There are two hard-and-fast rules that guide Brewers fans in the 21st century:
- It's all okay if it ended in a win.
- The above does not apply if Ben Sheets got hurt.
Of course, the big news this morning is that Ben Sheets got hurt. He left with "triceps tightness" after 60 pitches and 5 innings. Here's the MLB.com story, which has all the relevant quotes. If Ben's "cautiously optimistic," I guess I might as well be cautiously optimistic too.
The usuals:
-
Win Expectancy Graph
- Baseball-Reference box score
- ESPN Video Highlights
- Baseball Digest Daily Recaps
- Baseball Prospectus Postseason Odds
Some injury reports:
- Jay Bruce is back in the lineup after missing a day for Triple-A Louisville.
- Howie Kendrick goes on the DL with a strained hamstring.
- Both Scott Kazmir and Dioner Navarro were rehabbing in A-ball; Navarro will be back next week, Kazmir the beginning of May.
- Tom Glavine officially went on the DL for the first time in his career.
- Hideo Nomo is pitching like he has an injury.
The biggest news outside of Milwaukee yesterday came from Tampa Bay, where the team locked up Evan Longoria for six years (including options for his first three two years of free agency) after Longoria's first week or so in the majors. Dave Cameron notes the trends and the risks. What interests me is that Longoria is almost certainly leaving millions (perhaps tens of millions) on the table...but this isn't the first time he's done so. Unlike most very high draft picks--he was #3 overall--he signed almost immediately because he wanted to play ball. Needless to say, Scott Boras is not his agent.
Also at FanGraphs, Eric Seidman notes that Brian Shouse is is strand-a-rific. That's not news to those of us around here, though it's always cool to see someone like Shouse get ink outside of our little blogosphere. Beyond stranding all those runners, Shouse is just a really good pitcher, as Jacob pointed out in the comments to this FanPost last week.
Here's a blog I didn't know about until yesterday: D-Backs on Deck. It's written by A.J. Hinch, the former MLB catcher, who is now Director of Player Development for the Diamondbacks. I don't expect to get any big scoops straight from the horse's mouth on this one, but details on the inner workings of front offices are always welcome. Unlike a lot of MLBlogs, this one reads like Hinch actually wants to write it.
That'll do it for this morning. Game time: 12:10 CT.