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.

So now it's eight in a row, the longest undefeated road trip since 1999, and three come from behind wins in four days. Still, drink with cautious optimism.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Jim Powell says the Brewers are coming home off of The Greatest Road Trip Ever.

Doug Melvin says he's not interested in acquiring George Sherrill. Did he say it before or after reading Jeff's post on the subject? We may never know.

On injuries:

Erik Bedard has an internal impingement in his shoulder. There's no structural damage but it could lead to some.
Kerry Wood finally hit the DL with his blister problems, but will be eligible to return Tuesday.

This is the problem with the lack of transparency Major League Baseball shows at times: Bud Selig fined the Cubs $500,000 for "violations involving the draft" but never specified exactly what the Cubs did wrong. Then, the Cubs removed Selig friend (and Brewer part-owner) John Canning from the list of candidates to purchase the team. Now Ivy Chat, among others, is suggesting the Cubs are being punished for eliminating Canning from the running. Is this likely the case? No. Will suspicions like this continue to come up until MLB does a better job of conducting business in the sunlight? Absolutely.

Bronson Arroyo would rather stay in Cincinnati than go play for a contender, and he's publicly calling out the Reds' management to keep him. I don't ever recall seeing a player publicly ask to stay on a losing team.

Of course, Johnny Estrada won't get that option: the Nats DFA'd him yesterday.

Jimmy Rollins was a late scratch from last night's Phillies game, because he was also late to the ballpark.

This one surprised me in a big way: DRaysBay is conducting a poll and 66% of the 171 participating voters think the Rays should sign Barry Bonds.

Oh, and I didn't think I'd like a story involving a Padres fan, a cute girl and hot sauce, but this is pretty funny.

Drink up. The Mug is off for the weekend but returns Monday.

As usual, it's a slow Tuesday, but let's get right to it.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Easily the best work of the day: If you haven't checked it out yet, go check out Dixieflatline's Hardball Times piece on the Huntsville Stars. I find it unlikely I'll be making a spontaneous trip to Alabama in the minor league season's final month, so this is likely as close as I'll get to seeing Alcides Escobar, Angel Salome, Mat Gamel and Cole Gillespie this season.

Should the trading deadline be moved back to the middle of August? Dugout Central uses the Durham trade to make a case for it.

The Brewers had the third best record in the National League, swept their first series after the All-Star Break, added CC Sabathia and Ray Durham, and they're still only 15th in the "Whisnant rankings," behind the Orioles, Indians, Twins and Blue Jays, among others. I think his "objective ranking" system needs a little work.

After inspecting the lineup, I'm not sure this team would win many games, but there are 2 current and a former Brewer on In-Between Hops' "Two initials for a first name" team.

On injuries:

Jorge Posada is headed back to the DL and considering shoulder surgery that could cause him to miss part of next season.
Kerry Wood's saga with blisters continues. There's been talk for days he might go on the DL...can anyone tell me if he actually went?

Kerry Wood's blister problems aren't the only thing the Cubs aren't disclosing lately: They're also in hot water over reported violations involving the draft.

It's a sad day for everyone who's interested in the game's history today, as we mourn the passing of Jerome Holtzman, a Hall of Fame reporter, the inventor of the save rule, and long-time MLB official historian. He was 81.

It's the time of year when contending ball clubs look to strengthen their roster by making trades and picking up players who can help them down the stretch. Well, usually it's just contending ball clubs, but this year it includes the Astros, who are talking to the Padres about Randy Wolf.

The Astros are more likely to be Nude on the Moon than playing playoff baseball in 2008.

Drink up.

It may be the All-Star break, but the news hasn't taken a break.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Apparently hitting a walk-off sac fly only merits a little Gatorade bath.

It appears Ben Sheets will be the first Brewer pitcher ever to start the All-Star Game. It's an honor, certainly, but it also means I'll be holding my breath for the first 2-3 innings. Sheets also won Dayn Perry's first half NL Cy Young, which is much less prestigious but comes without the risk of injury in a meaningless game.

Home Run Derby participants can choose anyone they want to throw pitches they're going to launch into the stratosphere. Ryan Braun, given those roughly 6.4 billion options, has chosen his agent, Nez Balelo. Huh?

Beyond the Box Score is the most recent blog to debunk the "Derby Curse" theory. But if you're looking for a reason to curse during the Derby, feel free to try out the Home Run Derby drinking game.

With six starters and five spots, there's still talk that the Brewers may use a platooned fifth starter, with Dave Bush starting at home and Seth McClung starting on the road. I can't wrap my brain around that logic...statistics would suggest it would work...but how could it?

Maybe next season, one of them can close. Salomon Torres won't say if he's planning on retiring after this season.

The Sabathia trade has been met with pretty widespread approval. In fact, even Matt LaPorta thinks it was the right move.

These brawls are always entertaining when someone else's minor leaguers are in them: here's video (and crappy news coverage) of Saturday night's brawl in Huntsville's game. (h/t Brewerfan.net) I'm guessing suspensions will be coming out shortly for this mess.

On injuries:

Kelvim Escobar will have surgery to repair a torn right labrum and will miss the rest of 2008 and likely some of 2009.
Pedro Martinez left his start Saturday with a sore groin.
Dodgers P Takashi Saito will undergo an MRI to determine the severity and cause of tightness in his elbow.
Kerry Wood will miss the All-Star game due to a blister on his pitching hand.

Reports are coming out that Nats GM Jim Bowden and special assistant Jose Rijo are under investigation for skimming signing bonus money from Dominican players. Obviously, everyone involved is innocent until proven guilty. With that said, if there turns out to be truth behind the allegations, this is a slimy thing to do at best. Many, if not most Dominican players grow up in tremendous poverty, and anyone caught taking money off the top of their first opportunity to do better should never work in baseball again.

Here's a better way to produce some extra cash: Some Korean teams may consider reducing their night games to save on energy costs. The electricity needed to power one night game could power one house for more than six months.

Sabathia's home run was cool, but he's still got a long way to go to reach this milestone: With a home run Friday, Rick Ankiel has now hit more home runs (33) than he's given up (32).

So how bad is Mariners DH Jose Vidro? Apparently it depends on who you ask. Tangotiger asked the question twice, once to non-Mariner fans and once to Mariner fans, and reached an interesting conclusion.

Oh, and the guy who checks IDs at Wrigley Field is sleeping on the job.

Drink up.

Blah blah blah, this is a big one, whatever.  I don't care how on-the-bubble Sheets is or that we're getting Cameron back or that we're playing the Cubs.  It's game #26, and after the series, we'll have 134 left.  So let's all chill out about that.

That said, it will certainly be an interesting series.  Here are some things I've noticed, and others I'll be watching for.

• We all knew the Cubs were going to be a good team, but there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of their 16-9 start.  They've had a relatively easy schedule, and while they've played a couple of good teams, they haven't beaten very many good pitchers.  Their two-game sweep in New York came off of John Maine and Nelson Figueroa, and while they beat Aaron Harang (hats off to them), they lost to Edinson Volquez.  We took the series at Wrigley to open the season, and there's very little I've seen since to indicate that the Cubs are clearly the better team.
• Left field for the Cubs is a giant, yawning chasm of suck.  Soriano was awful before his injury, and while DeRosa has been okay in his starts in left field, that leaves Mike Fontenot (OPS: 545) at second base.  The Cubs have the offense at other positions to more than make up for it, but it's unusual to see so many people work together to produce so little at an offensive position.
• Kerry Wood isn't the best reliever in the bullpen, but he'll do.  He's striking out about one batter per inning and generally doing a good impression of a major league closer. Carlos Marmol, on the other hand, is downright dominant. I'm not about to give Piniella credit for strategery, but if the Cubs have Wood pitching like this in the 9th and Marmol putting out fires whenever necessary, they will be in very good shape. Maybe even good enough to escape the negative effects of a soft pen outside of those two guys.
• A big part of the Cubs' 16-9 start has been the offensive production of Geovany Soto and Kosuke Fukudome.  Neither one is a huge surprise, though I don't think most people expected both of them to have 900+ OPSs.  Right now, everybody but the left fielders are hitting better than expected, but Soto and Fukudome are in a whole different category.
• Ryan Dempster currently has an ERA of 2.90 and an FIP of 4.24.  Something's gotta give.  A walk rate over 4 per 9 suggests that the ERA will budge first.  If his HR rate ends up around his career average (or worse, as it was last year), that 4.24 will look mighty appealing to Cubs fans.
• As regular readers know, I am not concerned about the goings-on of small samples, so I could care less about the poor clutch hitting over the weekend, or David Riske's last couple of outings.  The Brewers offense as presently constituted will score lots and lots of runs, no matter how bad they look on any given day. 

If all that wasn't enough to think about, mark your calendars for Thursday afternoon: Carlos Zambrano and Yovani Gallardo.  Nice.