My to do list for today:

Beat Battlekow at Boggle
Write Frosty Mug

It's a good thing I accomplished the first one, because there's really not much to write about today.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Today's Brewer notes are largely visitor oriented. First, as mentioned in the comments of yesterday's Mug, Stacey from Camden Chat visited Miller Park along with the Orioles over the weekend and offers a nice review.

It's no secret that the Brewers love playing at home. But La Velle Neal notes the Twins like visiting Miller Park too, and have turned their season around in Milwaukee every year since 2005. (Also noted in Fanshots.

It's been a while since we've looked at these: the BP Postseason Odds. Right now the Brewers project for 87.4 wins and a 10.3% chance of winning the Central. It's still too early to talk Wild Card.

Back in March, I (very subtly) hinted that I'd like someone to make me a Ryan Braun wallpaper. While I was on vacation, Josh Downie came through for me. Now, I have a slightly different request. See this terrible, painful song about Jason Bay? Brewer fans, I'm begging you, please don't make those. Especially if you sing too high and create a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard.

On injuries:

Reds 3B Edwin Encarnacion left last night's game with back spasms but should be ok.
Felix Hernandez hit a grand slam last night, but also suffered a sprained ankle and had to leave the game. Big League Stew has the ironic take.
Nats 1B Nick Johnson will likely miss the rest of the year after having surgery on his wrist.
Pirates P Ian Snell has medial epicondylitis, aka Golfer's Elbow, and will miss his next start. Perhaps he was trying to save money on his car insurance.
Kevin Youkilis was hit in the eye with an errant warm-up throw last night and had to leave the game.

Via Baseball Musings, I learned yesterday that Safeco Field is no longer a good place to meet the ladies.

On the other end of the spectrum, I learned (via Baseball Musings again) that Padres owner John Moores' divorce may force him to sell the Padres.

Jose Guillen is hitting .359/.365/.613 over his last 37 games despite the fact that he hasn't drawn a single walk over that stretch. Sometimes being aggressive works.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer took a deeper look at the process involved in trading a franchise cornerstone like C.C. Sabathia. They also look at some past deadline deals, including a couple of past Indians deals you'll recognize.

Here's where the maple bat situation has brought us: Researchers are developing a portable CT scan device specifically designed to assess the safety of specific bats. Can't we just go back to ash bats and be done with it?

That's all for today. I'm moving tomorrow and may not have internet for a while, then I'm back on the road for a bit. The Mug will return full-time sometime around the 7th or 8th of July. Until then, thanks again to Jeff for filling in. Drink up.

Here's a tradition I'd like to see more of.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

You can either stop holding your breath, or prepare to hold it for 15 more days: the Brewers' deadline to make a decision on Jeff Weaver has been extended to June 15.

Apparently David Riske has no new structural damage, but is taking longer than expected to recover. That's bad news all around. Of course, Salomon Torres is pretty excited about getting to close games.

So last night the Brewers got 3 hits and won. That's a stark contrast from August 24, 2002, when they got 20 hits and lost, tying the tenth highest hit total in a nine inning loss of all time. Recondite Baseball has the full list at that link. Or, you could stay here and watch me struggle with bad segues and awkward linking.

In the fanposts yesterday, Greg8370 mentioned a report that the Brewers might be looking to move their AA team to the Eastern League, and had been mentioned as a candidate to play home games in Norwich, CT. After a brief search this morning, I found the column mentioning it. Sounds like the Defenders are having some real problems with the Giants organization, mainly tied to the fact that the Giants don't like the ballpark dimensions, and also don't like playing 30-degree home games. I think I'd stick with Huntsville. I emailed the reporter, though, to see where he got the rumor from.

UPDATE: I've been in touch with Joe Perez, the writer from the Norwich Bulletin. You can see our conversation here .

So yesterday afternoon I had a moment to kill, and I got an email from the Brewers. They really wanted me to vote (25 times) to get some Brewers in the starting lineup of the All-Star Game. They've also posted a story about how close Braun is to only being 4 spots back of the leaders. So I sat down with the stats, picked out the best candidate at each position...and didn't vote for a single Brewer. Here's the ballot I clicked and reclicked and submitted 25 times:

AL:
C: Joe Mauer
1B: Kevin Youkilis
2B: Ian Kinsler
3B: Joe Crede
SS: Michael Young
OF: Milton Bradley
OF: Josh Hamilton
OF: Magglio Ordonez
DH: David Ortiz

NL:
C: Brian McCann
1B: Lance Berkman
2B: Dan Uggla
3B: Chipper Jones
SS: Hanley Ramirez
OF: Nate McLouth
OF: Pat Burrell
OF: Adam Dunn

On injuries:

Pirates P Zach Duke will get an extra day before his next start to allow a blister to heal.
Carlos Guillen is battling some hemorrhoids his manager seems a little too eager to talk about.
Marlins P Scott Olsen still isn't getting velocity back after an exceptionally long outing against the Brewers weeks ago.
Troy Percival collapsed falling off the mound last night and has a tight hamstring. Grant Balfour may be called up in his place.
A's OF Ryan Sweeney had to be taken to the hospital for X-rays after fouling a ball off his foot.
Frank Thomas may be headed to the DL after an MRI on his strained right quad revealed major inflammation.
Blue Jays C Gregg Zaun has been placed on the DL with inflammation in his elbow.

Does the price include my computer and rent for mom's basement? The Juiced Sports Blog ranks the 100 most valuable sports blogs.

It didn't crack the top 100, but I think this post is pretty valuable: The Padres recently acquired Cha Seung Baek, and Paul DePodesta discusses the move.

Oh, and a hydrochloric acid spill is a pretty good reason to suspend a game.

Drink up.

So, at least Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks are heating up, right?

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

There's not much out there this morning that I (or someone else) haven't already told you about. We've covered that Gagne has biceps tendinitis and won't throw again until at least Sunday.

We've also covered that Ned is still here, even though Dayn Perry thinks he should be fired, Scott Miller of CBS Sportsline lists him second (behind Willie Randolph) on his list of managers on the hot seat, and some guy named Eli lists him second on his list of managers to be fired, behind M's manager John McLaren.

So, since it's a slow news day, here's a stat to think about instead:

Johnny Estrada, April 2007: .312/.346/.455
Johnny Estrada, May 2007: .236/.244/.449

Jason Kendall, April 2008: .301/.366/.398
Jason Kendall, May 2008: .224/.314/.290

On injuries:

Moises Alou is back on the DL with a strained calf, meaning Raul Casanova is back in the big leagues.
Twins SS Adam Everett has been placed on the DL with a strained shoulder.
Nats OF Austin Kearns is out 3-4 weeks after surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow.
Phillies OF Jayson Werth left last night's game with an oblique strain.
Padres P Chris Young has been placed on the DL with a broken nose after being hit by a line drive Wednesday.

The results from the most recent Baseball Happenings blogpoll have been posted. Josh Hamilton takes home the AL MVP this week, with Cliff Lee winning the AL Cy Young and Jacoby Ellsbury winning Rookie of the Year. Full results here. Here's the ballot I cast:

MVP:
1. Josh Hamilton
2. Kevin Youkilis
3. Carlos Quentin

Cy Young:
1. Cliff Lee
2. Daisuke Matsuzaka
3. Shaun Marcum

Rookies:
1. Greg Smith
2. Jacoby Ellsbury
3. David Murphy

Maybe I'm just an NL guy, but I think the NL Rookie of the Year race is far more interesting, with Fukudome, Geovany Soto and Jair Jurrjens, who Braves beat writer Dave O'Brien thinks might be the best rookie of them all.

Astros 3B Ty Wigginton is tough. But can his toughness be matched by a Houston Chronicle writer? Click here to find out!

Oh, and here's a story about the inaugral "All-you-can-eat day" at the Metrodome.

The Mug is off tomorrow, Sunday and Monday for the holiday weekend. Drink up.