Some things to read while looking for the perfect Scrabble word.

There's not exactly a litany of fresh stuff out there, but there is some more stuff about the managerial search: Tom H. says Willie Randolph interviewed yesterday and Buck Showalter is not a candidate. In-Between Hops has some tidbits and facts about Bob Brenly. Chuckie Hacks is still rooting for Ken Macha. There's an off-day during the World Series Friday, so it's possible the Brewers could request permission to announce a winner then.

In Seattle, some were predicting the Mariners would announce their new GM yesterday, but it didn't happen. There's also a rumor floating around that the Mariners will wait until after the World Series and interview retiring Phillies GM Pat Gillick. John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer squashed that one. U.S.S. Mariner likes all the options and just hopes the new GM will be allowed to clean house. Again, since an announcement wasn't made yesterday, Friday is the first day it could happen.

Mike Cameron leads the field of potential free agent center fielders. Brewed Sports is calling Cameron the free agent signing of the year. Certainly he was a better investment than one of those squirting flowers.

Remember the walk-off grand slam Ryan Braun hit against the Pirates this season? Want to re-live it over and over? Here's the iPhone commercial featuring it.

The World Series starts tonight, as you might have heard. I won't burn too much space here analyzing it, as I'm sure you've heard about it already. I will, though, point you to the only World Series preview I read, over at WhatIfSports.

Also worth noting: During the draft in Moneyball, Billy Beane is excited, to put it mildly, to see Scott Kazmir and Cole Hamels go off the board so he can draft Nick Swisher. Swisher is having a nice MLB career, to be sure, but Kazmir and Hamels will start game 1 of the World Series tonight.

Of course, on the bad decision scale Billy Beane is still light years behind Jim Bowden, who was diagnosed with skin cancer in June but waited to undergo treatment until this week, since he didn't want to miss a week of his job as GM of the National League's worst team. Here's hoping he doesn't end up regretting that one.

Here's a guy who will get a minor league deal somewhere and make it worth someone's time: the Rockies have released 2B Jayson Nix.

The youth movement continues in Cincinnati, as the Reds have extended offers for 2009 to David Weathers (38) and Jerry Hairston (32).

It's a study in contrast: Joe Posnanski shows how being willing to work harder than anyone else can pay off, and Home Run Derby shows that no matter how determined you are, if you can't run down stairs or climb a wall, you likely won't have much success as a streaker at Fenway Park.

Oh, and today is a Woot-off. I guess I know what I'm doing today (cleaning out my garage to make a home for more cheap electronics).

Drink up.

Well, here we are. I'm pulling out all the superstition stops today. I'm having a Nutrisoda and pumpkin pie for breakfast. Even Gorman is excited for an afternoon on the couch. I might even let him take the cone off his head for a bit.

It's Yovani Gallardo vs Cole Hamels at 2 today. Let's start with the previews and predictions:

• Another Baseball Blog has the Brewers at 46% to win the series.
• Baseball Digest Daily has three keys for victory for each team.
• Cardinals Diaspora has the Phillies in 5.
• The Good Phight has the Phillies winning in 4.
• Some guy named Jeff Sackmann predicted a Brewer victory over at The Hardball Times.
• Two other, less knowledgable guys predicted a Phillies win.
• Ken Rosenthal has the Phillies in 4.
• 8 of the 10 writers at MLB FanHouse have the Brewers winning. They're also staging a debate?
• MLB Playoff Odds has the Brewers at 45.7%.
• Peter Schmuck has the Brewers winning the series.
• I have no idea how betting on baseball works, but Results Disoriented has the Brewers at +190 today and +164 to win the series. Whatever that means.
• Rohan Chatterjee of Bugs & Cranks predicts the Phillies in 4.
• WhatIfSports gives the Brewers a 49% chance of winning the series.

Want to make your own predictions? Beyond the Box Score wants to hear them.

Still need tickets for Games 3 and 4? Big League Stew notes there are tickets available for trade on Craigslist, if you've got tickets to a Celine Dion concert or a tab of generic Viagra to give away. And if you're visiting Milwaukee and looking for food, Keith Law has some restaurant reviews for you.

Even if you don't have tickets, you can still follow the Brew Town Beat's postseason roadmap. Or you could follow the Brewers by reading Ryan Braun's postseason blog. By the way, Braun's errorless 2008 season made Umpbump's list of biggest surprises.

It doesn't look like Dale Sveum will be asking Ryan Braun or anyone else to bunt all that often in the postseason, as the small ball experiment is out. A rule against wasting outs in the postseason makes me feel better about the Brewers' chances.

Another thing that could help: Pat Burrell left BP yesterday with discomfort in his lower back. He'll be re-evaluated today.

It's time for the daily gathering of links about CC Sabathia. Jon Heyman has him second for NL MVP, behind Manny Ramirez. Marc Hulet of FanGraphs thinks the Brewers won this trade. MLB Trade Rumors says the Indians are leaning towards taking Michael Brantley as the PTBNL.

Then, on the other end of the postseason-usefulness spectrum, we have Ben Sheets. Sheets was left off the NLDS roster and revealed he has a torn muscle near his right elbow yesterday. The Brew Town Beat thanks Sheets for his efforts as a Brewer.

If you could have any first baseman in baseball for the 2009 season, where would you draft Prince Fielder? Baseball by Paul has him sixth.

Would you have guessed the best offense of any NL playoff team belongs to the Los Angeles Dodgers (of Los Angeles)? Me either.

On the coaching carousel: the Indians have fired bullpen coach Luis Isaac, who had been with the team since 1993. Hopefully he didn't punch anything on the way out, because apparently that can get expensive: The Padres are trying to recover some of Khalil Greene's salary after he missed about a third of the season with injuries sustained punching a storage cabinet.

Oh, and here's the Youtube video of Salomon Torres' speech from Monday's rally, which is now my second favorite Youtube video of the week, behind If I Were A Bond Girl.

Drink up. Then have another. See you back here at 2.

This isn't the first time Tom Goyne and I have traded q's and a's at the outset of a Brewers-Phillies series, but I'm pretty sure it's the awesomest.  (The series.  Not sure about the q's and a's.) 

Tom is the proprietor of Philly sports blog Balls, Sticks, and Stuff--technically not just a baseball site, but I think we won't be seeing a whole lot of Eagles coverage there for at least another week or so.

I've appointed Tom my official Phillies pitching expert, so he was kind enough to give us the rundown on what to expect from the guys who will be keeping Corey Hart off the basepaths.  (And yes--oh yes--putting Craig Counsell on.)  For Part 1, covering the Phillies offense, just scroll on down.  And look for Part 3 later on tonight.

BCB: No doubt about it, Hamels is a stud.  I'm surprised he hasn't gotten more attention in the Lincecum-fest that has been Cy Young handicapping.  Does he have any weaknesses Sveum might like to know about?  Is the potential righty-heaviness of the Brewers lineup a cause for concern?

Tom Goyne: I'm surprised he hasn't gotten a little more attention too, particularly given the way the media likes to belittle the Phillies little ballpark.  As for Hamels, if anything, left-handed batters give him more trouble that righties, probably because of his ridiculous change-up.  His only weakness is that he gets a little too excited sometimes in big games an overthrows a bit.  As long as he remains Cool Hand Cole, he'll be fine.

BCB: Moving on to Game 2, what's going on with Brett Myers?  He had a spectacular second half, but are you putting much weight on his less-spectacular September?

TG: At this point, Myers is a complete enigma.  He was routinely shelled the first half of the season, was sent down to the minors to get his head on straight (both figuratively and literally...  When Myers is going bad, his head flies towards first base as he releases the ball), came back and had a lights out second half until his last few starts.  He says he has it figured out, but with Brett you never can tell.  I'll say this:  Expect either a dominant performance or a putrid one.  There is very little in between with Brett.
 
BCB: Finally, Game 3: Jamie Moyer.  Is he doing something different this year?  I see he's keeping more balls in the park--is that just a fluke, or did a really old dog learn a new trick?

TG: Anecdotally and statistically, he throws a cutter more than he used to and he's added a fastball that sinks more [which means he has about 27 different types of fastballs he throws], resulting in more groundballs.  That has kept his home run rate down.  In addition, for reasons I can't explain right now, Citizens Bank Park has played more neutral this year than any other year in it's history, so that's helped him a bit too.

BCB: I hate to send you so many "are you worried about..." questions, but...Brad Lidge is your closer.  You are headed to the postseason. Discuss.

TG: Lidge's first few months with the Phillies were just lights out, he was untouchable.  The Phillies rewarded him with a contract extension and after that, he seemed to lose a little of his edge.  Don't misunderstand, he never did blow a save and rarely gave up a run, but the saves could get a little dicey at times.  Saturday was a little more dicey than usual, but that is the type of thing that has happened.  In the final analysis though, there are things I worry about before Lidge.  The Bridge to Lidge as we say is a little more scary as those relievers were used heavily all year long.
 
BCB: Here's another fun one: If Hamels or Myers is blown out, or gets hurt, or whatever, and the Phillies need to come up with 6+ innings of relief to keep them in the ballgame, what should Charlie Manuel do?

TG: It depends.  If J.A. Happ makes the post-season roster, I expect he will be used as the long man.  He's had a pretty good run with the Phillies as a rookie and I think he'd be their best chance to keep them in a game.  Otherwise, you'd hope to get two innings out of Clay Condrey or Chad Durbin, then two from Ryan Madson, maybe one from J.C. Romero, and then one out of Brad Lidge.
 
BCB: I'll send your question back at you: Care you make any predictions?

TG: I hate to do this, but I think the Phillies will do pretty well against the Brewers, mainly because the Brewers' rotation is in disarray.  I'm already mad at myself for saying that, but time will tell...

BCB: Thanks, Tom!  We're a firm believer in jinxes here at Brew Crew Ball, so we agree.  You should be mad at yourself.

Two more celebration threads have been posted since yesterday, so swing by Kirbir's blog and Two-Fisted Slopper if you've still got some exuberance you need to get out.

Apparently 14,000 people still had some exuberance left yesterday afternoon, and attended the Brewer pep rally at the Summerfest grounds. Click the link for video. Big League Stew has the Brewers' postseason bid acceptance speech.

So Yovani Gallardo gets the ball in the biggest start of his life tomorrow afternoon. I guess that means this shirt, which was only sent to me yesterday, is already obsolete. The Phillies have named their first three starters: Cole Hamels, Brett Myers and Jamie Moyer.

While the grounds crew paints fancy logos on the field at Citizens Bank Park, pundits around the web are making their predictions for the series:

• Baseball Musings gives the Phillies a 75% chance to win.
• Scott Miller predicts the Phillies win in 4.
• Tim Kurkijian predicts the Phillies will win in 5.
• The mayor of Milwaukee has bet some Usinger's brats on the Brewers.

I recognize it's the playoffs and anything can happen, but anyone who picks the Phillies in 5 needs to remember that a game 5 Phillies win would have to come against CC Sabathia...and if the Brewers get to a game 5 with CC on the mound, I like their chances.

It's time for your daily collection of links about CC Sabathia:

• Mike Greenberg still thinks Sabathia is the NL MVP.
• Beyond the Box Score says Sabathia's performance is one of the best by a pitcher since 1996.
• Al notes that Sabathia's 7 complete games for the Brewers were more than any other NL team had this season.
• Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says the Indians are close to picking the PTBNL.

Dave Cameron of FanGraphs has a look at the Brewers' path to victory.

The Southpaw says Doug Melvin should win Executive of the Year. Not bad for a guy an awful lot of us were ready to can a week ago.

The Junkball Blues takes a look at NL relievers and the leads they successfully converted. The things you probably know: Salomon Torres isn't exactly an elite closer, but Brian Shouse consistently converts leads. The thing you might not have realized: Carlos Villanueva was about as effective as anyone in the bullpen this year.

Via BBTF, I found this story about a musician who won't be invited back to play at Brewer games, but can't figure out why. After all, all he did was play "Go Cubs Go" after a Cub win at Miller Park. His quote: Someone should tell him the reason, then kick him in the balls.

So far, all 30 MLB teams appear to be keeping their managers, but the coaching carousel did spin a little more yesterday: the Padres need a new hitting coach and a bench coach, the Pirates are shopping for a first base coach and a pitching coach, and the Rangers are in the market for a bench coach and third base coach.

Also, we had the first "offseason" signing. A quick recap:

Kyle Lohse, 2006: 5-10 in 34 games (19 starts), 78 ERA+
Kyle Lohse, 2007: 9-12 in 34 games (32 starts), 100 ERA+
Kyle Lohse, 2008: 15-6 in 33 games (all starts), 113 ERA+
Kyle Lohse, yesterday: signed a 4 year, $41 million dollar deal with the Cardinals and laughed all the way to the same bank Carlos Silva probably uses.

One of the things about reading over 200 blogs daily is that I see a lot of opportunities to enter prediction contests, and sometimes I take them, even if it's something I don't know all that much about. For example, I recently missed by 2 in the contest to predict Kila Ka'aihue's 2008 plate appearances. Usually, I forget about them. So I was surprised to discover I almost won True Blue LA's Dodger prediction challenge. I'm also reminded that I never thought to look up the final results on our own BCB over-under contests. I'll add that to my list for today.

Oh, and by all accounts we've got a pretty cool owner, but this quote from Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg makes me feel like they've got a pretty interesting owner, too: Drink up.

Wow. Just wow.

Friday:
Brewers 5, Cubs 1
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Marlins 6, Mets 1
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Saturday:
Cubs 7, Brewers 3
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Mets 2, Marlins 0
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Sunday:
Brewers 3, Cubs 1
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Marlins 4, Brewers 2
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2008 Milwaukee Brewers, winners of the NL Wild Card. You can get your Wild Card gear here, but I'm saving my budget and waiting to see if there's NL Champion or even World Series Champion gear yet to come.

Of course, just about every Brewer blog under the sun (and some non-Brewer blogs) has a celebratory post today, and since I'm in a celebratory mood, I'm going to link them all:

• Adam Charles of Bugs and Cranks
• Another Baseball Blog
• Babes Love Baseball
• Brewers Bar
• Bernie's Crew
• Brewed Sports
• The Brew Town Beat
• Chuckie Hacks
• Fire Ned Yost
• The Griddle
• The Junkball Blues
• Viva Cerveceros
• The Yost Infection

45,299 fans were there to see it yesterday, giving the Brewers a season total of 3,068,458. Of course, if that wasn't enough celebration for you, you can celebrate with the team from 4-8 today at the Summerfest grounds. I wish I could.

I'm not going to link to every photo shot at yesterday's game, although I could. Instead, I'll give you my favorite three, and you can click through to any of them and scroll through the rest if you want.

After the game, Tom H. got quotes from Doug Melvin, Ben Sheets, Dale Sveum, Dave Bush and Craig Counsell.

Ok, let's talk about CC Sabathia for a moment. Ken Rosenthal talked to him after the game about pitching on short rest and everything he's done to help this team win. Scott Miller says Sabathia delivered a postseason to Milwaukee. Rosenthal ranked Sabathia 4th on his NL MVP ballot (and ranked Doug Melvin 3rd for Executive of the Year). Rosenthal has apparently been typing non-stop since the end of action yesterday, because he also wrote that the bold move of firing Ned Yost paid off.

At most recent count, Ryan Braun ranks seventh in the voting for NL MVP over at Beyond the Box Score. Go cast your vote. Meanwhile, The Hardball Times noted a lot more Braun jerseys than Fielders in the crowd at Miller Park. I own a Braun jersey too, but not a Fielder, mainly because I know Braun will still be a Brewer for a few more years.

Remember when we all signed up to pee our pants if the Brewers made the playoffs? I don't remember if I signed up or not, but I'm not ruining my pants. Here's a youtube video of someone who actually did.

Two-Fisted Slopper wonders if everything has happened for a reason, and all the terrible play Wes Helms showed in Milwaukee was just part of the building process towards his home run for the Marlins yesterday.

So now, the Phillies. Cole Hamels will pitch Game One on Wednesday. Todd Zolecki of the Philadelphia Inquirer is my favorite Phillies blogger, and he has a quick series preview here and a quick analysis of the Brewer pitching staff here.

MLB Playoff Odds has the Brewers at 45.7% to win their series with the Phillies, 20.5% to win the NLCS and 9.4% to win the World Series. All three of those numbers are the lowest among the 4 NL playoff teams. Jon Heyman is predicting a Cubs World Series win. I'm predicting I'll get a few more opportunities this year to roll my eyes while linking a Jon Heyman column. In other predictions: Crawfish Boxes has the Phillies winning in the first round, and Purple Row has the Brewers losing to the Rays in the World Series.

If the Brewers/Phillies matchup isn't intriguing enough for you, The Junkball Blues handicaps the 2008 Brewers/1982 Brewers matchup.

Phil Rogers ranked the Brewers 6th in his new power rankings.

On injuries:

Rocco Baldelli was reported to have muscular dystrophy over the weekend, but has since denied it.
Josh Beckett strained an oblique muscle while throwing a side session and won't pitch until at least game 3 of the ALDS.
Francisco Cordero had surgery over the weekend to remove a bone spur from his right foot. He was able to do it this early because he plays on a team that didn't make the playoffs.
Dodgers RP Hong-Chih Kuo will be left off the NLDS roster with numbness in his fingers.
Giants SP Noah Lowry will undergo surgery to remove a bone spur in his elbow.

So now, for the first time in 26 years, we as Brewer fans get to try to re-work our schedules to catch must-see baseball games at bizarre times in the afternoon on a work day. Bugs & Cranks has an open letter to baseball regarding the situation (potentially NSFW language).

The end of the regular season also means the coaching carousel is in full swing. So far, I haven't heard about any managers moving on, but the Tigers fired their pitching and bullpen coaches, the Nationals fired five coaches from their staff after losing 102 games, and the winds of change are starting to blow in Texas. Joe Torre's job is probably safe in Los Angeles, even though Nomar Garciaparra managed yesterday's game.

Speaking of Torre, he's one of three current MLB managers The Hardball Times thinks are locks for the Hall of Fame.

Jayson Stark has his Year in Review up. I could give or take most of his award voting, but the quirky quotes and box score lines make it a must read if you're as nerdy as I am.

Among players over 24 years old, Russell Branyan had the highest MLE (Major League Equivalent) stat line this season. Second place fell to Nelson Cruz.

So Cliff Lee was scratched from the final game of the season yesterday, giving him 22 wins to finish the season and an almost certain AL Cy Young. Tangotiger wants to know what you think he's worth. I know most people will pay him more, but I had a hard time cracking $10 mil/year for a guy who's only had one good season.

Oh, and Brad Nelson and Joe Dillon are probably more concerned with their current jobs, but Baseball Analysts says they'd be candidates to spend 2009 in Japan.

Drink up.

After the debut of big lefty Evan Frederickson, I'm excited to have another pitcher of similar imposing stature and handedness in the organization. Daniel Meadows is a 6'6", 230 lb. pitcher from Temple College, a junior college in Texas, where he posted a 58/12 K/BB in 59.7 innings this year. He was the second-last draft pick by the Brewers, but he's still (tied for) first in our hearts.

BCB: So you just got to Arizona today [Thursday, 6/19]?

DM: Yeah, I flew in this morning, and I haven’t stopped since. The head trainer picked me up and took me to the doc for a physical.

BCB: You signed a week ago, right?

DM: Yeah, Monday night, at my house.

BCB: What did you do in the interim? How come you didn't go right away?

DM: There were some things I needed to take care of at home, and that’s when they scheduled the flight.

BCB: Do you know yet if you'll be going to Helena?

DM: Nope, tomorrow is my first day of workouts in Arizona.

BCB: Do you know any of your new teammates?

DM: Nope, didn't meet anyone today who spoke English. (laughs)

BCB: Did you know anyone who got drafted this year?

DM: Yeah, quite a few who I’ve played with over the years.

BCB: Who’s the best?

DM: I'd have to say Jose Duran, who was drafted by the Brewers in the sixth round. I played against him my freshman year in college, and seeing by what he did this year, the kid can flat out play.

BCB: Can you give us a little bit of a scouting report on him?

DM: He can pick it with the best of them, and his swing has gotten a lot better. He’s just a ballplayer.

BCB: So you think he'll stick at short then?

DM: I'm not sure; I know he probably pans out as a middle infield guy. Second or short, doesn’t really matter.

BCB: Who was the best pro prospect on your Temple team this year? It looks like Tristan Gaines had some pretty good numbers.

DM: Yeah, he had pretty good numbers, but he wasn’t drafted.

BCB: Did being the only player drafted from your team surprise you?

DM: A little bit; I think if there was going to be anyone else drafted, it would have been Tristan.

BCB: Where is he going to play next year?

DM: [University of Texas]-Pan American.

BCB: Pan-American, just like your new teammates.

DM: (laughs) True, true.

BCB: So tell us a little about what you throw.

DM: Fastball, changeup, and they project my slider to be my best pitch. I just started throwing it late spring.

BCB: How hard do you throw?

DM: Mid- to upper-80's. Around 90 on a good day.

BCB: Do they project you to add any velocity, or have they suggested any mechanical tweaks to increase it?

DM: No, probably just hit the weight room and get a good throwing program going.

BCB: What kind of break does your slider have?

DM: It’s 80 to 84, moves like a slider, I guess.

BCB: The Brewers drafted another big lefthander near the top of the draft, Evan Frederickson. Do you know anything about him?

DM: Yeah, he was at the pre-draft workout with me, and he just blew away the radar guns, reportedly throwing 96 to 98; had pretty decent off-speed stuff from what I remember.

BCB: Having worked out for them, you knew the Brewers were interested in you; what other teams were?

DM: The Brewers were it.

BCB: Were you nervous once it got to the 49th round?

DM: Not really. I had listened to the draft all day and gave up around the 45th or 46th round and quit listening. I found out when my phone started ringing off the hook.

BCB: Was it a tough decision between the Brewers and Texas Tech?

DM: Yes it was, but the Brewers made a great offer I couldn’t pass up, so I figured I would go ahead and chase my childhood dream.

BCB: What was your bonus?

DM: 100% of two years of school and $11,000.

BCB: Do you plan on going to school in the offseason?

DM: Hell no. I'll go back when I’m done.

BCB: You're a baseball player now!

DM: Yes sir, I’m on permanent summer.

BCB: So where are you from?

DM: Katy, Texas, outside of Houston.

BCB: Were you an Astros fan growing up?

DM: Still am, I love the Astros. I’ve been going to games ever since I can remember.

BCB: Well, at least it's not the Cubs, I suppose.

DM: (laughs) No one likes the Cubs.

BCB: In your dreams, you probably imagined pitching in the big leagues at Minute Maid--just not for the visiting team. Think that would be hard for you?

DM: No, not at all, that would be a blast.

BCB: Who's your favorite Astro of all time?

DM: Either Bagwell or Biggio. I'd have to say Biggio.

BCB: Is there a major league pitcher you pattern yourself after?

DM: Definitely Andy Pettitte. I also really like watching Cole Hamels.

BCB: The Brewers love changeups. I'm sure they would be thrilled if you pitched like Cole Hamels.

DM: (laughs) Yeah, he's pretty stinkin’ good.

BCB: One more thing: Dan or Daniel?

DM: Daniel. [Dan] is just what the scout who drafted me called me all the time.

BCB: Is there anything else you want Brewers fans to know about you?

DM: Nope, not really, just that I’m excited to get this all started and try to move up as quick as I can.

BCB: Well, good luck, we'll be cheering for you.

DM: All right, thanks.