Major League Baseball doesn't care about me, so for a day I didn't care about Major League Baseball.

Living in Iowa, I don't get to see the Brewers on TV very often. So I was pretty excited for yesterday's game on TBS. I planned my day around it. At 3, my commitments were done, the dog had been walked and I was on the couch waiting to catch game 3 of the Brewers-Dodgers series. Except I couldn't.

You see, I live in Iowa. And even though I'm hundreds of miles from Milwaukee, Iowa is technically part of the Brewers' "home market." So yesterday's game on TBS? Blacked out. Major League Baseball does this to encourage me to watch the game on FSN Wisconsin. But I don't live in Wisconsin.

All I wanted yesterday was to see a rare national television broadcast involving a team I listen to everyday but have only actually seen about a dozen times in 2008. Major League Baseball took the possibility away from me. So I skipped the game. I didn't watch it, obviously. I didn't listen to it. I didn't watch the highlights. This morning while preparing the Mug I heard it was an exciting game. I would've liked to see it.

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

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

Friday's Win Expectancy Graph
Friday's BR Box Score

The biggest weekend news is injury related. As noted in the fanshots, Rickie Weeks sprained his (surgically repaired) left thumb yesterday. I'm assuming an MRI is in the not-so-distant future, but he hasn't been DL'ed yet, so there must be a possibility it's a minor problem. Of course, there are some that would suggest that keeping Weeks from playing isn't a problem at all.

Furthermore, Salomon Torres was pulled from Saturday night's extra-inning extravaganza after one inning of work due to stiffness in his groin. If it lasts more than 4 hours, he should call a doctor.

All of these injuries are, of course, retribution for the Brewers' consistence on continuing to commit baseball's greatest atrocity: the untucking of shirts. Go ahead and click that link, if for no other reason than to look at the look on Ned's face while he's "congratulating" Prince.

I'm a few days behind on this one, but In-Between Hops was upset over Ned's decision to bat Laynce Nix third in Thursday's lineup. I was upset over how dumb it made me look for predicting Nix wouldn't get a single at-bat as a Brewer just hours before the lineup was announced.

The Hopster also took a moment to point out that if Mike Rivera kept up his current production and had been given Jason Kendall's playing time, he'd have 35 more hits and 65 more RBI.

Over the weekend, John Sickels reviewed his preseason Top 20 Prospects for the Brewers. Turns out he hit the nail on the head on most position players, but there's still pretty much no pitching in the pipeline.

After watching Saturday night's back and forth exchange during the final few innings, Adam Charles of Bugs and Cranks thinks the Brewers are showing signs of bipolar disorder. Also at Bugs and Cranks, Tyler Maas commemorates the one-millionth article on Prince Fielder's vegetarianism.

Worth noting: Of all 30 Major League Baseball franchises, the Brewers charge the lowest "convenience fees" for ordering advance tickets. They're still too high.

The Brewers rank 8th in Phil Rogers' most recent Power Rankings, seven spots behind the Cubs and five spots behind Scott Boras.

Jon Heyman has predicted the contracts some upcoming free agents will receive this winter. For Sabathia: six years, $150 million. For Sheets: three years, $51 million.

Apparently Ted Simmons likes art, but doesn't want to talk about it.

Marc Hulet of Fangraphs compares Jeremy Jeffress' drug situation to that of Josh Hamilton. Maybe I'm missing something, but last I heard Jeffress likes pot and has been suspended one time, right? That's a bit different from having to go back to living with your grandmother while recovering from cocaine addiction.

On injuries:

Chris Carpenter is back on the DL with a posterior shoulder strain.
Tom Glavine is on the DL with a strained elbow.
Angels SS Maicer Izturis is done for the season with a torn ligament in his thumb.
Jeff Kent is going to get hurt if he keeps talking trash about Vin Scully. (h/t Jim Powell)
Kazuo Matsui is on the DL with an irritated disc in his back.
Carlos Silva is on the DL with triceps tendinitis.

The Mets pulled off a trade over the weekend, acquiring reliver Luis Ayala from the Nationals. Just when you think the trades are over, there's another one. And the Nats, never one to miss an opportunity to make things worse, followed up the trade by failing to sign their first-round pick.

Three former Brewers in the news today: the Yankees DFA'd Richie Sexson after he hit .250/.371/.393 in 35 plate appearances. Gary Glover is back in the big leagues with the Tigers, and R.A. Dickey tied a major league record with 4 wild pitches in one inning.

Oh, and do you need a new tailgating grill? go win one here.

Drink up.

Not a ton on the interwebs for you this morning, but hey, if you get bored, you can get think about the series win on the road.  Over and over again.

• BR Box Score
• FanGraphs Win Probability Chart

Bye bye, Jeff Weaver.

Two-Fisted Slopper thinks the moment to strike is now, and uses some reasonable assumptions to predict that the Brewers will be three games back at the All-Star Break.  I'd be happy with that, especially if it means the Cubs panic and sign Jeff Weaver.

Jim Powell has posted another interview--this time it's with Jim Callis of Baseball America, and you'll be shocked to learn that the topic is not Jeff Weaver, it's first-round pick Brett Lawrie.

With Micah Hoffpair and Eric Patterson called up and Matt Murton cloaked with invisibility, the Cubs have picked up Ben Broussard as Triple-A depth.  I guess he's better than Weaver...and I'm just talking about pitching!

Suggesting that we had better Triple-A depth in the 2007 Nashville rotation than in this year's, R.A. Dickey is taking the place of Miguel Batista in the Mariners rotation.

After a strong start, Livan Hernandez gave up seven runs in three innings last night to the Indians.  That's five or more runs in five consecutive outings.  Unfortunately, we're going to face better pitchers than that this weekend.  They've got Francisco Liriano in Triple-A, but if they're worried about using him (or they use him, and it opens up a spot in the minor league rotation), maybe that'll be Jeff Weaver's new home.

That'll do it for today.

Good morning, Brewer fans. Most of the NL had an off day yesterday, so the Brewers wake up again in second place by themselves, but in a good position to do something about it: They open up a series with the first place Cardinals tonight. It's time for a Frosty Mug.

With the off day, there's no Win Expectancy Graph or ESPN Video highlights to show you, but here are Baseball Digest Daily's recaps from yesterday.

Also, I have a new addition to the daily reads, Baseball Prospectus postseason odds. Today, they project the Brewers to win 82.1 games and give them a 17% shot of winning the NL Central.

Now, today's big news: Tom H. is reporting the Brewers may have signed Jeff Weaver. Tom thinks they'll likely send him to extended spring training and then AAA, but notes that Weaver is a Boras client, so it seems unlikely he cut a deal without some promise for a big league opportunity. It's probably still too early to speculate.

Ben Sheets won this week's Baseball Happenings Blogpoll for NL Cy Young. Albert Pujols won the vote for MVP, and Kosuke Fukudome won Rookie of the Year. Click the previous link for full voting results, and click here to see the BCB ballot.

The Junkball Blues is doing a nice job tracking an interesting stat, and so far it's paying dividends: The Brewers see an average of 3.91 pitches per plate appearance in their 8 wins, and only 3.61 in their 4 losses.

Bucs Dugout is starting some kind of tournament to crown the worst GM in baseball. Our very own Doug Melvin is one of the 14 GM's who won't make the field.

Brad Bortone at Bugs and Cranks is comparing Prince's new eating habits to the sudden change in Sid Fernandez's eating habits in 1985, which took 8-10 mph off his fastball. I disagree with the point, but it's an interesting one.

The Southpaw, a Jays blog, has the Brewers #5, the best in the NL Central, in their latest power rankings.

There's only three injury reports today, so I'll just put them in one paragraph: Reds SS Alex Gonzalez is not seeing improvement in the compression fracture in his knee and still won't be able to run for at least 2-4 more weeks. Pedro Martinez's rehab is going slower than expected and will keep him out well into May, maybe into June. Mariners OF Mike Morse has been moved onto the DL with a dislocated shoulder, opening the door for the big league return of R.A. Dickey.

Fish Chunks takes a look at some of the surprising numbers surrounding the 2008 Marlins, who lead the NL in home runs but are being outscored by seven NL teams. They have several more stats about homer-centric baseball that should sound familiar to fans of the 2007 Brewers.

This one doesn't appear to be paid, but No Bias Baseball is looking to add writers.

24 hours in, we've already got 96 votes in this week's Fan Opinion Poll. If you haven't cast your ballot yet, take a moment to do so. Thanks to everyone who's helped promote it, including Al's Ramblings.

Over the weekend I missed a comment asking how to submit links for inclusion in the Mug. The easiest way to grab my attention is to post links in the comments of the previous day's Mug, which I usually check right before I start writing. I'll start making a more conscious effort to re-post the best links I find that way.

That's all for today. Drink up.