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.

Ok, I think my hiatus is done. I've gone on vacation, I've moved, and last night I got home from 5 days in Denver. And somehow, I managed to schedule my return for the biggest Brewer news day of the season.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

First, if you haven't seen them yet, the specifics of the trade: In exchange for a 3 month rental of C.C. Sabathia and the increased potential of a long playoff run, the Brewers are giving up Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson and West Virginia reliever Rob Bryson. They will likely also add Brevard Co. 3B Taylor Green.

Of course, some people have written about this:

Baseball Intellect has a nice overview of the trade, complete with a review of Sabathia's stuff, if you're not familiar with him.
In-Between Hops likes the move.
Phil Rogers says it's time to take the Brewers seriously again...so he ranks them behind All-Star arguments in his most recent power poll.
Thomas Wayne of Dugout Central pulls out the smallest possible sample size and says the Sabathia move won't help the Brewers, based on his 7+ ERA in four career postseason starts.

I think the most interesting Sabathia conversation has yet to start, though: Who does he replace in the rotation? Assuming Sheets and Suppan are safe, and Dave Bush is similarly safe based on his recent performances and Ned Yost's man-crush on him, then we're down to Seth McClung and Manny Parra. In the Fanposts, Badgermaniac suggests platooning them. What do you think?

A semi-related note: The Biz of Baseball has made a list of six GMs on the hot seat. If this move doesn't work out and Doug Melvin traded a large chunk of the future for a 3 month rental on a team that misses the playoffs, he'll likely be on lists like that next season.

Also, while I doubt he'll slide directly into Sabathia's spot in the rotation, the Indians signed Jeff Weaver yesterday.

Are the Brewers done dealing? Buster Olney, via The Brew Town Beat, says the answer may be no. They're reportedly still talking to the Padres about Randy Wolf and Greg Maddux.

Somehow overshadowed in all of this: The Brewers finished a 3-game sweep of the Pirates yesterday, and J.J. Hardy is hitting .468/.507/1.000 in his last 15 games with 9 doubles, 8 HR and 19 RBI.

All told, the last 24 hours have certainly been more interesting than sitting on the roof.

On injuries:

Braves reliever Manny Acosta injured his hamstring running out a sac bunt and has been DL'ed.
Braves P Jeff Bennett is on the DL after injuring himself throwing to first.
Lance Berkman missed yesterday's game with what sounds like a pretty nasty eye condition.
A's SS Bobby Crosby is on the DL with a strained hamstring.
D-Backs RP Juan Cruz is on the DL with a strained oblique.
Johnny Damon is on the DL for the first time in his career after injuring his shoulder colliding with the wall Friday.
Nats OF Elijah Dukes will be out 4-6 weeks after having arthroscopic surgery to repair damage to his patella.
Phillies reliever Tom Gordon is on the DL with elbow inflammation.
Orlando Hernandez pitched four rehab innings yesterday. It's unclear whether he threw the banana.
Reds OF Norris Hopper will miss the rest of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Braves IF Omar Infante is on the DL with a strained hamstring
Roy Oswalt's next start is being pushed back to give him time to recover from pain in his hip.
Troy Tulowitzki is on the DL after breaking a maple bat against the wall and slicing open his hand.

A quick maple bat story: Saturday night I attended my first game at Coors Field (worth seeing if you're in Denver, but don't go out of your way to get there). I was nearly reduced to tears by the inane conversation of two young women behind me, who showed incredible perseverance by hanging in there through 3 full hours and two rain showers despite the fact that they had almost no idea a game was going on. Some examples from their conversation, when they weren't too busy talking about drinks, hookups and drugs: The Rockies were up 8-0 at the time. The following quote came after a home run was inadvertently knocked back onto the field by a fan trying to make the catch: But, in the middle of all of that mess, they also said this: My point: Even the ditziest blonde in Denver recognizes the problems with maple bats. Major League Baseball, however, still says the matter needs more research.

Stories like this put our pitching conversations into perspective: Mark Mulder is starting for the Cardinals again.

The Phillies have taken an opportunity to drive up the price of closers, and rewarded Brad Lidge's half-season of effective bullpen work with a 3-year, $37.5 million extension.

Oh, and by the way, I hate the X-Games with the fire of a thousand suns, but I love Darkmane.

Drink up.

If you're like me, you haven't spent a lot of time this season thinking about the Washington Nationals.  But that doesn't mean they're not an interesting team--quite the contrary.  As Brewers fans well know, losing teams can have a lot going for them, and the Nationals have more than their fair share of promising youngsters and surprising (well, somewhat) veterans.

To help introduce us to this team, I turned to Cathy of Miss Chatter, an excellent Nats blog.  Here's what she had to say:

Q: Usually I start with something more general, but I can't restrain my curiosity.  Jesus Flores, last year's Rule 5 pick, has been filling in at catcher, and now I read that he may keep getting playing time when Paul Lo Duca returns.  Tell us about Flores -- what are your impressions so far, and do you think he's ready to leave the minors behind for good?

A: Jesus Flores has worked out wonderfully for a rule 5 pick. He was respectable as Brian Schneider's backup all last season, and since he's come up this season with Paul Lo Duca on the DL, he's made it hard to send him back to the minors. I think he's proven he can hit at the major league level and the pitchers have raved about his game-calling skills. The pitching coach (Randy St. Claire) and manager Manny Acta praise how he sticks to the game plan. I would far rather have him and Wil Nieves as backup than Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada, who haven't been hitting and can't seem to throw runners out (but Lo Duca does give juicy quotes). If this season is all about giving the younger guys a shot and seeing what shakes out, why not? I guess there's about six million dollars tied up in the other contracts why not.

Q: Speaking of youngsters from other organizations, how are Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes fitting in?  Something must be working, because they seem to have been controversy-free for quite a while now.

A: Yes, Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge have been controversy free so far. Dukes has an ex-cop assigned to him 24 hours a day as a mentor, counselor, and friendly ear. He's wrapped up all his court appearances and community service time, so hopefully he can dedicate himself to the team and baseball without any distractions. I think for both of them, a lot of it was getting them out of the environment they were in, although the transgressions of the two aren't really comparable. It'll be interesting to see if Dukes can stay out of trouble and turn his season around at the plate. We haven't yet seen the raw power and stroke Jim Bowden raved about when he took a chance on him. Milledge seems to have a hoot of a personality and I have no issues with that - in fact, I was impressed he high fived fans.

Q: I would understand if you had a negative view of the Brewers, since the Milwaukee alums in your organization this year are Johnny Estrada and Ray King.  Really, I swear they were overweight and ineffective before we got them.  Do you think Estrada was worth picking up, and do you wish (as I do) that Ray King would pitch as long as Jesse Orosco did?

A: Ha, thanks for them! No, I absolutely don't think Johnny Estrada was worth picking up, but at the time, who knew Wil Nieves would have a breakout season as a backup catcher? Plus, Estrada was recovering from elbow surgery when he was signed and he's still sidelined and on the DL due to that. It's a shame that Ray King was let go, but as a lefty specialist who wasn't particularly effective with right-handed batters, the Nats didn't have room for him on the roster. For the first several weeks, our starters couldn't get more than 5 or 6 innings in before turning things over to the bullpen and we needed more long relief. Ray King recently said he'd like to do sports commentary or play by play and I heard he was on Baseball Tonight the other day. I wish I had caught that! (I haven't yet found a YouTube or Red Lasso of the segment).

Q: Over the weekend, the Brewers are going to face Odalis Perez, John Lannan, and Tim Redding, all of whom have pitched quite well so far this year.  Can you give us an idea about what to expect from these guys?

A: I can't tell you much about Odalis Perez other than he's pitched above expectations so far. I expected Tim Redding to do well based on the last half of last season and he seemed pretty confident in the off-season that he would win a spot in the rotation. He's proved he deserved it. John Lannan is an awesome story unless you're a Phillies fan (he broke Chase Utley's hand hitting him with a pitch in his debut last year and was ejected from the game). Lannan keeps his cool and focus at a level far beyond his years and experience. All of them are more control pitchers than flame throwers.

Q: To wrap up, let's go big picture.  Jim Bowden has always gotten mixed reviews as a GM, but I've been impressed with the job he's done amassing youngsters and putting together a passable pitching staff on the cheap.  Do you think the Nats are on the road to contending in the near future--if not, what has to change to get them pointed in that direction?

A: Baseball is a funny thing - a constantly changing beast. Expectations constantly shift due to injuries, slumps, etc. I would like to think the Nationals will be ready to contend in two years based on "The Plan", but they still have some holes in the farm system, particularly in the infield. The future pitching is shaping up to be ready in two years, if not sooner, plus the outfield has plenty of options. Ryan Zimmerman will hopefully be entrenched at third base, but who will be the shortstop? Second baseman? Hard to say. 

Unless they start making major trades or signing big free agents, when they contend is hard to predict. Bowden and Rizzo have done a great job amassing young arms and without as many high picks this year, it'll be interesting to see who they get in the draft in a couple weeks. They are also aggressively pursuing talent in the Dominican. Jim Bowden still gets mixed reviews - many fans are critical of how his trades have worked out for the team, but everyone agrees he's done well with the drafts he's overseen. Kearns and Lopez were supposed to be the steal of the century when he traded for them with the Reds.

Thanks, Cathy!