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.

Well, the Cubs lost yesterday too, so we're still two games back entering a 3 game series with the Fish tonight. Come and get your Mug.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps
BP Postseason Odds: 85.1 wins and a 22.6% shot at winning the Central.

If you haven't yet, go vote in this week's Fan Opinion Poll. And even if you have voted, go check out the results, which show a pretty interesting one week shift in Ned Yost's approval rating.

I'd never heard Scott Olsen called "Mr. Furious" before, but he's starting for the Marlins tonight, and Bugs and Cranks called him that, so I'll go with it.

The Junkball Blues thinks Rickie Weeks is on an upturn. That'd be nice.

The Official Site reports that Chris Capuano has begun a throwing program in his effort to avoid his second Tommy John surgery. Best wishes to him, but after a full ineffective year WITH the appropriate ligaments and whatnot, I can't imagine him coming back to be effective without them.

It must be a slow news day: Bugs and Cranks is pulling out old baseball cards featuring Troy O'Leary and Matt Mieske.

Today's Brief Alphabetical Morning (BAM) Injury Reports are sponsored by the letter C and the number 2:

Rangers C Adam Melhuse has a bruised hand and could head to the DL.
Mets C Brian Schneider has an infected left thumb and will be placed on the DL.

Related to the Melhuse injury: I took a friend to the Iowa Cubs/Oklahoma Redhawks AAA game in Des Moines last weekend. She didn't really know much about baseball, but was a big fan of Jarrod Saltalamacchia, based purely on his very large name. Sometimes you take what you can get.

Maybe they've been watching the Brewers: The A's tried out a lineup with nine right handed hitters last night against the Twins. It seemed to work. It certainly worked better than anything Ryan Howard has tried in April.

The market for closers grows as we speak: Gaslamp Ball is ready to pull the plug on Trevor Hoffman.

Former Brewer notes: The Mets have DFA's Brady Clark, and the Nats have sent Ray King back to AAA.

If either of them (or you) are looking for work, The Twins are hiring an administrative assistant. Job duties include receiving AND opening mail. I frequently struggle with the second one.

That's all for today. If you've got something to throw into tomorrow's Mug, drop it in the comments.

Drink up.