Well, at least for one more day the Brewers have managed to avoid being buried alive.

There were 9 major league games yesterday, here are the important ones:

Cubs 9, Mets 5
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Phillies 6, Braves 2
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

So the campaigning has begun for Dale Sveum to have the interim tag removed from his title. His best friend, a former teammate (who plays everyday) and a gritty veteran who reads Goosebumps books think he should stay. Fire Ned Yost is on it.

Speaking of decisions, a decision is also looming regarding the general manager for 2008. Between the Green Pillars says the Brewers either need to retain Doug Melvin or let him go. Is there a third option I was missing? If you missed it yesterday, Jeff made the case for Melvin to stay.

And of course, a decision is also looming on a contract offer for CC Sabathia. The Junkball Blues compiled this list of pitchers who have received a 6-year deal since 1998:

• Kevin Brown
• Johan Santana
• Pedro Martinez
• Mike Mussina
• Mike Hampton
• Barry Zito

It's much less expensive to develop your own ace, in the long run. Hopefully the Brewers can start that process in Appleton, as they officially agreed to terms on a player development deal with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers yesterday. If you happen to be hanging around today and it's around 11, follow that link for live video of the press conference.

Until now, the Timber Rattlers had been a Mariners affiliate. The Mariners will still be in the Midwest League, as they signed a deal with the Clinton Lumberkings yesterday. Clinton has my favorite park in all of minor league baseball.

Baseball Time in Arlington is impressed by the Brewers' decision to give every fan at Thursday's game a free ticket for 2009, and says the Rangers could learn a lot from the Brewers.

The Brewers are 6th (down from 4th) in the WhatifSports Power Rankings.

On injuries:

Carlos Beltran bruised his knee running into the wall in last night's game, but stayed in the game and will likely play tonight.
Reds OF Chris Dickerson is done for the year and will have surgery to correct a stress fracture in his ankle.

Jamie Moyer has thrown 190 effective innings this season at 45 years old. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs says it's not the best pitching season by a 45-year-old ever, but it is the second best.

Despite barely cracking the top ten on his team in VORP, Jason Bartlett has been named the Rays MVP by the local chapter of the BBWAA. Fire Joe Morgan would like to invite some of said writers to spend some time at the bottom of his hot tub.

Oh, and today's a woot-off. Buy cheap electronics responsibly.

Drink up.

Morning comes so early when the Brewers don't lose until 11:30.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So here we are again, talking about a disappointing Brewer loss at home to an inferior team that's already been eliminated from the playoffs. It all kind of feels like another ball of yarn.

Tom H. swerved off onto Hyperbole Drive and asks if there is any hope for the 2008 Brewers. Admittedly, I'm as down on this team as anyone right now, but while they're still leading the race for a playoff spot, I'm not quite ready to abandon all hope.

Chuckie Hacks, on the other hand, has swerved in the other direction onto All is Well Boulevard. I don't really think that's any better.

Of course, if neither of those approaches are your style, you could just ceaselessly complain about umpiring.

This is still unlikely, but would've seemed impossible two weeks ago: Baseball Musings has the scenario required for five teams to tie for the NL Wild Card.

Rowland's Office, a Braves blog, has been hearing the suggestion that Ned Yost may eventually replace Bobby Cox in Atlanta, but he makes the case against it. I love the prospect of Ned managing anywhere else.

On injuries:

Adrian Beltre will miss a few days to recover from pain in his damaged thumb, which he's been playing with all season.
Paul Konerko has a sprained MCL in his knee. He'll undergo an MRI today but should only miss a few days.
Brandon Phillips broke his finger on a failed bunt attempt before singling home the winning run last night. He's done for 2008.
Marlins SP Chris Volstad left last night's game in the 3rd inning after being hit in the leg by two different batted balls.

This should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone considering offering a huge contract to a pitcher this offseason: Mike Hampton is still on the Rockies' payroll through the end of the month.

On the other hand, maybe this one isn't a sunk cost after all: Buried in this post on Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly's blog, he notes that Barry Zito has nine wins and three starts remaining this season, and the Giants have avoided losing 100 games.

Mets P Ambiorix Burgos probably won't pitch in the big leagues for a while, and may do some time after being arrested last night for a domestic assault.

Oh, and Joe Posnanski deconstructed the Spiderman song.

Drink up.

So Gorman and I were out for a walk last night, and came across some ducks. Gorman loves ducks. So we chased the ducks around for a bit, until an old man sitting on his porch yelled at us to stop. I immediately thought of Murray Chass.

Also, the Brewers won their second straight road series.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Rickie Weeks was the unlikely hero yesterday, going 4-for-5 with 2 RBI and 11 assists in the field. After the game, though, he dramatically and unforgivably insulted the game of baseball by untucking his shirt. Note the veteran grittiness of Craig Counsell, who refused to participate in such an egregious affront to the game and left his shirt stuffed firmly in his pants.

With the loss yesterday, the Reds have lost each of Homer Bailey's first eight major league starts. In fact, he hasn't participated in a win at any level since April 30. It's gotten so bad he's quoting Nietzsche.

The Brew Town Beat has joined me and Tom H. in wondering if Ned Yost is trying to kill Jason Kendall.

Apparently Twins backup catcher Mike Redmond takes ground balls at third everyday, even though he's only played there one game in his career. If Mike Rivera had devoted his spare time this year to learning new positions, could he play everywhere by now?

Mike Cameron narrowly missed robbing a home run yesterday. I feel like I've seen this picture, where he swings and misses at what would've been a great catch, 15-20 times this season. Has anyone done the numbers to figure out if/how much Cameron has actually helped in the field this season?

The latest Bugs and Cranks power rankings have the Brewers 8th.

There might have been more, but Robinson Cancel, Raul Casanova and Claudio Vargas are all Mets this year: Of the 99 former big leaguers playing independent ball this season, I was only able to find two former Brewers, Wayne Franklin and Will Cunnane.

On injuries:

Joba Chamberlain has rotator cuff tendinitis, less serious than previously expected.
Nats OF Elijah Dukes' calf strain is worse than expected and could end his 2008 season.
A's SP Sean Gallagher will have his next start pushed back at least 6 days to recover from shoulder inflammation.
Indians reliever Matt Ginter has been placed on the DL with a forearm strain.
Rangers RP David Murphy strained a ligament in his knee in a collision at home plate yesterday and should miss 2-4 weeks.

This is when you know you're having a tough season: Jeff Francoeur is slugging .357 in 2008, which is the same as the career slugging percentage of a pitcher (Mike Hampton) on his team.

I think we'd all like to see all 30 big league parks, but 30 parks in 26 days with overnight drives like Kansas City to Detroit and Minneapolis to Arlington seems a little extreme.

Drink up.

MLB's blackout policy just about led to a broken TV last night. I was excited for a Brewers/Cubs game on ESPN and had planned my evening around it. Unfortunately, being in the Brewers "home market" apparently means I'm not allowed to watch them. Because I'm in the home market, the game on ESPN was blacked out. BUT, because I'm in NE Iowa, not Wisconsin, I also don't get FSN Wisconsin. As it turns out, it sounds like I didn't miss much.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps
BP Postseason Odds: 82.5 wins and a 14.6% chance of winning the Central.

(Normally scheduled Mug starts in approximately eight paragraphs. Feel free to skip ahead.)

I've been doing my best to stay out of the blogger v. mainstream media debate, because I feel like there's a lot of hyperbole on both sides and, in all honesty, I'm more interested in continuing to do this job and entertain readers than argue about my own morality for daring to step into the world of writing without credentials. (By the way, I do have a journalism degree, if anyone would like to see it.) I intentionally avoided the clips from the most recent "Costas Now" until this morning, when a couple popped up in my daily reads.

After seeing Pulitzer Prize winning author Buzz Bissinger say, "blogs are dedicated to cruelty, they’re dedicated to journalistic dishonesty," I was tempted to write a paragraph to open today's Mug that really was dedicated to cruelty and journalistic dishonesty, involving a bodily orifice, an umbrella and an accusation that Bissinger might enjoy it. Instead, I found this post from Sam Mellinger's blog that's a little more reasonable.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before all of this came home to roost. My dad called this morning to make sure I'd seen Anthony Witrado's mailbag on the JS website. I hadn't. Adam of Milwaukee sent in the question that sparked the following exchange:

I'm glad Anthony doesn't think there's anything wrong with what we do. He certainly could've said worse, but he raises a point I've mentioned in conversation but never in this space before: I think the mainstream media is too close sometimes.

Certainly, Anthony, Tom H. Jim Powell, Brian Anderson and others have access to info we don't. Certainly, they'll always be useful as a source of information, and certainly their hard work is appreciated. I link to it multiple times daily. But they're also on the team plane. They're in the clubhouse. They're around the team more than their families sometimes. And that makes it really hard to be as honest as we can be on the web.

I don't want to question these guys' journalistic integrity, because I have no problem with any of them. But I will pose a question: Would it be harder for any of us to be honest in our criticism of Ned Yost, Doug Melvin or others if we had to ride on an airplane with them and work with them daily? I think it would. And I think honest criticism, the ability to speak our mind without having to think twice about who will object, and the ability to step back for perspective is what's occasionally missing from the mainstream media.

(Regularly scheduled Mug begins.)

Perhaps the most interesting storyline from last night's game was Derrick Turnbow's continued inability to get outs, even in a zero-pressure situation. This morning, Tom H. asks if Turnbow should be released. I think, if Bush cleared waivers to be sent down to Nashville, Turnbow would almost certainly clear too, especially after last night, and that may be the best thing for him.

Baseball Digest Daily notes some similarities in the substance suspensions and denials of Mike Cameron and Braves prospect Jordan Schafer, and wonders what it would mean if their denials were true.

Jim Powell, among others, notes a new Sports Illustrated survey ranking Miller Park second in all of baseball.

Over at The Hardball Times, Jeff takes a look at the Brewers brief run with a 14-man bullpen.

The Cub Reporter ranks J.J. Hardy as the second best shortstop in the Central, and wants your opinion on it as well.

On injuries:

Mike Hampton left his rehab start yesterday with pain in his pectoral muscle.
Yankees P Phil Hughes is on the DL with a mystery oblique strain.
Rangers P Jason Jennings left yesterday's start with an irritated nerve in his elbow and will be placed on the DL.
Troy Tulowitzki has been placed on the DL with a quad strain.

Also, umpire Jerry Crawford, who left Tuesday's game because he wasn't feeling well, has been released from the hospital. Apparently a bad reaction to medication was to blame.

On a former Brewer note: Just a few days removed from beating the Nashville Sounds on Sunday, Jorge de la Rosa is headed back to the big leagues with the Rockies.

Looking for work your nerdy friends will be jealous of? The Diamondbacks are hiring an Audio/Video Specialist. Yeah, it's a cheap joke, but I'm still pissed about the blogger v. mainstream media thing. I should've trusted my gut and stayed away from it.

Drink up.