Some things to read while preparing for Pi Day.
On the field yesterday it was more of the same for Jeff Suppan, who gave up eight baserunners and five runs in three innings of work, raising his spring ERA over 7 and his spring WHIP to 1.64 1.73. There's a new poll on the sidebar asking if this performance has changed your mind at all about expectations for 2009. Meanwhile, Brewed Sports is ready to add Seth McClung to the rotation and The Brew Town Beat wonders how many times we'll see the headline "Tough Day for Suppan" in 2009.
Eduardo Morlan pitched two scoreless innings yesterday, keeping the Brewers in the game. That performance wasn't enough to help Ken Macha learn his name, though, as demonstrated in Adam McCalvy's profile:
Padre hitters certainly had a good day yesterday, but not everyone enjoys coming to Maryvale. Before the game, MLB.com Padres beat reporter Corey Brock called the Brewers' spring training home his least favorite ballpark in Arizona.
I've got several minor league notes today:
- Victor Wang of The Hardball Times ranks the Brewers' farm system tenth in baseball.
- John Sickels of Minor League Ball lists Cody Scarpetta as a player who could have a breakout season in the minors in 2009.
- I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else, but Joshua Kusnick, agent for several Brewer minor leaguers (including Jeremy Jeffress), reports Jeffress retired all six batters he faced in a minor league intrasquad game yesterday, including breaking a bat wielded by Bill Hall.
How under appreciated is the career of Mike Cameron? Eric Seidman of FanGraphs is inducting him on the first ballot into the Reggie Sanders Club of Boring Stars along with Ellis Burks, Luis Gonzalez, Shawn Green and Ray Lankford.
If you're used to using the guardrails on the staircases at Miller Park, do a quick check to make sure they're still there before you fall on your face in 2009: this Newsday article says the Brewers are removing some railings to eliminate some obstructed view seats at the ballpark.
I think some fans would deal with an obstructed view if they could have The Chalet back: Viva Cerveceros tells the sentimental tale of a crazy man who sat on top of the scoreboard at County Stadium, how it led to Bernie's Chalet and where you can find the Chalet now.
Rankings/projections/predictions:
- The Junkball Blues thinks Mike Cameron will hit .240/.337/.470 in 2008.
- All World All Sports Blog has the Brewers fifth in the NL Central.
- The Ted Lilly Fan Club thinks the Brewers can compete for the Wild Card if their pitching holds up.
A quick reminder of how far the Brewers have come: There have been years when we would have been pretty excited to report that Dugout Central's voting for the worst team in baseball came out yesterday and the Brewers didn't appear on a single ballot.
Meanwhile, in other camps:
Mariners: Signed Chad Cordero to a minor league deal.
Mets: Reliever Tom Martin broke his wrist falling down a flight of stairs at home.
Sometimes life has a strange symmetry to it. Jorge De La Rosa and Valerio De Los Santos probably appear right next to each other on a list of historical Brewers, and today I have stories about De La Rosa getting hit by a line drive and De Los Santos being sent to Mets minor league camp on the same day.
The NL Central continues to take a beating over at FanGraphs. Today, the Reds check in at #24 in their organizational rankings, putting three NL Central teams in the bottom 6.
Here's something you don't see everyday: Derrick Goold of Bird Land has a picture snapped at just the right moment to see a baseball bat slightly bent as it passes through the zone. Cool stuff.
Oh, and Charlie Brown would have been completely different if drawn by Frank Miller. (h/t 6-4-2)
Drink up.