So I missed last night's game to go see the new Narnia movie. A terrible mistake. Who told Disney that Narnia was just supposed to be a darker version of Shrek?

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Here are some photos of last night's heroes: Hardy, Hall, and Cameron

Remember yesterday, when some kid named Eli destroyed his credibility by suggesting the Brewers were getting ready to DFA Bill Hall? Today he thinks they'll trade Ben Sheets. I'm going to go ahead and pull him off my reading list so he'll stop wasting our time.

Coming off a split with the Nats, the Brewers have dropped to 20th in the most recent Bugs and Cranks poll.

Ok, so Tuesday was light on Brewer news, but it's heavy on injuries:

Pat Burrell was scratched from last night's game with stiffness in his neck.
Eric Byrnes has been placed on the DL to give him some time to recover from tweaked hamstrings.
Braves OF Matt Diaz has been placed on the DL with a strained PCL in his knee after a collision with the wall last night.
Travis Hafner missed his second straight game last night with a sore shoulder.
Yankees P Ian Kennedy left last night's start with a strained muscle in his rib cage.
Daisuke Matsuzaka complained of shoulder fatigue last night after the third inning, but was still sent out for one more inning before being pulled.
Cards P Joel Piniero has missed one start and may miss more with a sore groin.
Gary Sheffield has been placed on the DL with a strained oblique.
Frank Thomas left last night's game with a strained quad and will get an MRI today.
Matt Wise is headed back to the DL with weakness in his shoulder.

Tim Lincecum isn't hurt at the moment, but Dave Pinto at Baseball Musings is scared the Giants will run him into the ground. He threw over 120 pitches last night, and has gone 110 or more five times this season.

Oh, and I love Mitch Hedberg.

Drink up.

So the Brewers win, the Cardinals lose, the Cubs lose, and they appear to be signing Jim Edmonds. That's win-win-win-win if I ever saw it.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

The circle of life continues: Chris Capuano will have Tommy John surgery as soon as Thursday, giving up the effort to come back without it. Also on Thursday, 2006 first round pick Jeremy Jeffress will return from his 50-game drug suspension and report to Brevard County.

Beyond that, it's kind of a slow day for Brewer news. Baseball Analysts, though, did take a look at players looking to avoid a sophomore slump, including one guy you may have heard of who's hit 6 extra base hits in 3 days.

On injuries:

Milton Bradley was held out of last night's Rangers game with a sore shoulder.
J.D. Drew injured his wrist making a sliding catch and is day-to-day.
A's 2B Mark Ellis missed last night's game with a hamstring injury, and will miss a few more.
O's C Ramon Hernandez missed last night's game with a sprained left wrist.
Reds SS Jeff Keppinger fouled a ball off his knee last night and has a fractured kneecap.
O's 3B Melvin Mora was hit by a ball in warmups yesterday and missed last night's game.

If you haven't been paying attention, Lance Berkman is pretty hot right now. He's hitting .605 in his last 11 games, and has scored a run in 15 straight games, leaving him 2 games shy of tying the NL record Rickie Weeks tied earlier this season.

Berkman also won this week's BaseballHappenings blogpoll for NL MVP. Brandon Webb ran away from the field in the Cy Young voting, and Geovany Soto dominated the Rookie voting. Here's the ballot I cast:

MVP:
1. Lance Berkman
2. Chase Utley
3. Chipper Jones

Cy Young:
1. Brandon Webb
2. Edinson Volquez
3. Carlos Zambrano

Rookie of the Year:
1. Geovany Soto
2. Jair Jurrjens
3. Kosuke Fukudome

Click the link above for the full results.

A rare former Brewer trifecta happened yesterday: The Mets designated Nelson Figueroa for assignment, called up Claudio Vargas and activated Matt Wise from the DL in the same day.

Oh, and here's a story about Tigers P Nate Robertson's unrequited love for bats.

Drink up.

Suck suck, suckety suck sucked.  Sucks suck, sucking suck suck suck.  Suck.

• Win Expectancy Graph
• BR Box Score
• BDD Recaps

The J-S makes the brilliant observation that we're more likely to win in games where our best hitter hits well.  Marty then emerses himself in that logic and rips it to little pieces.

Jim Powell interviewed Corey Hart.  Listen here.

Injuries:

• John Patterson, who is rehabbing with the Rangers, experienced a setback and has no timetable for a return.
• Barry Zito isn't hurt, but he gave up only two runs last night, which indicates that something is amiss.
• Jack Wilson is behind schedule; he won't be back for two more weeks.
• Yet another setback: Mark Mulder is off his latest rehab assignment.  Cardinals fans rejoice.

Roger Clemens isn't going to have anything to do with the Olympic team.  Or, stated more properly, it isn't going to have anything to do with him.  It's a shame, because according to what turns up in my inbox, there are a lot of interesting drugs to be had in China.

Matt Wise may be about to rejoin the Mets, which might mean that New York will be going with 13 pitchers.

It's a short one, but that's all I've got for today.  Enjoy!

No Reds bloggers returned my emails in time to get a 5 questions post up for last series...maybe that's why we didn't win it.  I hope that's how it's going to work, because here we go with some Mets talk.  Our lucky guest is Jessica Bader, who writes for Take the 7 Train and MetsGeek.

First things first: How do you feel about the Johan Santana trade?  In particular, were there any pieces Minaya included in the deal who you think the Mets will come to regret giving up?

I spent much of the offseason highly fed up with the Santana trade speculation because I thought that the only offers the Mets could make that would top the Red Sox or Yankees would be far too costly even for a pitcher of Santana's caliber (remember, the early speculation was that the Mets would have to part with Jose Reyes to have any hope of landing Johan). Then the AL East behemoths decided that they were okay with not getting Santana as long as the other guy didn't get him, and Omar was able to acquire Santana without giving up Reyes or top outfield prospect Fernando Martinez.

Of the four prospects the Mets gave up in the deal, the one I think they will come to regret the most is Deolis Guerra, who has the highest ceiling by far of the three pitchers who went to Minnesota. Carlos Gomez is off to a hot start with the Twins, but I have my doubts about whether he will reach his considerable potential. Had Gomez remained a Met, I would have wanted him to spend at least half of this season in AAA as he is still fairly raw (he was rushed to the majors last year because the entire outfield depth chart got hurt pretty much all at once), and I fear that throwing him into the majors right away will have a negative impact on his development.

The Phillies won the division last year, but the Braves have become the trendy underdog pick this spring.  Which one do you think is going to be the biggest challenge to the Mets in 08?

I think that the Braves and Phillies have similar strengths (lineup, particularly the infield, and a solid 1-2 punch) and weaknesses (bullpen, the rest of the rotation), but I think that the Braves will pose the bigger challenge. They're not going to be shooting themselves in the foot with four months of Scott Thorman this year, and instability at the back end of the rotation is something that is easier to survive when you play your home games in a pitchers' park.

With Pedro and El Duque both out, the rotation is already suffering.  What's your ideal scenario to get the Mets through the next month or two without them?

I tend to be optimistic where Pedro is concerned - he may be fragile, but he's not a slow healer - and I expect to see him back on the mound by this time next month. As for El Duque, after his latest setback I doubt we'll ever see him pitch another major-league game. This puts a lot of pressure on Mike Pelfrey - the most advanced pitching prospect remaining in the Mets' system - to perform at an adequate level.

If Pelfrey can harness his command of his secondary pitches (a big problem for him last year), he can be a solid contributor at the back end of the rotation (his being the only groundball pitcher in a flyball-heavy rotation may also be helpful). That would make it a lot easier to stomach the occasional Nelson Figueroa start until Pedro returns.

Tell us how excited you are to have two recent Brewers--Matt Wise and Brady Clark--on your roster.  If the Mets sign Claudio Vargas, do you think Mr. Met will start drinking Miller?

I like what Clark brings to the table in terms of OBP off the bench, but I don't think he was worth losing Ruben Gotay on waivers (to the Braves, no less). Wise seems like a decent middle relief arm, but he hasn't exactly endeared himself to Mets fans with the combination of giving up walkoff home run to a light-hitting utility infielder and going on the DL with forearm soreness a week into the season. I suspect that Mr. Met will crave poutine if the Mets sign Vargas (a strong possibility now that El Duque isn't coming back any time soon [now official -js]); Omar has brought in a handful of former Expos whose stint in Montreal coincided with his own.

I like to be ahead of the curve.  When the rumor mill goes into high gear in June, what will the Mets be looking for?  Any early bets on who will be that missing piece?

One thing the Mets still need badly is a right-handed bat who can play first base. Chris Shelton and Josh Phelps were both there for the taking this winter, but the team didn't make much of an effort to go after either one of them. I suspect that once the Orioles start playing like the Orioles and Carlos Delgado gets at-bats against lefties not named Jamie Moyer, Kevin Millar's name will come up quite a bit.

Thanks Jessica!