So yesterday was a first. For the first time in 2008, I actually had to get up and leave my computer during a Brewer game due to fear I might vomit.

Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Tom H. is calling it the worst defeat of the season. I'm not ready to say it's head-and-shoulders above the Arizona debacle, but it certainly wasn't fun.

So, did the Brewers' playoff hopes end yesterday? Chuckie Hacks, The Brew Town Beat and Two-Fisted Slopper all seem to think so.

This got somewhat lost in everything else, but it's worth noting: The baserunning was awful yesterday. As an example, here are two pictures of J.J. Hardy getting thrown out at bases. But, Sveum blamed the wind.

So what now? Jeff Suppan will start tonight, since McClung was forced into duty in yesterday's game. There are some more hints for the future in this JS roundup, which I'll summarize for you:

• No one knows when/if Sheets can pitch again.
• Yovani Gallardo will throw one more time today, then rejoin the team.
• Gabe Kapler is back with the team but can't slide head first or throw.
• Mat Gamel's elbow pain has been diagnosed as tendinitis.
• Rickie Weeks and Bill Hall will only play against lefties the rest of the way.
• Mike Rivera isn't going to play at all. No reason. Just sitting a guy who's hitting .311/.382/.443 as a catcher but will finish the season with less than 70 plate appearances on a team that's "going for it." Did Mike Rivera kill somebody's pets? I'm honestly flabbergasted by this one.

Baseball Musings says Dave Bush's slugging percentage allowed is the one thing keeping him from becoming an elite pitcher. To me, he seems a little farther away than that, but he certainly gives up the long ball.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, CC Sabathia made Baseball Analysts "Getting it Done" pitching staff.

Even after losing two of three in Chicago, the Brewers only need 6 wins in their last 9 games to finish with 90 wins. If they do that, the Astros and Marlins win out and the Phillies and Mets falter a bit, we could still have a five-way tie for the NL wild Card.

On injuries:

A's SP Justin Duchsherer will miss his scheduled start Saturday as he continues to rehab his surgically repaired hip.
Michael Young reinjured his fractured finger last night and could be done for 2008.

Symmetry in action: John Fay notes that the Reds have 4 starting pitchers that have made 25 starts with an ERA below 5.00 for the first time since 1992. That struck me as a really long time, so I looked up the last time the Brewers did it. Also 1992. With luck, they'll break that streak in 2008. Sheets, Parra, Suppan and Bush all have 25 starts, and Suppan is the only one at immediate risk of having his ERA sneak over 5.

Maybe this guy can still pitch? Eduardo Rodriguez was the only Brewer to take advantage of a save rule that allowed a pitcher to get a save without finishing a game, in 1974.

Ned Yost won't be on the Braves staff next year after all. The Braves announced yesterday that their entire coaching staff will return for 2009.

This Mug is already getting kind of long, so I won't reveal any of them here, but there's some good stuff I didn't know in this 25 Fact Baseball Roster.

Oh, and Ryan Howard isn't leading the NL in strikeouts. Who knew?

Drink up.

There's not exactly a ton of fresh material out there coming off the off day, but here are some things I put together once I finally got Gorman to stop chasing ducks:

20 other teams did play yesterday. Here are their win expectancy graphs.

The Brewers open a series with the Pirates tonight. Get used to hearing that, we're going to say it 3 more times between now and October. The Brew Town Beat is pretty excited about playing the Pirates without Jason Bay and Xavier Nady. Also, his bar of the week is The Safe House, which is a bizarre experience if I've ever seen one.

The Beat also wants to know why Laynce Nix is still a Brewer but Tony Gwynn Jr. is not. I left a comment with a handful of reasons (one turned out to be wrong), but Chuckie Hacks sums it up pretty nicely too.

While we're on the subject of minor leaguers, The Junkball Blues warns us not to count our chickens before they've hatched regarding Alcides Escobar.

Maybe Escobar can play second? 64% of voters at Brewers Fanatics want Ray Durham to play at second over Rickie Weeks. Next step: a blind taste test.

Of the three remaining contenders in the NL Central (sorry, Houston), the Brewers have the lowest opponent winning percentage and most home games on their remaining schedule.

Baseball Prospectus (via Sports Illustrated) has released 26-50 of their list of best players to build a team around. Milwaukee's favorite vegetarian checks in at #35.

Injuries are really brief today: The A's placed two-fifths of their starting rotation on the DL yesterday and Royals OF Mitch Maier broke several bones in his face being hit by a pitch.

Home Run Derby's Jersey of the Week is a must see if you enjoy making fun of the Cubs, and I do. If the Cubs fail to win the World Series again, I'm hoping he'll untuck it.

Oh, and would you have guessed that Brett Myers has pitched almost as well as CC Sabathia since the All Star break? Me either.

Drink up.

So on Friday I saw a friend, who greeted me with a hug. We had the following exchange:

"Hey, how are you?"
"Good. I'm finally getting over my cold."
"Oh...thanks for the hug, then."

I'm guessing you can about imagine how that turned out.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So CC Sabathia threw 130 pitches last night to finish his fifth complete game with the Brewers, giving him the outright NL lead in CG. Ben Sheets has 4. Only five other NL pitchers have more than one. Only 29 NL pitchers, given a full season to work on it, have accumulated more than 8 wins. Sabathia's done that since July.

But the fact remains that he threw 130 pitches last night in a situation where it almost certainly wasn't necessary. Baseball Musings and Defensive Indifference came down hard on Ned Yost for letting Sabathia finish the game.

In the meantime, Chop-n-Change notes that 7 of Sabathia's top ten most comparable pitchers were done by age 31, which is why they're hoping the Braves won't sign him.

Even if no one else in the bullpen was ready, Salomon Torres was available to pitch last night. Also in that story: Rickie Weeks is feeling better and may not hit the DL after all.

Ryan Braun left last night's game after aggravating his intercostal strain swinging and missing. After the game, Braun downplayed the severity of the injury...I guess we'll see. In-Between Hops correctly predicted the development.

A lot was made of Cecil Cooper's prediction that the Astros would sweep the Brewers this week. There weren't very many people on the bandwagon with him, though. A poll at Crawfish Boxes showed that 38% of fans thought the Astros would win one game out of 3, and Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart thinks they'll get swept.

One note got buried in today's The Official Site's Game Preview: Jason Kendall needs seven more starts to tie the record for the most starts by a catcher in a single season in franchise history. Even if Mike Rivera starts 3 times in the next 10 games, Jason Kendall will have caught more games than any catcher in Brewer history before September 1st.

On injuries:

A's SP Justin Duchsherer left last night's game in the 3rd inning with inflammation in his hip.
Twins SS Adam Everett was hit in the hand by a foul ball last night, but X-rays were negative. He's day-to-day, just like the rest of us.
Nats C Jesus Flores hasn't played since Saturday with a sprained knee.
Ian Kinsler is likely done for the year after being diagnosed with a sports hernia.
Twins OF Delmon Young jammed his ankle last night and may miss some time.

Has there ever been a post-deadline trading period that was this active? The Dodgers reportedly acquired Greg Maddux yesterday.

This is why teams don't want their top prospects playing in the Olympics: Matt LaPorta is day-to-day (and lucky to not be much worse) after being hit in the head with a pitch during Monday's game against China.

Al Reyes is not one of TheJay's active pitchers who faced the AL Brewers, but he did spend 3 seasons as a member of the AL Brewers. Today, he's looking for work after refusing an outright assignment and being released by the Rays.

Oh, and Sabathia's win last night may not have looked that surprising, but according to NBC Olympic announcer Al Trautwig, winning when everyone expects it is one of the most difficult things in sports. Click the link to read Keith Law's reply.

Drink up.

Season sweep of the Giants, and the Brewers' first road sweep in California since 2002, eh? I'll take it.

Friday's Win Expectancy Graph
Saturday's Win Expectancy Graph
Sunday's Win Expectancy Graph

Friday's BR Box Score
Saturday's BR Box Score
Sunday's BR Box Score

Of course, the weekend's biggest news is the acquisition of Ray Durham for two minor leaguers. The immediate question: Where and how much will he play? Ned Yost defended Rickie Weeks yesterday and says he'll play Durham "a couple days a week, maybe."

In the meantime, the Brewers may have kept another team from making a move, as well: Sam Mellinger says the low price the Giants received for Durham, plus with the fact that they're paying a large chunk of his salary, may keep the Royals from reaching a deal to trade Mark Grudzielanek and his $4 million salary.

The grand rotation experiment begins today, as Seth McClung starts on the road in St. Louis, his first start as part of the road/home platoon at the end of the rotation. If all goes as planned and the team sticks with the platoon, Dave Bush would then get three of the next four starts, including Saturday against Houston and the following Thursday against the Cubs.

Speaking of Dave Bush, Baseball By Paul thinks he'll come back to Earth and now is a good time to sell high. Paul also predicts a hot second half for Prince Fielder.

The Brewers have moved up to 8th in Phil Rogers' power rankings, or seventh if you want to be a purist and argue that team power rankings should only include actual teams.

On injuries:

Red Sox RP David Aardsma is on the DL with a sore groin.
A's 1B Daric Barton hit his head on the bottom of a swimming pool during the All-Star Break and has been DL'ed.
Reds RP Jared Burton has been placed on the DL with a strained right latissimus muscle.
White Sox SP Jose Contreras has been placed on the DL with elbow tendinitis.
Jermaine Dye left yesterday's game after being hit in the knee with a pitch.
Ryan Freel is out for the rest of 2008 after having surgery to repair a torn tendon behind his right knee.
Rays RP Gary Glover has been placed on the DL with a calf strain.
Orioles LHP Adam Loewen has a stress fracture in his elbow and has decided to give up pitching.
Pedro Martinez threw a bullpen session yesterday, but won't pitch Tuesday as scheduled.
Angels OF Gary Matthews Jr. has a slight tear in his knee but will play through it.
Mets OF Trot Nixon underwent season-ending hernia surgery.
Roy Oswalt has been placed on the DL with continued soreness from a left hip abductor strain.
Mets OF Angel Pagan may need season-ending shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum.
Mariners SP Carlos Silva left yesterday's start with back spasms but may make his next start.
Billy Wagner will have an MRI today after suffering cramping in his shoulder yesterday.
Marlins OF Josh Willingham missed yesterday's game to rest a sore wrist after being hit by a pitch Saturday.
Dmitri Young, who is diabetic, is on the DL after missing two straight games with high blood sugar and lightheadedness.

Apparently Scott Linebrink is using acupuncture and other methods to relieve the pain of migraines and some back issues he's been having. I've been known to get migraines related to Linebrink as well, especially when Joe Thatcher and Will Inman pitch well.

I'm sure this debate has been hashed out before, but it doesn't usually give me the urge to sing "One of these things is not like the others." Dugout Central asked four writers to name the greatest living pitcher. Your nominees: Bob Feller, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens...and Dwight Gooden.

Murray Chass would like to know why it's been 2 1/2 years since Don Baylor worked in baseball.

Week 15's blogpoll results for AL Awards (conducted over the break) are up at this link. Ian Kinsler was the surprise winner for MVP, with Cliff Lee taking the Cy Young and Evan Longoria lapping the field to win the Rookie of the Year. If you read the comments, I actually only wrote about half of what's quoted to me...the part about catchers belongs to someone else. Here's my ballot:

MVP:
1. Ian Kinsler
2. Grady Sizemore
3. Alex Rodriguez

Cy Young:
1. Roy Halladay
2. Justin Duchsherer
3. Cliff Lee

ROTY:
1. Evan Longoria
2. Greg Smith
3. Nick Blackburn

Oh, and if you ever find yourself stuck in a conundrum, where a team either has the option of paying you $20 million for next season or letting you become a free agent and likely make significantly less, the way to show that team you want to stay is almost certainly not tanking in a pinch hit at-bat against the Yankees. Just saying.

Drink up.