Some things to read while checking the time.
The Brewers dropped to 4-10 in their last 14 games with an 8-6 loss to the Cardinals yesterday, and there were no shortage of people to share the blame for some disastrous late-inning mistakes. Tom Haudricourt singled out three guilty parties: Casey McGehee, who committed an error on a key grounder and was thrown out at the plate, Todd Coffey, who allowed a grand slam, and third base coach Brad Fischer, who essentially ended the Brewers' eighth inning rally by sending McGehee home.
When the two teams take the field tonight, there will be three new Brewers: With the minor league season concluded, the Brewers called up shortstop Luis Cruz and reliever Brandon Kintzler (FanShot), along with Nashville coach Sandy Guerrero. Cruz had a career year in Nashville in 2010, hitting .281/.309/.414 in his tenth professional season. Kintzler was very impressive in his first full season in the Brewer organization, posting a 1.47 ERA in 42 relief appearances betweeen Huntsville and Nashville, and recording 16 saves.
Speaking of saves, Trevor Hoffman enters tonight's game sitting on 599 for his career. J.R. Radcliffe has a story on the approaching milestone for Cardinals.com.
Other notes from the field:
- As will likely become normal during sunny day games, yesterday's game was played with the right field roof panels partially closed to eliminate some of the shadows and glare.
- Albert Pujols, Yovani Gallardo and Yadier Molina are leading FanGraphs' Star of the Game voting.
- Here are the MLB.com video highlights.
For some, what happened yesterday isn't as important as what didn't happen. Plunk Everyone notes that the Brewers have gone a season-high seven straight games without being hit by a pitch, their longest streak of the season. But they still lead baseball with 69 HBP.
Yesterday I mentioned a post at Disciples of Uecker discussing Yovani Gallardo's offensive value. Today, Jack Moore has another post expanding on his findings: He says Gallardo has added an extra 1.3 wins to his value at the plate, putting him at 5.3 WAR overall. That's on pace with the likes of Adam Wainwright and Ubaldo Jimenez.
Carlos Gomez sat out again yesterday and still has just nine plate appearances since being activated off the DL on August 24. Ken Macha, Doug Melvin and Gomez sat down recently to discuss why he's not playing, and now it sounds like he's finally starting to get it:
"I'm not out of the lineup because I'm a bad center fielder or because I'm slow," Gomez said. "It's because I don't get on base consistent. If I get on base more consistent, there's no question about whether I'm going to play every day."
Gomez will spend the winter playing for Escogido in the Dominican Republic and working with Sandy Guerrero to fix the problem.
Maybe Gomez will get to face Doug Davis this winter: Davis hopes to be activated before next week's Giants series and pitch in a few games in relief, then plans to play winter ball to prove he's healthy while he looks for a contract for 2011.
In the minors:
- The affiliates went 1-3 last night and Nick Bucci pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits, three walks and striking out four in Wisconsin's 7-0 win over Kane County in their season finale. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
- Yesterday's games were also the last of 2010 for Huntsville and Nashville, and Battlekow says it sounds like this will be their final season as Brewer affiliates.
- Taylor Green had a pretty nice bounce-back season for Huntsville, hitting .260/.336/.438 as a 23 year old in the Southern League. At Brewerfan.net, Green's agent says he'll be spending some time at catcher in instructional ball this fall. (h/t Battlekow)
On power rankings:
- Beyond the Box Score has the Brewers holding steady at 20.
- MLB FanHouse moved the Brewers down one spot to 21.
- Craig Calcaterra has the Brewers at 23, down two spots.
Around baseball:
Angels: Released pitcher Brian Stokes.
Padres: Designated pitcher Steve Garrison for assignment.
Pirates: Designated infielder Akinori Iwamura and catcher Erik Kratz for assignment.
Rangers: Designated infielder Alex Cora for assignment.
This is a new one for me: As part of today's Aroldis Chapman update, Craig Calcaterra notes that Chapman's AAA pitching coach said the Cuban defector can't throw an effective changeup because his hands are too big.
Actually, this story is stranger yet: Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista leads the AL with 43 HR, and yesterday one of his foul balls knocked a letter off a sign at the Rogers Centre, causing it to fall and hit a fan.
It looks like the season is over for Jim Edmonds, who played in just nine games after being sent to the Reds in August. Edmonds is struggling to recover from an oblique strain.
While many AAA teams might be looking for a new parent club this offseason, one will also be looking for a new home: With their ballpark being made into a soccer-only facility, the Portland Beavers played their final home game yesterday. They're not sure where they'll play in 2011 at this point.
On this day two years ago, the Brewers were one-hit by Chris Young and the Padres, losing 10-1. On this day last year, they were one hit by Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals, losing 3-0. This probably doesn't bode well for today.
If you're looking for more Brewer History, check out the team's new Twitter feed devoted to that topic.
Happy birthday today to 1983-88 Brewer and longtime Brewer broadcaster Bill Schroeder, who turns 52.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get this box off my head.
Drink up.