Monday's Frosty Mug

Good morning, one and all. The Brewers wake up this morning at 5-1, holding a share of first for the seventh consecutive day. They're off today, but start a series with the Reds tomorrow. It's time for a Frosty Mug.

I could try something new, but starting off every morning with the Win Probability Graph, Baseball Digest Daily's recaps from yesterday and the ESPN Video highlights seems to be working, so why change?

Also, yesterday's Mug was posted late, so if you missed it, and the view counter would suggest you did, be sure to check it out here.

The big news of the day, of course, is Ben Sheets' dominating performance against the Giants yesterday. The JS notes that Sheets has dominated the Giants in his last four appearances against them, dating back to 2005.

Phil Rogers with the Chicago Tribune has issued his first power rankings of 2008, and the Milwaukee Brewers, co-owners of baseball's best record, are 12th. The Cubs are 9th. The Cardinals are ahead of both of them at 7. What color is the sky in that world?

Also, Between the Green Pillars, one of the new Brewer blogs at Sportsbubbler, has an NL Central preview up.

This morning's Brief Alphabetical Morning (BAM) Injury reports are especially brief:

Aaron Rowand missed the last two games of the Brewer series with sore ribs, and will be reevaluated today.
Jack Wilson has been DL'ed with a calf strain.
Randy Winn has a self inflicted bruise on his ankle.
Giants P Keiichi Yabu managed to get himself in the eyes with an elastic band but should be better today.
Dodgers OF Delwyn Young was struck in the face by a line drive during BP Saturday, but appears to be ok.

Fungoes asks a question I didn't expect anyone to be asking, one week in: Is the Cardinals starting rotation really this good?

About a week ago I asked for some over/under predictions for the 2008 Brewers, but never posted the results. From the 17 ballots received, here they are:

82.4% of those surveyed think Ben Sheets will pitch more than 150 innings.
88.2% of those surveyed think less than 3.5 Brewers will hit 30 HR.
76.5% of those surveyed think Prince Fielder will hit more than 42.5 HR.
52.9% of those surveyed think Eric Gagne will save less than 29.5 games this season.
76.5% of those surveyed think other Brewers will combine for more than 9.5 saves this season.
70.6% of those surveyed think Manny Parra will start 20 or more times this season.
88.2% of those surveyed think the Brewers will win more than 87.5 games in 2008.

If you enjoy voting and/or polls, I've got a couple more opportunities for you today:

First, I'm looking for voters to help fill out the BCB ballot for Baseball Happenings' weekly blogpoll for ROTY, MVP and Cy Young. You can cast your ballot here.

Second, I'd like to start a weekly poll to gather the pulse of Brewer fans on a variety of issues. The weekly poll will be approximately 10 questions, with 5 recurring and 5 fresh each week. The first poll is up at this link, and will remain up until Sunday. If you have the capacity to do so, please feel free to post a link to it on your blog or email it to friends as well, to help generate a healthy response and make it a useful measuring tool for everyone.

That's all for today. Drink up.