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.

So, don't get me wrong, I'm excited for a win, but 3:40 for a nine-inning game? There's a lot of stuff I could've done in that time.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps
BP Postseason Odds: 85.2 wins and a 22.9% shot at the Central.

Today's interesting side note from BP Odds: A month into the season, BP has the Rays as the most likely playoff team from the AL East, at 42%. The Yankees and Red Sox are both down in the 30's.

Of course, last night's win was largely sparked by the return of Mike Cameron. The JS Blog has quotes from him afterwards.

After the game, Sheets also reported no pain, so hopefully last night was just a rough first day back and he'll be back to normal for the next one.

I have yet to see or hear a report on the condition of umpire Jerry Crawford, who left last night's game early. Most media outlets are just saying he wasn't feeling well, but Baseball Musings says he was complaining of chest pains.

There's no respectful way to transition from a story about chest pain to a story about Derrick Turnbow. There just isn't.

The Brewers are #12 in the latest Bugs and Cranks Power Rankings.

On Injuries:

Nats closer Chad Cordero is headed to the DL with a strained muscle in his shoulder.
Alex Rodriguez's quad injury finally landed him on the DL.
John Smoltz, currently on the DL, is contemplating making the unprecedented move from starter to closer to starter and back to the bullpen again.

If you go out for a walk today, try not to trip over a former Brewer looking for work: Chad Moeller, recently DFA'd by the Yankees, could join Raul Casanova on the Mets. The Orioles DFA'd Greg Aquino yesterday. And Ray King refused to report to AAA and has been released.

It's an annual ritual of spring: Ken Rosenthal seems to think Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey could be on the move soon. I'd be more likely to believe it if we didn't have this conversation every spring, and if the Reds hadn't just signed Cordero and Dusty Baker to win now. But, just like Bronson Arroyo, trade rumors swim in circles.

That's all I've got for today. As always, feel free to leave a comment if you have something to include in a future Mug. Drink up.

Two things ought to be making Brewers fans happy about this weekend's series:

1. The fifth starter brigades won't appear.  It's Sheets, Suppan, and Gallardo.
2. Hart is moved up to the five spot.

The bad news: Kapler is still out, and Counsell is leading off and starting over Weeks.  Unless Sheets goes 8+ innings, I think we can also count on a Mitch Stetter appearance tonight.  Knowing Ned, he'll come in to face Dunn.

The Hart link above takes you to Tom H's Anthony Witrado's blog entry with the lineups, and if you want to spend the three hours before game time poring over conceivable matchup, here's the baseball-reference game preview.  If you're like me and you always forget that Cinci is in the Eastern time zone, remember that the game starts at 6:10 CT.

Project-a-tron likes our chances with Sheets against Arroyo, even with a gaping hole of ~600 OPS at the top of the lineup:

• Brewers 5.1
• Reds 4.3
• Brewers WinExp: 53%

Let's go Crew!