Here's a promise: The Frosty Mug will never be delayed to allow a half-hour national political ad. Ever.

In Arizona: Taylor Green went 1-for-4 with a walk, Lorenzo Cain went 2-for-5 but was caught stealing, Brae Wright struck out the side and pitched a perfect inning for his third hold, and David Welch retired the last batter to pick up his first save as the Javelinas defeated Mesa, 6-4. Lou Palmisano went 0-for-2 with a walk for the Solar Sox before being replaced by a pinch runner, caught Lorenzo Cain stealing and committed a throwing error.

The Javelinas host Mesa today at 2:35.

In Hawai'i: Logan Schafer went 0-for-2 with two walks, Caleb Gindl went 1-for-3 with a run scored and Mike Ramlow allowed two runs on two hits in one inning of work as the CaneFires defeated Honolulu 7-2 in 7 innings.

The CaneFires host Honolulu again at 8 tonight.

In Mexico: Erasmo Ramirez gave up a hit that allowed inherited runners to score and was credited with his second blown save, but he also pitched a scoreless third of an inning for his first win as the Algodoneros defeated Hermosillo, 7-6.

In Venezuela: Four Brewers debuted on Opening Day in the Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional. Amazingly, all of them have individual stats even though no one has a box score. Correction: These stats are from Tuesday's action. Wednesday's results will be in Friday's Frosty Mug. Have I mentioned I'm an idiot and I write the Mug before coffee? Brewer appearances Tuesday:

• Brendan Katin went 1-for-5 with his first HR for Zulia.
• Jay Gibbons went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts but walked and scored a run for Magallanes.
• Also for Magallanes, Tony Gwynn went 1-for-5 with a K.
• Hernan Iribarren went 1-for-2 with a double and two walks for Lara.

I feel like this is the 50th time I've said it shouldn't be long before the managerial situation is resolved. If it gets resolved yet this week and Doug Melvin finally agrees to an extension, items 1 and 2 will be crossed off the postseason to do list.

Welcome to day ten of another full offseason spent debating the merits of Rickie Weeks. Today, The Junkball Blues notes that Weeks turned about the number of double plays that would be expected from someone who spent the same number of innings at second base. That's fine, but the argument doesn't hold water because continued failure to convert routine double plays is something I can observe with my eyes.

Beyond the Box Score ranked Mike Cameron as the 12th best CF in 2008. Also worth noting from that article: I don't think I've ever seen anything, positive or negative, written about Nate McLouth's defense, but he somehow managed to cost the Pirates 16 runs in the field this season.

Would that be enough to keep him off the all-NM team? It's hard to say. Batter's Box Interactive has issued a challenge to build the best possible historical team using only players with the same syllables initials. (Related note: My IQ today is under 10.) Jay, this strikes me as being right in your wheelhouse.

I don't think an RY team would be very competitive, even if Seamheads did rank Robin Yount the fourth greatest shortstop of all time.

Bird Land has a poll to determine which four faces belong on the Cardinals' Mt. Rushmore. That got me thinking: are there four Brewers worthy of such an honor? Let's hear your nominees in the comments, and if there's interest I'll put a poll together at a later date.

No nominations will be accepted for Craig Counsell. FanGraphs thinks it's time for Craig Counsell to start working on the "future manager" part of his career.

Does any sport have more byzantine roster rules than baseball? I'm still trying to figure out who's eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, and now also trying to understand free agent quotas. The latter doesn't sound like it'll come into play this offseason, but it still belongs alongside Super 2's and the aforementioned Rule 5 Draft on the confusing rule Mt. Rushmore.

So the Mariners have named the three finalists for their GM position, meaning it's probably safe to assume we'll get to keep Jack Z. for at least another year.

Should the Brewers have sported mohawks for the NLDS? It's one of the many non-plausible explanations for the Rays' playoff success despite their lack of playoff experience. Lookout Landing has a post and some stats on players with (and without) playoff experience and their performances in 2008.

If you're getting a busy signal, that means three people are calling his phone at once: Josh Phelps is a free agent after being let go by the Cardinals yesterday. There are worse platoon guys out there.

Goat Riders of the Apocalypse thinks the Cubs should replace Kosuke Fukudome with Milton Bradley, who could combine with Carlos Zambrano to form some kind of hot-headed Voltron.

Leo Mazzone is back to looking for work as a pitching coach after taking 2008 off. Click the link to read a quote where he buries the Orioles organization.

Oh, and this story about Joe Posnanski's email being hacked is 15 minutes of your life you'll never want back.

Drink up.

Some things to read while you're waiting for John Hodgman's new book to come out.

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

Notable by his absence over the weekend: Mike Cameron, who missed Saturday and Sunday's games with a sore knee. Of course, no one expects it to be serious, etc, etc.

Also notable by its absence: Prince Fielder's power. It's now been 21 games since he's hit a HR. He's hitting .167/.272/.179 during that stretch, and has more HBP (2) than doubles (1).

And of course, the days immediately after he gave up a first inning grand slam are an easy time to say you never believed in Dave Bush.

But then again, some Brewers performed pretty well this weekend. Ben Sheets, for one, fulfilled the prophecy posted at In-Between Hops. And Brian Shouse earned a new immortalization as well. (h/t Bugs & Cranks)

Not everyone is happy with the way Sheets was used on Saturday, however. Baseball Musings has been especially down on Ned Yost this weekend, criticizing him here for leaving Sheets in to throw 120 pitches on Saturday immediately following an injury, and here for both allowing Gagne to blow the save Friday night and asking Corey Hart to bunt in the 10th.

But, as Baseball Analysts note, the entire NL Central is scuffling. Perhaps the Brewers need to hear "The Kids Are All Right," their Hardball Times-assigned team theme song.

Ken Rosenthal says, among other things, that Ryan Braun could win the NL MVP if the Brewers get hot down the stretch and Albert Pujols' performance doesn't hold up.

Also from Rosenthal, via MLB Trade Rumors: the Brewers could look to trade Prince or J.J. Hardy this offseason to bolster their pitching staff. Unless a fantastic deal comes along, I'm opposed to either or both moves.

Despite what I think everyone would call a pretty rough week, the Brewers moved up to third in the most recent Whatifsports power rankings. The Crew dropped a spot from fifth to sixth in Phil Rogers' rankings.

Mat Gamel and Alcides Escobar have both been named to Baseball America's Minor League All Star Team, joining former teammate Matt LaPorta.

In another minor note, Brewerfan.net has the updated list of Brewer prospects headed to the Arizona Fall League and Hawaiian Winter League.

And finally, in an even more minor note, the Brewers signed Mike Lamb. Still not sure why.

On injuries:

Mariners C Jeff Clement is done for 2008 and will have surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
Padres OF Jody Gerut strained a ligament in his middle finger almost 2 weeks ago, but it's not healing.
Nate McLouth was struck near his left eye while diving for a ball in the fourth inning yesterday and required stitches.
Mariners FA bust SP Carlos Silva was scratched from yesterday's scheduled start with a stiff back.
Indians SP Jake Westbrook is done for the season after undergoing surgery on his hip. He'll be on crutches for 4 weeks.

If you skipped over the Nate McLouth link above, you may also not know that McLouth is only the seventh Pirate in the 126-year history of the franchise to hit 20 HR and steal 20 bases. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to keep the Pirates from ensuring their 16th straight losing season.

Perhaps the most unusual batting line of the season occured Friday night when the A's played the Orioles. Rajai Davis entered the game as a pinch runner in the 8th, but later came up to bat again and hit a grand slam.

Oh, and the digital TV transition might have some unexpected effects in prisons.

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.

The Pirates may be ahead of us in the standings, and the Brewers are something like 4-83 against them in the last decade, but after playing the Red Sox, I'm glad to head to Pittsburgh.  The Pirates are 21-23, still respectable past the one-quarter mark, and they've got a new front office team.  Are we witnessing the turning point for the Bucs?

Charlie writes the SBN Pirates site Bucs Dugout, and he was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions for us.  I also answered some of his questions, which are here.

Q: I didn't expect to be in this situation in mid-May, but the Brewers are looking up in the standings at the Pirates.  That probably says more about Milwaukee's season so far than Pittsburgh's, but still, you guys are hovering around the .500 mark without a whole lot of obvious reasons why.  What has kept the Pirates hanging in there so far?

A: Mostly just good starts by four players: Nate McLouth, Ryan Doumit, Xavier Nady and Jason Bay. These starts are mostly for real, but Doumit is now injured. The Pirates' pitching staff and defense are complete messes and the team doesn't have much depth at any position except outfield. I wouldn't sweat it if I were you -- the Bucs and Brewers will switch places before long.

Q: Sometimes a new manager is better than an experienced manager--just ask any Brewers fan.  What's your take on John Russell so far?

A: Well, just about anyone can make Jim Tracy look good.  Russell makes a lot of dubious tactical decisions -- he leaves starting pitchers in for too long, he bats Luis Rivas second, and so on. Unlike Tracy, though, Russell has been spot on with the big decisions: Tracy absurdly preferred Nyjer Morgan to McLouth and Ronny Paulino to Doumit, but Russell got those decisions right. How close would the Pirates be to .500 without McLouth and Doumit? Not very. I'm inclined to cut Russell a break for a while. His most important job with the Pirates, at least for the next couple years, will be finding out that the McLouths and Doumits can play, and so far he's done that.

Q: Here's a fun fact, courtesy of Baseball-Reference: the Pirates have the best-hitting outfield in the NL, along with the worst hitting infield.  Big contributors are, obviously, Nate McLouth's hot start and Brian Bixler's imitation of a blogger in his mother's basement, but there's more to it than that.  Do you see this continuing throughout the season, or will guys like LaRoche and Sanchez start hitting like the major leaguers they purportedly are?

A: LaRoche and Sanchez always make me nervous because their successes always seem so precarious. LaRoche has a long swing and tends not only to slump for prolonged periods, but to look completely clueless when he does. Sanchez's struggles to start the year have more to do with his shoulder troubles than anything else, but he always seems to be one awkward throw from a long DL stint. Yes, these guys should play better, but it's far from a foregone conclusion that they actually will.

Q: Presumably, the Pirates are going to find themselves as a "seller" in July.  Do you think the new front office will approach trading season differently than their predecessors?  What should they spend that time doing?

A: If you're asking whether I think they'll demand ridiculous returns for mediocre players, turn down Ryan Howard for Kris Benson, and settle for Ty Wigginton at the last second, then the answer is no.  They haven't made any major trades yet, so I don't know exactly what they'll do, but I assume they'll look for young guys, especially young pitchers. Since new GM Neal Huntington isn't really responsible for the roster as it exists now, I also assume he won't have any problem admitting that the current core of players isn't getting it done. I'll be disappointed if the Pirates don't make at least a couple of major trades, and I assume that Nady, Bay and a reliever or two will all be gone.

Q: The Pirates weren't exactly lauded for picking Daniel Moskos with the 4th overall selection in last year's draft, but that hardly means he's the second coming of Matt Morris.  How's he coming along, and how do you feel about that pick, almost a year later?

A: The new front office moved him back to the rotation, where he's been unimpressive so far, pitching in High-A with an ERA in the mid-fours, a bunch of unearned runs, and a mediocre strikeout rate. I can't fault the Pirates for letting him start until he proves he can't, but I saw him start for Clemson almost immediately after he was drafted, and I don't think he has the stuff to succeed there. His breaking ball was pedestrian and his fastball topped out at 92 or so. It was just an inexplicable, terrible pick.

Thanks, Charlie!