Some things to read while fixing your shirt.
Trevor Hoffman notched career save #572 against the Mets, a day after Mariano Rivera picked up his 500th save against them. The Elias Sports Bureau (via TheJay) reports that the Mets became the first team ever to be closed out by Hoffman and Rivera on back to back days. Rivera also picked up an RBI during his save: Baseball Reference remembers Hoffman's first RBI.
Last night's win combined with a Cardinal loss to give the Brewers sole possession of first place in the Central. It was also one of the more memorable nights in the career of Casey McGehee, giving Tristarscoop over at Cute Sports all the more reason to love him.
Mike Burns gets another shot to prove he belongs in the rotation tonight, when he'll have the unenviable task of facing off against Johan Santana. Now that Manny Parra struggled in his last start in AAA and Dave Bush is still out until after the All Star Break, both Burns and Seth McClung could be in line for extended auditions.
Ken Macha defended the Brewers' advance scouting operation after Ryan Braun suggested the Brewers struggled on Sunday because they didn't know much about Giants starter Ryan Sadowski. There's probably some truth to both sides: I'm sure the Brewer advance team is doing the best they can, but there's only so much they can tell you about a guy who's never appeared in the majors.
Whatever they're doing for Prince Fielder, though, they should keep doing. The Hardball Cooperative lists Fielder among their "3 Up" this week: Fielder entered play yesterday hitting .352 with seven home runs in June.
Another busy day down on the farm:
- Jeremy Jeffress is serving a 100 game suspension for what was previously reported as his second failed marijuana test, but it's actually his fourth. Jeffress was given a warning and education for his first positive test and a fifty game suspension for his second positive test. While serving that suspension, he failed another team-administered test before receiving his most recent suspension for a fourth positive.
- Eric Arnett pitched two shutout innings last night. He says he'd like to pitch more but the Brewers are taking it slow with him.
- Brewerfan.net has a new Power 50 up. There's not much change at the top, but this is the first one to include several of the 2009 draftees.
- Cameron Garfield is Between the Green Pillars' prospect of the week.
Should Yovani Gallardo be an All Star? It might turn out to be a moot point. Matthew Pouliot of Circling the Bases left Gallardo off of his projected NL roster because, assuming the rotation continues as projected, Gallardo would be unable to pitch in the game. Pouliot does predict Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Trevor Hoffman will make the squad.
On Power Rankings:
- The Brewers jumped 8 spots to #6 in WhatifSports' Power Rankings.
- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star moved the Brewers up from 12th to 11th.
- Inside the Majors has the Crew falling 3 spots to #9.
- Souvenir City has the Brewers at #12.
- Kerry Whisnant has the Brewers at #17.
Around the majors:
Astros: Brandon Backe declined an assignment to the minor leagues and will become a free agent.
Cubs: Placed Aaron Miles on the DL with a hyper-extended elbow.
Phillies: Placed Antonio Bastardo on the DL with a shoulder strain.
The Brewers won't see it in this series, but the Mets are trying something interesting with their rotation: When Oliver Perez comes off the DL, he's going to piggyback starts with Tim Redding. This is a relatively common practice in the minors, but it'll be interesting to see how it works out in the National League.
The Ian Snell saga continues in Pittsburgh: While Snell has clarified/backtracked on some of the things he said following his first AAA outing, Pirates GM Neal Huntington is calling the decision to sign Snell to a multi-year deal a mistake and it looks like Snell will be changing addresses sooner rather than later. Over in the FanPosts, 16 Lezcano wants the Brewers to pull the trigger on a move for Snell.
Interleague play is over (except for one makeup game) and the end couldn't come soon enough for several teams, including the Brewers. If you'd like to see a permanent end to interleague play, though, don't hold your breath: Brian McTaggart has the reason why it'll never go away:
He's a former Brewer farmhand, has a freakish trait and throws a knuckleball. If I know anything about the average BCB reader, I know those three qualities make this story on RA Dickey a must read for them. (h/t Twinkie Town)
Oh, and happy birthday to Tony Fernandez, who played in 28 games for the 2001 Brewers and turns 47 today.
Drink up.