Last night's game was fun. I liked this, and I also liked this.
Yesterday was better for the NL--the senior circuit won 6 of 14 interleague matchups. For the second day in a row, though, the Brewers were the only Central team to win. That moves us 3 back of the Cards and 6.5 back of the Cubs.
Speaking of the Cubs, you may have heard that Carlos Zambrano left with some kind of injury last night. Jim Edmonds left too. No word yet on what's going on with Z, but we do know he's getting an MRI.
David Riske will rejoin the team for the finale today. He was in Milwaukee yesterday, but having pitched an inning in Nashville on Tuesday, the club decided not to activate him until today.
I haven't seen any hints about who will go to make room, but I looked up the Brewers relief stats for the last 14 days. DiFelice has thrown the most innings out of the pen, with a 2.70 ERA and a 8/0 K/BB ratio. Dillard has thrown the fewest (2 innings). Julian Tavarez has a 13.50 ERA in 4 frames in that stretch. Not that we need an extra arm, but as I said yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised if Iribarren goes back down and we end up with 13 pitchers.
Russell Branyan is very good against righties. Bill Hall is very good against lefties. Neither of them is very good against same-side pitchers. Please remember this if you are at a game and are tempted to boo when Hall pinch-hits for Branyan with a lefty on the mound and no one warming in the bullpen.
Battlekow fanshotted it, but I figured it deserved a spot in the Cup as well: This summer, you'll be drinking Robinade Old School Lemonade. So this is why Robin Yount didn't want to be on the coaching staff anymore.
Richie Sexson has been a disaster for the Mariners, but I didn't think it would come to this: The Mariners may just release him. That would be the most serious condemnation of Bavasi's tenure--I don't have time to track down a link, but I believe that either Will Carroll or Ken Rosenthal reported last July that someone claimed Sexson off of waivers, meaning that the Mariners could have just dumped his contract for nothing. Speaking of Bavasi, it's worth a few minutes to listen to Dan Szymborski's audio tribute.
Finally, here's the last installment of Geoff Young's interview with Sandy Alderson.
Day game today, so see you back here around 1 CT.