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Wednesday's Frosty Mug: Interleague ineffectiveness

2013-06-19T14:50:02Z

Some things to read while looking for a better signal.

There have been some dark days this season, but yesterday might have been the darkest: The Brewers were blown out 10-1 by the Astros last night and we've got the recap, if you missed it.

Juan Francisco had three of the Brewers' eight hits last night, including an unlikely triple to center. Adam McCalvy says Francisco is "starting to show off that power" in his last three games.

For what it's worth, last night's rout was only the second time this season the Brewers have lost by nine runs or more. They were also beaten 10-1 by the Cardinals on May 5. If that number made you feel better, here's one that will make you feel worse: The Brewers, after 69 games, are only one win ahead of Houston.

Other notes from the field:

The Brewers are now 2-8 in interleague play in 2013.
When Tom Gorzelanny hit Carlos Pena with a pitch last night, it was the 800th plunking in Minute Maid Park history. Plunk Everyone has more on the accomplishment.
Mark Attanasio was in attendance for last night's game. He's in town for an MLB event.

The series continues in Houston tonight when Kyle Lohse takes on Erik Bedard at 7:10. Kevin Massoth has the MLB.com preview.

The Brewers will continue play tonight without Ryan Braun, who traveled to Phoenix on Tuesday to get a second opinion on his injured hand. That's almost certainly not good news.

Jean Segura had a hit last night, but has fallen back to second place in the NL with 90 on the season. Yadier Molina now leads all National Leaguers with 92. Segura is still making an impressive impression in his first full MLB season, though: Stephen Loftus of Beyond the Box Score listed him among baseball's most unexpected top performers and Bill Ripken of MLB Network compared him to Ravens running back Ray Rice.

Segura most likely won't be seriously discussed on the trade market this season, but several other Brewers may be. Dave Radcliffe of Yahoo has a list of five teams the organization could be looking to deal with.

It's possible we're going to see wholesale changes in the Brewer starting rotation in the next couple of weeks, but nothing appears to be immediate: The JS reports that Chris Narveson and Marco Estrada are both at least one rehab appearance away from rejoining the team, leaving Saturday's starting spot as "TBD."

Looking further ahead, first base is one of several question marks the Brewers are going to have to address this winter. Kristen Zenz of PocketDoppler.com makes the case for Corey Hart to come back for another year.

In the minors:

On the field, Brevard County kept their Florida State League playoff hopes alive with an 8-3 win over Lakeland. They remain half a game back of Dunedin with one game to play.
Hiram Burgos made a rehab appearance for Brevard County in that game and allowed two runs on five hits over four innings.
The Midwest League All Star Game was last night and Wisconsin pitcher Damien Magnifico pitched .2 scoreless innings for the Western Division team. Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio has much more from the event.
Wisconsin outfielder Tyrone Taylor wasn't an MWL All Star, but Wisconsin Sports Tap is still pretty excited about him and took a look at his prospect status.
Pitcher Johnny Hellweg has been one of the bright spots this season for Nashville, but he's been taking a break lately. He hasn't pitched since June 11 in an effort to keep his innings down, but Jeff Hem says he'll start on Saturday.
Our draft signings thread has been updated this morning to include notes on four additional players: @Mass_Haas notes that 15th round pick David Denson and 36th round pick Jesse Weiss have agreed to terms, and the Brewers' official announcement was also the first we had head about 21st round pick Tristan Archer and 34th round pick Dylan Brock.

Around baseball:

Braves: Placed catcher Evan Gattis on the DL with an oblique strain.
Mets: Acquired infielder/outfielder Eric Young Jr. from the Rockies for pitcher Collin McHugh, designated outfielder Collin Cowgill for assignment and placed infielder Justin Turner on the DL with an intercostal strain.
Orioles: Designated infielder Yamaico Navarro for assignment.
Padres: Placed shortstop Everth Cabrera on the DL with a hamstring strain and signed outfielder Ben Francisco to a minor league deal.
Rangers: Placed utilityman Jeff Baker on the DL with a sprained thumb.
Red Sox: Placed pitcher Clay Buchholtz on the DL with a neck strain.
Yankees: Acquired outfielder Fernando Martinez from the Astros for a minor league pitcher, designated pitcher Chris Bootcheck for assignment and placed first baseman Mark Teixeira on the DL with a wrist injury.

Let's go around the NL Central:

The Cubs scored four in the first inning and rode that momentum to a 4-2 win over the Cardinals last night. Cody Ransom started at first base and homered for Chicago.
The Pirates gained a game in the standings with a 4-0 win over the Reds. Charlie Morton pitched 5.1 shutout innings for the victory.
The Brewers, of course, got embarrassed by the Astros.

Here are today's standings and probables:

Team	W	L	GB	Today	Time	Matchup
Cardinals	45	26	--	v CHC	7:15p	Jake Westbrook v Edwin Jackson
Reds	43	29	2.5	v PIT	6:10p	Bronson Arroyo v Jeff Locke
Pirates	42	29	3	@ CIN	6:10p
Cubs	29	40	15	@ STL	7:15p
Brewers	28	41	16	@ HOU	7:10p	Kyle Lohse v Erik Bedard

I didn't do a Today In Brewer History for today, but via Plunk Everyone we do know that today is 1971-77 and 79-83 Brewer Jim Slaton's 63rd birthday, and his 48 career HBP are the third most ever for a pitcher born on June 19. Not to be outdone, 1989 Brewer Jerry Reuss is 64 and he leads that list with 59.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my bowl is empty again.

Drink up.

Another new low? Astros 10, Brewers 1

2013-06-19T03:21:32Z

W: Jordan Lyles (4-1)
L: Alfredo Figaro (1-1)

HR: Carlos Pena (7), Matt Dominguez (10)

MVP: Juan Francisco (+.112 WPA)
LVP: Alfredo Figaro (-.281)

Box Score
Win Expectancy Graph

One of the great things about baseball is that anything can happen on any given day. That's also one of the worst things about baseball, because tonight "anything" meant getting blown out by a team that's lost 100 games in each of the last two seasons and is likely to do it again in 2013.

Alfredo Figaro followed up the best start of his career with a poor outing tonight, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits over 4.1 innings, including a long home run. The Brewer bullpen allowed Houston to tack on five more runs. This was the fourth time the Astros have scored ten runs in a game this season, but only the second since April.

I wrote two different paragraphs about the Brewer defense tonight. Use the comments to decide which of these you'd prefer we use as narrative:

The lone bright spot in tonight's game was the Brewer defense, as Norichika Aoki made a great sliding catch in right and Carlos Gomez made a catch on Tal's Hill that should appear on every highlight show you'll see for the next several months.
The single thing that prevented tonight's game from getting even worse was the Brewer defense, as Norichika Aoki made a great sliding catch in right and Carlos Gomez made a catch on Tal's Hill that should appear on every highlight show you'll see for the next several months.

It will probably surprise no one to discover that Yuniesky Betancourt was not a part of any defensive gems tonight. He started at third base and committed a pair of errors while going 1-for-3. He's now played in all 41 Brewer losses this season, but the team is 4-0 when he does not appear.

The Brewers will get another chance to not be embarrassingly bad tomorrow, when Kyle Lohse takes on Erik Bedard at 7:10.

Tonight's Matchup: Brewers (Figaro) @ Astros (Lyles)

2013-06-18T22:00:08Z

It's interleague play against a familiar foe tonight as the Brewers open a series against Jordan Lyles (3.48 ERA, 3.78 FIP) and the Astros. Lyles was the #38 pick in the 2008 draft and is pitching in his third major league season despite being just 22 years old. He pitched seven shutout innings against the Mariners on Wednesday, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out ten for the first time in his career.

Lyles has been hot lately, posting a 1.67 ERA over his last six appearances. He'll throw a low-90's fastball around 60% of the time and mix in a steady diet of curves, cutters and changeups to go with it. Lyles will be the fourth 22-year-old starting pitcher the Brewers have faced this season, joining Jacob Turner of the Marlins, Shelby Miller of the Cardinals and Jonathan Pettibone of the Phillies.

Lyles faced the Brewers four times last season, including a complete game shutout on September 30 and a disaster start on August 1. Three active Brewers have faced him ten times or more:

Player	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Aramis Ramirez	18	.278	.278	.333	.611
Rickie Weeks	14	.333	.429	.833	1.262
Norichika Aoki	11	.300	.364	.300	.664

He'll face 28-year-old righty Alfredo Figaro (3.47 ERA, 4.49 FIP), who is coming off the best performance of his life. Figaro pitched seven shutout innings against the Marlins on Wednesday and allowed just three hits, walking none while striking out four. It was the first time in his career he's recorded 21 outs in a single outing.

It's possible the biggest difference between Figaro as a 2009-10 Tiger and 2013 Brewer is velocity. His fastball is sitting around 95 this season, as compared to a 92.4 average in his last season with Detroit. According to FanGraphs, though, his curveball and slider have both been more effective pitches.

Figaro hasn't faced the Astros since 2009, and there's not a single player on Houston's active roster that has faced him in the majors.

As of this writing tonight's lineups had not been posted. If you've seen them, please drop them in the comments.

And in the bullpen:

Donovan Hand pitched one inning (12 pitches) on Sunday.
Burke Badenhop pitched one inning (eleven pitches) on Sunday.
Michael Gonzalez pitched .2 innings (eleven pitches) on Sunday.
Jim Henderson and Tom Gorzelanny last pitched on Saturday.
Francisco Rodriguez, John Axford and Brandon Kintzler last pitched on Friday.

The forecast in Houston today calls for a high of 92 and scattered thunderstorms, but the Minute Maid Park roof makes this entire paragraph irrelevant.

Series Preview #24: Talking Astros with The Crawfish Boxes

2013-06-18T17:00:09Z

MILWAUKEE BREWERS
28-40 (T-4th place, NL Central)

HOUSTON ASTROS
26-45 (5th place, AL West)

GAME 1: June 18, 2013 @ 7:10 p.m. CDT
(TV: FS-Wisconsin; Radio: 620 WTMJ)

GAME 2: June 19, 2013 @ 7:10 p.m. CDT
(TV: FS-Wisconsin; Radio: 620 WTMJ)

GAME 3: June 20, 2013 @ 1:10 p.m. CDT
(TV: FS-Wisconsin; Radio: 620 WTMJ)

Minute Maid Park | Houston, Texas

A View from the Other Dugout: The Crawfish Boxes

Game 1	Alfredo Figaro (1-0, 3.47)	vs.	Jordan Lyles (3-1, 3.48)
vs. Astros	(0-0, ---)	vs. Brewers	(0-0, ---)
Game 2	Kyle Lohse (2-6, 3.84)	vs.	Erik Bedard (2-3, 4.82)
vs. Astros	(0-0, ---)	vs. Brewers	(0-0, ---)
Game 3	Yovani Gallardo (6-6, 4.41)	vs.	Lucas Harrell (5-7, 4.48)
vs. Astros	(0-0, ---)	vs. Brewers	(0-0, ---)

To help us get ready for tonight's game and this series, we've asked Timothy De Block of The Crawfish Boxes to answer some questions about the Astros.

BCB: Obviously this is the first meeting between these two teams since the Astros moved to the AL. Has anything about the change surprised you? If given the opportunity, would you switch back?

TCB: The surprise has been more in the division change rather than the central change. I knew the amount of West Coast games that the Astros were going to play was only going increase by a handful, which in a 162 game season doesn't seem like that big of a deal until you actually have to stay up and watch those games. I'm not helped by the fact that I live on the East Coast. As for the actual league switch it's never really bothered me personally. I think American League ball is a better product on the field because you're eliminating a bad hitter from the lineup, pitcher, and potentially eliminating a bad fielder from the field, designated hitter. That said I am in the minority among Astros fans regarding those sentiments and I think the way MLB went about getting the Astros to switch leagues was pretty crappy. MLB, essentially, took a crap on the Astros 50 years of National League history. Yes I would switch the Astros back to the National League.

BCB: Former #10 overall pick Jason Castro is quietly having another solid year behind the plate, posting a .270/.328/.486 line through 60 games. Is he this team's biggest breakout success?

TCB: Yes. Pitchers Jordan Lyles, drafted 28 picks after Castro, and Bud Norris are both having improved seasons so far as well but there are still questions about whether or not they can maintain their current success. Castro, at this point, looks more like the real deal and could be the Astros representative in this years All-Star game.

BCB: The Brewers will face 22-year-old Jordan Lyles on Tuesday, and the 3.48 ERA he's posted through nine starts in 2013 is a far cry from the 5.20 mark he had after his first 45 career games (between 2011 and 2012). What's different for him this year?

TCB: Lyles is a year older and that may be the biggest factor. It's easy to forget that he's only 22 this season and doesn't turn 23 until October. There's been some statistical regression in his favor so far this season. His career left on base percentage (LOB%) is 65.4, which is well below the 70-75 LOB% average range for pitchers, so far this season he has a 77.8 LOB%. He's also kept fly balls in the park and has struck out slightly more batters this season. Jumping further down the rabbit hole, Lyles is using his changeup more and getting better results with it.

BCB: I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about former Brewer Jose Veras, who is 14-for-17 in save opportunities and 12-for his last 13. I know you guys wrote an extended post on him earlier this week, but has watching him in Houston been as frustrating as watching him in Milwaukee was?

TCB: Yes, but that's what you get when you put a decent middle reliever in a team's closer role; However, he's been one of the Astros best relievers, which should tell you the state of the Astros bullpen, and he's gotten the job done more times than not. This wasn't entirely unexpected coming into the season.

BCB: The Astros (like the Brewers) are already more or less eliminated from playoff contention. Are there still players on this team they could look to sell at the trade deadline?

TCB: Carlos Pena and Jose Veras are two guys that will be in another team's uniform before the season is out. Bud Norris and Lucas Harrell are two pitchers who have and will draw interest on the trade market. Norris is having the best year of his career. Harrell is having some negative regression but should still draw some interest. Centerfielder Justin Maxwell and backup catcher Carlos Corporan are two players that could fill a teams need as a reserve player. Maxwell in particular has some serious power, is very good defensively in center field and has some athleticism running the bases. The downside is that he he struggles with making contact and staying healthy, still he's the type of player a team would not be upset with having to start on a regular basis.

Thanks to Timothy for taking the time, and check out The Crawfish Boxes for more on the Astros!

Tuesday's Frosty Mug: Off day offerings

2013-06-18T13:31:04Z

Some things to read while being remembered. (h/t PocketDoppler.com)

The Brewers were off yesterday in Houston before opening their first-ever interleague series with the Astros tonight. Alfredo Figaro will take on Jordan Lyles at 7:10, and we'll have our series preview later today.

The Astros are getting one injured player back for tonight's game: center fielder Justin Maxwell was activated off the DL following last night's loss to the White Sox after missing most of two months with an injured hand. He only had a .679 OPS when he went on the DL this year, but posted a .764 mark in over 120 games for Houston a year ago.

Meanwhile, yesterday's off day gave many of us a chance to look ahead to next month's trade deadline:

Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times says the Brewers need to start making moves.
The Wisconsin Sports Blog has some suggestions.
Trade possibilities were also the primary topic of Adam McCalvy's MLB.com inbox.
MLive.com suggests the Tigers could consider John Axford in an effort to help resolve their closer woes.

It's probably safe to assume these guys aren't going anywhere at the deadline: Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs listed Carlos Gomez and Jean Segura among baseball's biggest overachievers to this point this season.

In amidst a boatload of uncertainty, two Brewer relievers may have found themselves long term roles with this team. Max Weinstein of Beyond the Box Score attempted to quantify "clutch" relievers and found that Brandon Kintzler is one of the game's best in high leverage situations in 2013, while Jim Henderson is one of the elite in low leverage innings.

Elsewhere in certainties, I'm loving Fred's new series on confirmation bias. This week we're looking at pitching to Giancarlo Stanton, giving up cheap home runs in Cincinnati and Bill Schroeder's reaction to small ball.

In the minors:

On the field, Brevard County picked up a walkoff win last night and they remain in the hunt for a Florida State League playoff spot. They're now just half a game back of first place Dunedin and half a game ahead of Clearwater.
Nick Ramirez had a hit for the Manatees last night and is batting .240/.311/.483 with 14 home runs in the first half. He's Brevard County's representative on Dave Radcliffe of Yahoo's list of first half minor league MVPs.
Off the field, three more players inked their first professional contracts yesterday: 23rd round outfielder Eric Williams and 31st round pitcher Tanner Poppe are now in the fold, and so is undrafted free agent pitcher Chris Matulis. We added Williams and Poppe to the draft signings thread.
In all cases these are signings we'd already heard about, but the Brewers finally officially announced the signings of each of their top five draft picks yesterday. Second round picks Devin Williams and Tucker Neuhaus and fifth round pick Josh Uhen will start their pro careers in Arizona, while third round pick Barrett Astin and fourth rounder Taylor Williams will report to Helena.
Neuhaus, by the way, is celebrating his 18th birthday today.
Meanwhile, the top Brewer rookies will have one of 2012's top picks as a teammate. The organization moved 2012 first round pick Clint Coulter from Wisconsin back down to Helena yesterday. Coulter is still only 19 and hit .207/.299/.345 in 33 appearances for the Timber Rattlers.
Speaking of Wisconsin, Ron Roenicke Stole My Baseball was in attendance for a recent Timber Rattlers game and shared some brief thoughts on several players.
Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Sounds manager Mike Guerrero.

If you haven't yet, please take a moment today to vote in this week's BCB Tracking Poll. It will remain open through the day today and results will be posted tomorrow.

Around baseball:

Phillies: Placed reliever Jeremy Horst on the DL with an elbow strain.
Tigers: Placed pitcher Anibal Sanchez (shoulder strain) and catcher Alex Avila (forearm contusion) on the DL.

Let's go around the NL Central:

The Cardinals opened a series at home with a 5-2 win over the Cubs last night following a two-hour rain delay. Cubs manager Dale Sveum was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing a play at the plate.
The Reds kept pace with a 4-1 win over the Pirates. Mike Leake held Pittsburgh to a run on six hits over seven innings for his seventh win.
The Brewers, of course, were off Monday.

Here are today's standings and probables:

Team	W	L	GB	Today	Time	Matchup
Cardinals	45	25	--	v CHC	7:15p	Adam Wainwright v Jeff Samardzija
Reds	43	28	2.5	v PIT	6:10p	Mat Latos v Charlie Morton
Pirates	41	29	4	@ CIN	6:10p
Cubs	28	40	16	@ STL	7:15p
Brewers	28	40	16	@ HOU	7:10p	Alfredo Figaro v Jordan Lyles

Today in former Brewers: Yesterday I mentioned that Travis Ishikawa had opted out of his minor league contract with the Orioles, but they've elected to add him to the major league roster instead of releasing him.

Juan Pierre is not a member of an NL Central team or a former Brewer, so we'll just drop this here because it's too awesome to not link: Ron Roenicke Stole My Baseball is making him the subject of a children's book.

This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History marks the 37th anniversary of Hank Aaron's 750th home run, the deciding run in a 3-2 Brewer win over the A's in 1976. Today also would have been Waterford, Wisconsin native Charlie Ganzel's 151st birthday, and Plunk Everyone notes that his 18 career HBP are the fourth most ever for a player born on June 18.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find a mechanic.

Drink up.

Today In Brewer History: The first to 750

2013-06-18T11:00:10Z

On this day in 1976 the Brewers came from behind to beat the A's 3-2 in Oakland. The Brewers trailed 1-0 when George Scott hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, then 2-1 when Bernie Carbo hit a solo shot of his own in the seventh. Those two blasts set the stage for Hank Aaron to untie the game in the ninth with another solo homer, the 750th of his career.

At this point Aaron was one of just eleven members of the 500 HR club, one of three players ever to reach 600 (joining Willie Mays and Babe Ruth) and represented one half of all big leaguers ever to get to 700 (Ruth was the other, of course). He stood alone in the 750 club for over 30 years before Barry Bonds joined him in 2007.

With help from the B-Ref Play Index, we'd like to wish a happy birthday today to Waterford, Wisconsin native Charlie Ganzel, who would have turned 151. Ganzel played 14 major league seasons as a member of the Boston Beaneaters (Braves) and three other clubs.

Today is also the tenth anniversary of Glendon Rusch needing 62 pitches to record three outs against the Cardinals in 2003, which we covered in this space last year, and the 44th anniversary of Tommy Harper stealing four bases in a Seattle Pilots win over the White Sox in 1969, which we covered in this space two years ago.

The Week in Confirmation Bias, 6/10-6/16

2013-06-17T18:00:12Z

Confirmation bias - "a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way." (Wikipedia)

Last week Phillies pitcher Tyler Cloyd taunted us by doing things rookie pitchers often do to the Brewers. Or, at least, as we remember it. The contact play failed miserably (starring Yuni B as Scapegoat), and we found that Cardinals fans continue to be the Best in Baseball.

This week we take a break from ripping on the Cardinals and look inward for a few instances which verified our inhibitions with flying colors.

Maxim: Pitching to Mike Stanton never works.

One run lead. Runner on first. Eighth Inning. Mike Stanton at the plate. Because of this, he is not on deck. Someone else wearing a Marlins uniform while simultaneously having less intimidating forearms is. Probably shouldn't see a strike, right?

Yeah. Probably not.

Verdict: BIAS VALIDATED

Maxim: It seems like every homerun at Great American Ball Park is cheap.

When a park is notorious for its ability to surrender homeruns, it's easy to hone in on the cheapo homers and go "Well, it's a hitter's park." It's easy to say that because it's true. Homeruns are easier in that little dinker. Of course, none from the weekend bit Brewers fans quite as hard as Jay Bruce's walk-off "blast" Friday night:

The pitch wasn't that bad. Bruce didn't hit it very hard. Therefore, in Cincinnati, homerun Reds. Martin Maldonado's game-tier earlier in the game was similar. Take a look at Juan Francisco's first homerun as a Brewer on Saturday:

Holy lord. Off the bat, I thought that might be the third baseman's ball in foul territory, if it stayed fair. It's a freaking homerun!

Plus, you know it's a hitter's park when this guy gets into the HR column:

If Scooter Gennett's homer is the closest thing to a no-doubter, yeeew mightbeinahitter'spark!

Verdict: BIAS VALIDATED

Maxim: Bill Schroeder always gets a little too excited about run manufacturing. - molitorfan (paraphrased)

Bill Schroeder really likes smallball. While I get excited about a quick-strike run (or runs) such as the aforementioned Stanton homerun, Schroeder and many other old-school baseball minds get off on making scoring a run look extremely difficult.

Such a situation arose Wednesday night when scoring a run actually was proving to be difficult. Jacob Turner was looking sharp, but allowed a leadoff infield single to infield single specialist Jean Segura, who then stole second base with Carlos Gomez at the plate with nobody out. It had all the makings of a big inning, so Schroeder instantly suggested Gomez get himself out.

"If nothing else, get 'im over to 3rd base. This is where we've seen Gomez shorten up with two strikes, try to hit the ball up the middle."

One pitch later:

Brian Anderson immediately praises Gomez' approach, and Bill is nearly breathless in admiration.

"That's just good fundamental baseball by the Brewers. Two strikes, get 'im over, and he's gonna get the high fives in that dugout. Turns out to be a nice at bat by Carlos Gomez."

I could argue that a 3-pitch groundout featuring a chase on 0-2 isn't all that fantastic of an AB. It's still an out. But, he is right to a certain extent. Gomez could've done worse. A pop out. A strikeout.

Because Gomez moved the runner, the grounder by Aramis Ramirez in the following AB scored Segura. Schroeder was then free to share his instinctual love for a run created from as little as possible.

"How about that. The Brewers not able to get a ball out of the infield, but they have a run. An infield hit, stolen base, good fundamentals by Gomez to get 'im over and Ramirez gets him in with the infield back. Good instincts by Segura, just impressive. Continues to get better."

The text doesn't really do it justice. Bill is right in his wheelhouse. The whole monologue is stutter-free and rhythmic, so beautiful one could hardly believe it wasn't choreographed and rehearsed.

Nothing brings out the best in Bill Schroeder like weak groundouts and anticlimaticism.

Verdict: BIAS VALIDATED

Maxim: Twitter polls are always stupid. - ObiBraunKenobi

Not much context there. I like eggs, but not for every meal. I like to wear pajamas, but not when I'm bathing. I like a cold ham sandwich, but not when it's already been digested.

#MILWHENITWORKS

I get that it was father's day, and this is one of FSN's cute little ways of acknowledging it. But it's still stupid. Plus, nice job pushing the current male cultural paradigm. The meatcooking handyman. Because those are the gifts a father should want, right? What's the best mother's day gift, FSN audience? Select #MILFLOWERS, #MILPOTSANDPANS, #MILVACUUMCLEANER, or #MILMAKEUP - results in the 7th inning!

#MILIWILLNOTPARTICIPATEINSUBLIMINALVIRULENTSEXISM

There may be a fine line between pointless and stupid, but my gosh. They were all impressive over a tiny sample. What's the difference?

#MILIHAVENEVERCAREDLESS

Verdict: BIAS VALIDATED

-------------------------------------------------------

If you have any more maxims in mind, post in the comments and I'll add them to the master list. So I can selectively choose them when they become relevant - for further virtuous analysis.

Vote in our Milwaukee Brewers tracking poll

2013-06-17T17:00:06Z

This week's Brew Crew Ball Tracking Poll will remain open through the day Tuesday, with results scheduled to be posted on Wednesday. As always, please vote once.