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, the Brewers are 1-0 now in the Gagne shutdown era, just saying...

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

Defensive Indifference thinks the decision to leave Ben Sheets in to throw 120+ pitches and finish the game last night was the wrong call. I'm not sure where I stand on it. I guess we'll see the results in 5 days.

Brewers Bar has raised a straw man and beaten the crap out of it, saying that "many people" feel race was a factor in the Brewers decision to sign Ryan Braun to a long term contract before Prince Fielder. Does anyone out there know anyone who thinks that? I don't. I'm listing Scott Boras as the primary factor.

I've heard a lot of theories this spring on why Eric Gagne isn't pitching well. I've heard his glasses fog up, he misses HGH and/or steroids, his breaking stuff isn't as good, etc. But this theory is new. Perhaps Eric Gagne...is Fidel Castro?

On injuries:

Moises Alou left yesterday's game with a cramp in his calf.
Angels IF Erick Aybar is on the DL after dislocating his right pinky finger.
Mets OF Ryan Church and Braves IF Yunel Escobar missed yesterday's action following a collision Tuesday.
Tigers P Clay Rapada has been placed on the DL with biceps tendinitis.

If Doug Melvin is looking for relief pitching, a couple of options might be available: The Mariners DFA'd Cha Seung Baek and the Rangers DFA'd Franklyn German yesterday. Here are the BR pages for Baek and German. We could do much worse. For example, we could sign Ray King, who appeared on Baseball Tonight last night to discuss what it's like to pitch overweight.

Every now and then we have a conversation around here about what the JS and other outlets would look like if the people who covered the Brewers weren't afraid to be all-out negative. If you really want to see how the other half lives on this one, go back and click on the first link about Cha Seung Baek, and read some of Geoff Baker's other work, as well. Someone needs to talk him off the ledge.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz says the Astros are ready to compete. Admittedly, he works for the Houston Chronicle, so he's probably a little biased, but they're certainly better than most expected.

Soapbox time: If you've read the Mug more than 3 consecutive days, ever, you know I'm not a fan of Dayn Perry. Here's the first two paragraphs from his most recent column. I've added the bolding: So the Cubs hot start is only significant because it's been 100 years? No Dayn, you're wrong. The Cubs are significant because they're significantly overachieving, on pace to win 101 games, lead a division with two surprisingly successful teams and they just might have first and second place in the final balloting for NL Rookie of the Year. It's almost Memorial Day, Dayn, can we shut up about curses for five minutes and just cover the game on the field?

Oh, and here's a 1997 Marlins World Series Ring on Ebay.

Drink up.