The Cup would be longer today, but I'm suffering from repetitive stress injuries and am listed as day-to-day.
It's not the biggest injury in the NL Central now, or even in the Brewers middle infield, but JJ Hardy is unlikely to play today after tweaking the shoulder he had surgery on earlier in the year.
It wouldn't be a Plastic Cup without an unwanted mention of the lineup, so: Corey's happy that he could run more in the leadoff spot. The highlight of the article is this Ned sighting:
"Why would it open up his running game? His running game is already open," Yost said. "The only guarantee he is going to have is an open base is the first inning, so, no. The law of averages say that he is going to be on base as many times with guys on as with guys not on."
I think Ned is trying to say something intelligent here, and getting closer than we'd expect, but still not very close. Hart may not lead off every inning he bats, but the odds are pretty high that, coming up after the #8 and #9 hitters, he'll have no one ahead of him on the basepaths.
Mike Fast posted an interesting Pitch f/x study at The Hardball Times this morning. He looks at the effects of pitchers working quickly. One unsurprising side note: Ben Sheets is the fastest worker on the Brewers staff. Mike doesn't give us a complete list, but it looks like Sheets is one of the fastest in the majors, too.
And speaking of Pitch f/x, Josh has published his web-based pitch tool with 2008 data. Now you can look at all kinds of cool matchup stuff. I'm sure you can do something cooler than what I just came up with, but here are the locations of the five pitches from LHPs that Prince cranked out of the park.
Now, on to the carnage in the NL Central.
Alfonso Soriano has a broken hand, and will likely be out for six weeks. It may or may not be Murton time, but it will definitely be downgrade time. Cwyers looks at the projected difference.
Also at Goat Riders, Colin points out the trade rumors that the Cubs could go after Sabathia. The Brewers have been linked with Sabathia before, too, though I think that was purely speculation. I would imagine that as the Indians fall in the standings, every team above .500 will be linked with Sabathia. But I'm with Olney here (it's sentences like that that aggravate my RSI)--it wouldn't surprise me if Jim Hendry is willing to be the highest bidder.
As you probably know, Albert Pujols is now on the DL, too. I'm not sure what's worse--losing your star for 6 weeks, or losing your star for an unknown period of time. At least Soriano ought to be healed on schedule and shouldn't have lingering effects; Pujols is another story. Cardinals Diaspora reflects on the surprising season in St. Louis so far, and wonders if this news is the end of it.
I'm playing injured, and you still got a full-length Cup. How's that for GRIT?
Game time today is 1:05 CT, and if you check back after the game, there will be another draft pick interview courtesy of intrepid BCB reporter-in-the-field Battlekow.