Here are some lyrics from the "Weird" Al Yankovic song, Albuquerque: "You got any ability to play like a winning team in September?"
"No! We're out of ability to play like a winning team in September!"

Sunday's Win Probability Graph
Sunday's BR Box Score

Saturday's Win Probability Graph
Saturday's BR Box Score

Friday's Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

I have a handful of links today, but nothing more entertaining than Tyler Maas' day in the life of Craig Counsell. So I'll lead with that.

So on Friday I started a conversation about general managers. I noted that Doug Melvin seems to be losing some ground among fans and Jack Zduriencik is still being called a GM of the future. I expected some discussion but a general consensus towards keeping Melvin around for next season. What I got instead was a poll showing 60% of readers think Jack Z should be GM next season. I'm surprised.

This is never good: the 2008 Brewers are being compared to the final scenes in Animal House.

Ray Durham hasn't played since straining his hamstring Friday. I haven't seen any reports on the seriousness of the injury. Rickie Weeks went 3-for-4 in his place on Saturday, but went 0-for-4 with 3 K's yesterday. Weeks is still hitting .310/.431/.548 in September.

Crawfish Boxes took a look at the long-term ramifications of Ben Sheets' most recent injury.

Statistically Speaking ranked CC Sabathia 3rd on his NL Cy Young ballot.

Jon Heyman is playing World Series matchmaker. Once he's done combining every possible big-market matchup, he notes that a Twins-Brewers WS would be pretty cool too.

The Brewers have fallen all the way to 15th in Phil Rogers' power rankings and 16th in the Whisnant Rankings.

On injuries:

Matt Holliday missed action over the weekend with a stiff back but could play again tomorrow.
Blue Jays SP Shaun Marcum will need Tommy John surgery and is out for the rest of 2008 and all of 2009.
Hideki Matsui has been shut down for the season and will have knee surgery today.
Marlins SP Anibal Sanchez left Friday's start with a leg injury.
Angels SP Joe Saunders will miss his scheduled start tomorrow with a kidney stone.

While we're on the topic of injuries, what are your expectations for an injured player on a non-contending team? Dusty Baker and Hal McCoy are making an issue of the fact that Ryan Freel and Norris Hopper haven't been seen around the Reds clubhouse since injuries ended their seasons. Should it be an issue?

Looking for a "buy low" candidate pitcher for 2009? Are you desperate enough to consider Russ Ortiz? Apparently he's eying a 2009 comeback.

Or, you could buy really low and trade for Adam Kennedy, due $3.3 million next season and hitting .269/.303/.343 in 2008. He's upset because he's not getting to play everyday in St. Louis. I can't imagine why.

Oh, and here's an exchange between Gabe Gross and Abraham Lincoln. Classic.

Drink up.

I'm not exactly an authority on grit, but it was about time someone named an All-Grit Team.  All-Star Week seemed appropriate. 

• C Jason Kendall
• 1B Platoon: Doug Mientkiwicz / Kevin Millar
• 2B Mark Grudzielanek
• 3B Ryan Freel
• SS David Eckstein
• LF Scott Podsednik
• CF Aaron Rowand
• RF Eric Byrnes

If a DH were needed, the all-grit team would do one of two things:

• Bat the pitcher, because truly gritty players are throwbacks to when pitchers could hit for themselves
• Go with Willie Bloomquist.

The bench is a little unbalanced--in addition to the eight starters, 1B platoon, and Bloomquist, that leaves four or five spots.  Again, these guys are throwbacks, so a 10-man pitching staff would have to do the job.  That leaves two roster spots for Craig Counsell (team captain) and Nick Punto and three more for backup catchers.  Doesn't really matter which ones, though I think Paul Bako has to be on the team. 

It doesn't matter that there aren't any backup outfielders, because any truly gritty player can play anywhere in the diamond.  In that sense, there are twelve backup outfielders.  Similarly, it doesn't really matter which outfielders are assigned to which position, since any of the three could play center, but they, of course, will play wherever they're needed.

I haven't figured out what to do about the pitching staff, since pitchers aren't generally considered gritty in the same way that position players are.  It seems that gritty pitchers are generally guys who have hung on past their prime (like Jamie Moyer) or lefty relievers (like Brian Shouse) or both.

You may note that I didn't include a batting lineup--the list above is just the fielding alignment.  That's going to be a serious problem for manager Gabe Kapler--left to their own devices, everyone on this team would bat second.

Got opinions? Go share them in this week's Fan Opinion Poll. Got half an hour or so to kill and want a quick recap of stuff from around the web? Grab your Frosty Mug.

BDD Recaps
BP Postseason Odds: 84.1 wins and a 20.2% shot at winning the NL Central.

With Ben Sheets returning to the mound and Mike Cameron making his Brewer debut, in Chicago against the Cubs, Tom H. wants to make sure you know today is kind of a big deal.

Thanks to reader Michael M who pointed out that The New York Times did a story on Prince's new eating habits. It's a New York Times story, so it displays all Wisconsinites as raw meat eating savages, but aside from that it's a good read.

The JS Blog notes that Prince hits more than his share of home runs at Wrigley, so this could be a good week for him.

Is Prince the best first baseman in the NL Central? The Cub Reporter wants to know. They're also asking about second basemen.

On injuries:

Hank Blalock has a torn hamstring and is out 3-4 weeks.
Troy Glaus is trying out some clear sunglasses to help him see the ball at night in St. Louis.
Alex Rodriguez has reinjured his quad and is out of the lineup for at least a few more days.
Grady Sizemore has been out since Saturday with a sprained ankle.
John Smoltz will miss his next start and may have to go on the DL with shoulder trouble.

Dusty Baker is drawn to grittiness, but apparently every now and then he incorrectly hears it: He reportedly thought Ryan Freel told him he didn't want to play everyday. That's like saying no to ice cream. Who does that?

As noted below in the minor league report, Nashville lost again last night to drop to 5-18. How long do we give them before we start worrying about the fact that our top minor league affiliate is terrible?

Baseball Happenings has posted the results from this week's Blogpoll for NL MVP. Chase Utley won overwhelmingly, as he probably should.

Baseball Musings asks if the Reds wasted money on Francisco Cordero. He's 4-for-4 in save opportunities, but the Reds have only managed to get him 4 opportunities in 25 games. Speaking of wasted money, the Giants are sending Barry Zito to the bullpen.

Carlos Quentin of the White Sox has been hit by a pitch with the bases loaded 3 times in April. That ties the MLB single season record.

Some days the stars align and everyone's talking about the same thing: Scott Adams, of Dilbert fame, attended a game over the weekend and didn't enjoy the experience. Stephen Dubner, the author of Freakonomics, blogged yesterday about ways to make the game more interesting. Sabernomics picked up on that and added a few suggestions of their own, including one that should've been adopted years ago: eliminate arguing. Confrontational umpires are one of my biggest pet peeves in baseball, so I'd welcome some kind of movement to remind them that no one paid to see them yell back at a manager/player. Baseball is the only sport I'm aware of that tolerates it.

I don't typically read Cardboard Gods, but I'm glad I followed a link there yesterday to catch this post, which is as profound as anything I've read in a long time.

That's all for today. Drink up.

Josh Fogg versus Dave Bush.  Who will be more mediocre?

The JS blog has the lineups.  Dusty tinkered a little, with Freel batting second today, while Ned is sticking with last night's secret sauce.

Here are your spreadsheet-tastic predicted results:

• Brewers 5.49
• Reds 4.32
  
• Brewers Win Expectancy: 64%

Go Brewers!