So Gorman and I were out for a walk last night, and came across some ducks. Gorman loves ducks. So we chased the ducks around for a bit, until an old man sitting on his porch yelled at us to stop. I immediately thought of Murray Chass.

Also, the Brewers won their second straight road series.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Rickie Weeks was the unlikely hero yesterday, going 4-for-5 with 2 RBI and 11 assists in the field. After the game, though, he dramatically and unforgivably insulted the game of baseball by untucking his shirt. Note the veteran grittiness of Craig Counsell, who refused to participate in such an egregious affront to the game and left his shirt stuffed firmly in his pants.

With the loss yesterday, the Reds have lost each of Homer Bailey's first eight major league starts. In fact, he hasn't participated in a win at any level since April 30. It's gotten so bad he's quoting Nietzsche.

The Brew Town Beat has joined me and Tom H. in wondering if Ned Yost is trying to kill Jason Kendall.

Apparently Twins backup catcher Mike Redmond takes ground balls at third everyday, even though he's only played there one game in his career. If Mike Rivera had devoted his spare time this year to learning new positions, could he play everywhere by now?

Mike Cameron narrowly missed robbing a home run yesterday. I feel like I've seen this picture, where he swings and misses at what would've been a great catch, 15-20 times this season. Has anyone done the numbers to figure out if/how much Cameron has actually helped in the field this season?

The latest Bugs and Cranks power rankings have the Brewers 8th.

There might have been more, but Robinson Cancel, Raul Casanova and Claudio Vargas are all Mets this year: Of the 99 former big leaguers playing independent ball this season, I was only able to find two former Brewers, Wayne Franklin and Will Cunnane.

On injuries:

Joba Chamberlain has rotator cuff tendinitis, less serious than previously expected.
Nats OF Elijah Dukes' calf strain is worse than expected and could end his 2008 season.
A's SP Sean Gallagher will have his next start pushed back at least 6 days to recover from shoulder inflammation.
Indians reliever Matt Ginter has been placed on the DL with a forearm strain.
Rangers RP David Murphy strained a ligament in his knee in a collision at home plate yesterday and should miss 2-4 weeks.

This is when you know you're having a tough season: Jeff Francoeur is slugging .357 in 2008, which is the same as the career slugging percentage of a pitcher (Mike Hampton) on his team.

I think we'd all like to see all 30 big league parks, but 30 parks in 26 days with overnight drives like Kansas City to Detroit and Minneapolis to Arlington seems a little extreme.

Drink up.

Here's something to read while twirling your mustache.

Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Are you excited for the CC (no periods, just like KL Snow) Sabathia debut tonight? Yes? Then maybe you'll be interested in these notes on Sabathia from around the blogosphere:

Dixieflatline crunched the numbers and says adding Sabathia increased the Brewers' playoff chances by 10%.
Rluzinski says Sabathia improves the team by 1.93 wins, but that projection is based on Sabathia replacing Dave Bush.
In-Between Hops notes the major difference Mark Attanasio has made as owner of the Brewers, as exemplified in this trade.
Jayson Stark says the Cubs are still the favorites to win the Central, but the Brewers are the NL team you least want to face in October.
Saberscouting's PTO% rankings now have two Brewer pitchers in the top 15.
Joe DelGrippo says the Brewers will coast into the playoffs. Coasting isn't something you do when you're in third place.
Babes Love Baseball has changed Sabathia's nickname (formerly "Captain Cheeseburger") to El Capitán Chorizo.
A's Nation is one of a thousand sources saying the Cubs are suddenly interested in Rich Harden.

Also, in today's lone non-Sabathia note, two Brewers made Dave Cameron's Trade Value Top 50 list.

On injuries:
Padres C Michael Barrett hopes to have surgery soon to repair broken bones suffered when fouling a ball off of his face.
Angels C Mike Napoli has been placed on the DL with a sore shoulder.
Dontrelle Willis still has pain in his knee, and is being re-evaluated with the possibility that he has a torn ACL.

Maybe the Central isn't really a three-team race: Redleg Nation notes that if the Reds win their next six, they'll cruise into the All Star break 2 games over .500.

Presumably this was intended for Padres fans, but when you put it on the web you open it up for everyone: Paul DePodesta wants to know how you would handle the trading deadline for the Padres.

I tend to believe I have my finger on an awful lot of pulses, so how is it possible that Francisco Rodriguez has 35 saves before the All Star break, setting a major league record, and I had no idea?

Jeff Francoeur's tenure in AA only lasted 3 days, but the ill will it created looks like it might last a little longer.

Oh, and apparently throwing out first pitches in Korea is pants optional.

Drink up.