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Monday's Frosty Mug

By Kyle Lobner

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Some things to read while remembering next time.

If you missed yesterday's Brewer game, just think back to previous Manny Parra starts and you'll get the picture. Parra allowed five runs yesterday (two earned, three unearned as a result of his error) and failed to complete six innings for the ninth time in ten starts. A dropped popup let the Crew back into the game in the ninth, but Trevor Hoffman surrendered the game winning run in the bottom half.

None of Parra's pitches have been exceptionally effective this season, but The Brewers Bar notes that his fastball is getting hammered: at 16.4 runs below average, it's the worst fastball by a Brewer and the fifth worst in all of baseball. TheJay is also getting sick of people making excuses for him.

All told, it was a pretty good weekend to be Mike McClendon. After getting the surprise call to the majors on Thursday, he pitched three perfect innings in his major league debut on Saturday.

McClendon wasn't the only Brewer rookie drawing praise this weekend. Brewer management also had some nice things to say about Lorenzo Cain's approach at the plate and in the field.

While Ken Macha has nothing but good things to say about Cain, he started Chris Dickerson in center for the second straight day yesterday. Dickerson went 2-for-5 with a triple on Saturday but 0-for-4 with three strikeouts yesterday.

Rickie Weeks was hit by a pitch yesterday, giving him 20 on the season. Weeks and Fielder are now the fifth set of teammates in baseball history and the first since 1911 to be hit 20 times. Plunk Everyone has the full list.

Other notes from the field:

This is a weird week schedule-wise for the Brewers, who have off days today and Thursday wrapped around a two game series in St. Louis. The pair of off days gave Ken Macha a chance to tinker with his rotation a bit, but he's instead decided to stick with Dave Bush and Randy Wolf this week and pitch Yovani Gallardo on two extra days' rest on Friday.

Casey McGehee's hitting streak may have ended this weekend, but Howie Magner notes that Brewer fans have another reason to be happy about his performance: He's outproducing Aramis Ramirez by a wide margin, and making $16.3 million less.

Meanwhile, it was not a good weekend for Kameron Loe, who allowed a three run home run to the only batter he faced on Friday, and hasn't pitched since. The Brewers Bar has a look at how Loe has been used since joining the Brewers. I'll have more on that later today.

By the way, the home run Troy Tulowitzki hit off Kameron Loe was followed by Friday's slowest trot, according to Wezen-ball.

The Brewers have until 11 pm tonight to reach a deal with their remaining unsigned 2010 draft picks, including first round pick Dylan Covey. The two sides are scheduled to meet this afternoon and are optimistic about getting a deal done today, but were reportedly "still in feeling out mode" as of this weekend. Four other Brewers selected in the first 25 rounds also remain unsigned: 13th round RHP Michael White, 15th round LHP Chris Bates, 16th round RHP Andrew Morris and 19th round OF Rowan Wick.

Elsewhere in the minors:

  • The affiliates went 4-3 yesterday with the performance of the day coming from Wisconsin first baseman Hunter Morris: He went 2-for-4 with a walk and two home runs in the Timber Rattlers' 10-7 win over Cedar Rapids. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
  • Morris is also the subject of this week's Appleton Post Crescent profile (h/t Rattler Radio).
  • That Wisconsin win also had an ugly moment, as benches cleared after D'Vontrey Richardson threw a punch at a Cedar Rapids player. Richardson had been hit by a pitch, and slid in hard at second in an effort to break up a double play. Cory Jennerjohn of the Post Crescent says Richardson's slide wasn't that bad.
  • Mat Gamel continues to impress with his bat in AAA, and Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker notes that he's making increased contact, and "should be able to jump in right away and contribute as a solidly above average major league hitter."
  • Eric Arnett's nightmare season might be coming up on its conclusion: Arnett was placed on the DL by Wisconsin this week (FanShot). There's only a few weeks left in their season, so it's possible he'll finish the year there. The reason for the DL trip was undisclosed.
  • If you're looking for something to do this afternoon, Jake Odorizzi is on the mound for the Timber Rattlers today at 12:05.

Bob Uecker was with the team on this weekend's road trip to Colorado, and even called one game by himself when Cory Provus wasn't feeling well. The New York Times has this story on Uecker's return to the booth, which includes a note on another offseason surgery I didn't know about:

In January, three-quarters of his pancreas was removed after benign tumors were found on it.

As Brewer fans, we've been lucky to have Uecker around for as long as we have. Hopefully his health issues are behind him and he'll be good to go for many years more. (h/t BBTF)

While the Brewers were on the road this weekend, Miller Park hosted its annual campout. Caitlin Moyer has a recap with a bunch of great pictures.

The final numbers are in from last week's fundraisers for the Brewers Community Foundation, including Tuesday night's auction: The team raised $185,000 for charity.

Elsewhere in charity: Brian Anderson reminds you once again to take a moment today and text "Brewers" to 76462 to help the Brewers win $200,000 to start a Miracle League in Milwaukee.

You're running out of time to sign up to attend Miller Park Drunk's Pants Party a week from Sunday. Tickets to the game are no longer available, but if you were headed to the game anyway you can still buy a ticket for the tailgate.

We're getting close to opening the vote for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame: Today, Brew Hoop nominates Sidney Moncrief.

Around baseball:

Athletics: Placed second baseman Adam Rosales on the DL with a stress fracture in his right ankle.
Blue Jays: Signed pitcher Ricky Romero to a five year, $30.1 million contract extension keeping him under team control through 2015 with a club option for 2016, and placed reliever David Purcey on the DL with strained ligaments in his foot.
Cardinals: Placed catcher Jason LaRue on the DL with a concussion.
Rangers: Placed infielder Cristian Guzman (quad strain) and pitcher Rich Harden (shoulder tendinitis) on the DL, and signed outfielder Willy Taveras to a minor league deal. 
Red Sox: Placed Jacoby Ellsbury on the DL with a rib injury and released first baseman Ryan Shealy.
Rockies: Placed pitcher Jeff Francis on the DL with soreness in his biceps tendon.

This year's Brewer bullpen is one of the more expensive in baseball, with Trevor Hoffman, LaTroy Hawkins and David Riske combining to make over $15 million to play marginal roles. Daniel Moroz of Beyond the Box Score has a look at the finances of bullpen construction, and finds little to no correlation between dollars spent and quality.

Also, for those of you making the case that the Brewers should run more, Satchel Price has this list of five major leaguers (including Juan Pierre and Rajai Davis) with at least 18 stolen bases who are all producing less than one win above replacement this season. 

As a longtime collector of Brewer cards, I was a little disappointed to see Pete Ladd as the only former Brewer represented in the 30 Worst Baseball Cards of All Time (h/t Hardball Talk)

I'm not sure missing close calls is the problem, but at least we've quantified it: ESPN's Outside the Lines looked at video and estimated that major league umpires miss about 20% of "close calls." I'm not sure you could find umpires that would do better in tough situations, unless you're willing to consider robots. The bigger problem is that many umpires blow said calls and are confrontational when questioned.

The Rangers have finally finalized their sale, and their fans might come out as the big winners: The new ownership group has already cut prices for parking, concessions and merchandise.

Here's a weird statistical note: The Diamondbacks are still one of the NL's worst teams, but entering play Sunday they were the NL West's best team in August.

Happy birthday over the weekend to:

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to add a car horn.

Drink up.

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