When I first saw the schedule for this season, I admit that I worried a lot more about this series against Cleveland than the upcoming one against Detroit. As it is, the Indians look fairly beatable, which is my way of saying, "JINX! JINX! JINX!"
Tonight we've got ace lefty versus ace lefty, with Cappy on the hill for the good guys against C.C. "and the music factory" Sabathia. Sabathia hasn't had a really solid outing since May, but as an enemy of small sample sizes in all their guises (I know, it rhymes) I'm not putting too much stock in him being in some kind of slump.
Be sure to scroll down a bit to John's Minor League Notes from last night: Rick Helling is back and ready to rumble, and Mark Rogers is finally rolling, even meriting his very own puff piece. Speaking of puff, it's worth yet another reminder that the Brewers are still kind of hanging in the fringes of the NL Central race despite having Zach Jackson and Carlos Villanueva in the starting rotation by Father's Day. Nothing against those guys, of course, but when Carlos Villanueva takes the hill straight from Huntsville, you know everything isn't going right. Baseball Prospectus's Postseason Odds Report pegs Milwaukee with a 14% chance of a playoff spot, though it doesn't "know" that Roger Clemens is about to join the Houston rotation. Still not too shabby.
Finally, if you're following the site closely, I apologize for the delay in updating the MLSD--I just got back from a trip and I should catch it up through a couple of days ago this evening. Also, I apologize in advance for any lack of blogging over the next few days--my left-hand shift key is broken, which is a giant pain in the you-know-what.
Go Brewers!