This one is short, partly because there's not much good stuff out there today, partly because I'm in a hurry, and partly because my caffeine level has reached a dangerous low.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So Corey Hart is an All Star. Make no mistake, I'm thrilled, but now that we know that Ryan Braun was almost the NL's leading vote-getter, and Corey Hart managed to beat out players from some of baseball's biggest markets for the final spot, does anyone else smell a rat? I'm not going to go all-out and make an accusation, but if someday years from now we discover that the vote might have been artificially impacted, I wouldn't be shocked.

Also, Guillermo Mota is still a Brewer, despite Tom H.'s projection that he'd be designated for assignment. I'm guessing Tom won't be sitting near Mota on a team plane anytime soon.

Apparently batting .211 is bad, but batting .211 with poor body language was what it took to get Richie Sexson released. The Brew Town Beat thinks it couldn't hurt to bring Sexson back. The Transaction Oracle projects him at .230/.323/.419 for the rest of 2008 with one of his top comps being my dog's namesake, Gorman Thomas. In the meantime, in an "unrelated" move, the Mariners traded for Craig Wilson.

On injuries:

Aaron Harang has been diagnosed with a forearm strain and DL'ed.
Vernon Wells is out 4-6 weeks with a Grade 2 strain of his hamstring.

I don't have any non-Brewer related stuff today (except the Sexson stuff). So instead, I'll point you to this: If you like my daily notes about non-Brewer stuff, but would prefer it mainly focused on linking you to pictures of scantily clad celebrities and comments about my beard, consider checking out Aaron Gleeman's Link-O-Rama.

Oh, and not only can lefties pitch in the big leagues until they're 50, they're also more qualified to be President. I'm still not interested in running.

Drink up.

So...1-2 in the Sabathia era.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

For the first day since the Sabathia trade, he's not the big story today. Instead, everyone's talking about Guillermo Mota. Following another poor performance last night, In-Between Hops wondered if it was time to put him on the DL and see if he could figure it out with some time off. But, as noted in the Fanshots, Tom H. is taking the next step and calling for a head to roll. Yes, you read that right. The blogs are calling for a prolonged approach to preserve a potentially useful long-term part of the equation, and the mainstream media is providing the knee jerk reaction. I had to read it twice to be sure, too.

Ned Yost is concerned about Ryan Braun screwing up his approach in the Home Run Derby. Thankfully, I still have this link to use to show those concerns aren't backed up by much evidence.

Likely fueled by the Sabathia deal, the Brewers have moved up from 11th to 8th in the most recent Bugs and Cranks Power Rankings.

If you'd like to see video of the drunken frat boys that give all Brewer fans a bad name, check out Big League Stew's video review of tailgating at Miller Park.

On injuries:

Mets P Tony Armas Jr. has been placed on the DL with a pulled abdominal muscle.
Mariners SP Miguel Batista left yesterday's start after 23 pitches with a sore groin.
Aaron Harang has been scratched from his start Sunday, according to Jim Powell.
Blue Jays SP Dustin McGowan left his start early Tuesday and has been placed on the DL with a sore shoulder.
Mark Mulder's comeback only lasted one third of an inning last night.
Edgar Renteria was pulled from last night's game with a mild hamstring strain and is day-to-day.
Rockies OF Ryan Spilborghs has been placed on the DL with a strained oblique.

The other day I mentioned that Padres Assistant GM Paul DePodesta reached out to the fans for insight on how to handle the trading deadline. A couple of interesting follow-up notes: First, Tangotiger asks if DePodesta or Padres fans are delusional, leading to a conversation between he and I in the comments. Then, DePodesta gathered the responses and posted a follow-up note, clarifying some of the misconceptions commenters had about possibilities and taking a candid look at the situation at hand. I still think DePodesta is doing a good job of doing his due diligence with his fans before waving the white flag, and if all front offices did this when their teams were underperforming, they'd save themselves a fair amount of fan backlash.

Now without their ace, the Indians are free to go into all-out freefall, and have lost 10 straight.

For teams who lost out on the Sabathia and Harden sweepstakes, all hope is not lost: Apparently a new group of bidders is forming to vie for the services of Nelson Cruz. Is the market for AAAA outfielders really that thin?

Yesterday, I mentioned a post on Spitting Seeds about the Reds move to sync their radio broadcasts with TV, so fans watching the games can choose which announcers they'd like to listen to. Big League Stew picked up on the story and added this tidbit: syncing broadcasts may be great for fans at home, but creates a long delay for fans who brought headphones to the ballpark. I tend to favor enhancing the experience for fans at home, because a) there's more of them, and b) the fans who brought headphones to the park likely aren't missing much, they're already at the game.

Several years ago, I spent one season as the play-by-play voice of a high school basketball team. Every now and then, I'd see a handful of fans in the crowd wearing headphones, listening to my broadcast. I was happy to have the listeners, without question, but I still don't understand why watching the game wasn't enough, and they needed a 17-year-old to tell them about it.

A lot of people say baseball is too slow and boring. In response, Major League Baseball has found a way to show them what slow and boring really sounds like. They've invited Josh Groban to perform at the All Star Game. My fiancee insists he has the "voice of an angel." If my mental image of an angel had Josh Groban's voice, I'd be pretty weirded out.

Oh, and by the way, ummm...Italian Spiderman?

Drink up.