.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

I didn't get a chance to watch the game last night, but I could tell Rickie Weeks was struggling because my dad called twice to complain about him. After the game, Ned Yost said Weeks was rushing his throws. The Brew Town Beat took it to the next level and said he sucks at life. One thing is for sure: you know your defense is bad when people are seriously considering Ray Durham as a defensive replacement.

As noted in the Fanshots, Derrick Turnbow has a partial tear of his rotator cuff. Surgery may or may not be needed, but he's done for 2008, at any rate. In the grand scheme, this is likely good news for Turnbow, who can rehab, recover and attempt a fresh start in 2009, but it probably is the end of his time in a Brewer uniform.

ESPN has opened up the voting for the greatest Brewer of all time. I'm guessing the winner is more or less a foregone conclusion, but go check out the list of candidates anyway.

Robin Yount also made The Hardball Times' list of greatest slugging middle infielders of all time.

Today we have good, bad and bizarre power rankings:
THE GOOD: WhatifSports ranks the Brewers #1 by more than 2 full wins.
THE BAD: The Whisnant Rankings dropped the Brewers from 15th to 16th.
THE BIZARRE: Andrea Reiher of Bugs and Cranks ranks the Brewers 6th. At least I think the Alice Cooper quote represented the Brewers.

Batter's Box Interactive takes a look at players on every NL team with a shot at the Hall of Fame, and comes up with 5 Brewers: CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun...and Eric Gagne. Really? Eric Gagne?

Jonathan Mayo recently posted his notes from the AAA All-Star game, and says that Luis Pena created the biggest buzz with his three-digit fastball...and the home run Pawtucket's Chris Carter hit off of it.

On injuries:

Blue Jays IF Aaron Hill continues to miss time as he slowly recovers from a concussion.
Tim Hudson has been placed on the DL with ligament damage in his elbow.
Chipper Jones' hamstring has landed him back on the DL.
Mets P John Maine will have an MRI today after leaving last night's game with shoulder stiffness.
Jorge Posada will have shoulder surgery after all, and the time spent waiting to decide may mean he's not ready for spring training 2009.
Blue Jays RP Brian Tallet has been placed on the DL with a broken toe.
Michael Young fractured his right ring finger and should miss 5-7 days.

We'll never know how Dennis Sarfate could have fit into this year's Brewer bullpen, but he's sliding into the Orioles rotation on Wednesday.

Thanks to Dixieflatline, who mentioned this one in yesterday's comments: Over at the Hardball Times, John Walsh takes a look at the change-up, why it's not traditionally thrown inside, and how Ted Lilly has gotten away with throwing it inside anyway.

I know Greg Maddux has been around a long time and thrown a lot of pitches, but would you have guessed he's moved into tenth place on the all-time strikeout list? I would not have.

If you or someone in your family would like to win the opportunity to meet Derek Jeter and assess in person the possibility that he'll someday be baseball's least deserving Hall of Famer, weplay.com has a deal for you.

In the wake of last week's ugly minor league brawl in Peoria, the Dayton Dragons released the player whose hard slide started the altercation. The player who tried to throw a ball into the opposing team's dugout, missed and hit a fan faces felony charges. I hadn't heard anything about him being released, but he's not on Peoria's roster as of this morning.

Oh, and by the way, there's a Woot-off going on today, so if you were looking for an opportunity to go impulse buy electronics, here you go.

Drink up.

So...4-0 in Sabathia starts. 6-0 since the All-Star Break. BP Postseason Odds says the Brewers' postseason chances have gone up 35.7% in the last 7 days. Baseball Musings says the Cubs are collapsing. Drink your Frosty Mug with cautious optimism.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

As The Brew Town Beat notes, Carsten Charles was (once again) in charge last night.

Mike Pagliarulo of Dugout Central is ready to crown Doug Melvin GM of the Year.

I'm a few days behind on this one, but over at Brewerfan.net Josh Flickinger compares the 2008 Brewers to the 1992 variety...and finds they have nothing in common.

The Derrick Turnbow saga continues. He's been sent back to Phoenix for tests and rehab after he didn't feel right coming back from the All-Star Break.

Everybody loves power rankings, right?
Bugs and Cranks has the Brewers at 8th (last week, also 8th) and offers some ridiculous advice.
Riding the Pine ranks the Brewers 5th (last week, 9th).

The Transaction Oracle is a few days behind the curve, and reviewed the Durham trade yesterday. They project him at .253/.342/.395 and offer the best description of his defense I've seen: Looking for a trip down bullpen memory lane? No less than 4 former Brewers (but no current ones) make Recondite Baseball's Top 20 in career Vulture Wins.

On injuries:

Nats 3B Aaron Boone is not recovering as expected from a calf strain and will undergo an MRI.
Tim Hudson left last night's game after 6 innings with elbow tightness.
Chipper Jones left last night's game in the fourth inning with a hamstring injury.

I can't decide if this is a drop in the bucket or an unprecedented reaction to violations involving the draft, but Major League Baseball fined the Cubs $500,000. It's also worth noting that I've never seen confirmation of what the Cubs actually did to merit the fine.

Rockin' the Red asks if Kyle Lohse will be a Type A free agent. He's gone 12-2 with a 3.35 ERA in 134.1 IP. If that's not a Type A free agent, there aren't many out there.

Here's a downer for your Thursday morning: Shin-Soo Choo is having the best year of his career in Cleveland, but still faces two years of military service in South Korea, starting in 2010 at the latest. Playing in the Olympics could have earned him an exemption, but he's ineligible because he's on a big league roster and out of options.

But, if it makes him (or you) feel any better, the Padres are like a busty redhead. I'm not sure I get it.

Remember last week, when I mentioned the Cardinals were hiring in their player development department, and jobs like that don't come along very often? The Nationals have proven my point by posting a much less interesting job.

Oh, and as promised, here's my Flickr page with pictures of Gorman's first two weeks at home.

Drink up.

I had a dream last night that Ned Yost had been fired, and then he caught on in the Mets minor league system as a player, but people immediately started talking about him as a replacement for Willie Randolph.

Really.  I had that dream.

Tonight's matchup is Tim Hudson vs. Dave Bush, which means we better milk the home-field advantage for all it's worth.  Game time is 7:05 CT, and here's the BR Game Preview.

Go Brewers!