Tuesday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while filling out the roster.

If you went to bed early last night, you've got a lot of catching up to do this morning: The Brewers beat the Padres 8-3 behind Ryan Braun's 4-for-5 night with a triple and three home runs. Here are video highlights of the three blasts. It's Braun's first three homer game and the only game of its kind ever at Petco Park, which has been open since 2004. Here's much more in the performance:

• Braun set a new franchise record with 15 total bases in the game.
• Braun is only the second player in the last 50 years to homer three times and hit a triple in the same game, and the first since Fred Lynn did it for the Red Sox in 1975.
• Hit Tracker Online says Braun's three homers traveled 419, 416 and 381 feet.
• Braun rounded the bases in 21.85, 23.05 and 20.51 seconds following the three hits.
• Braun's six RBI tied a career high, last set in May of 2009.
• Braun finished April with a .994 OPS, the sixth best number in the National League and better than Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports thought he'd do. Corey Hart is two points ahead of him and fifth in the NL at .996.
• As of this writing Braun has a 200+ vote lead on Yu Darvish for Monday's Quick Pitch MVP.
• Braun has three home runs at Petco Park this season, and the entire Padres team only has six.
• After the game Braun told Dan Hayes of the North County Times he still thinks Petco's fences should be moved in.

By the way, we have a recap of the game if you missed it.

Braun's heroics and some solid defensive plays covered up what could have been a really rough night for Randy Wolf. He allowed three runs on twelve baserunners (nine hits and three walks) over just five innings last night, and has now allowed 50 baserunners in 26.1 innings this season. Wolf was one of five pitchers to receive a 0 out of 10 in Carson Cistulli's NERD stat for pitchers.

Other notes from the field:

• Nyjer Morgan's ninth inning walk was his first in 60 plate appearances this season.
• Ryan Braun, Joe Wieland and Alex Gonzalez are leading FanGraphs' Star of the Game voting.
• We have video highlights from the game's turning points and a transcript of Ron Roenicke's postgame comments.
• 16,218 fans paid to see last night's game. That's the smallest paid attendance for a 2012 Brewer game by over 10,000 fans.
  

The two teams continue the series tonight when Shaun Marcum and Edinson Volquez square off at 9:05. Josh Liebeskind of MLB.com has the preview. Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs gave this game a 5 out of 10 on his NERD scale.

The timing on this story could not possibly have been worse: Before yesterday's game, Adam McCalvy reminded fans that the Brewers' two road ballparks this week (Petco in San Diego, AT&T Park in San Francisco) are tough places to hit.

In the minors:

• Brandon Kintzler is expected to join Brevard County today to start his rehab assignment.
• The affiliates went 2-1 yesterday, and Mark Rogers allowed just one run over 5.1 innings of work in Nashville's 4-3 win over Omaha. You can read about that and big nights for Logan Schafer, Andy Moye and Chadwin Stang in today's Minor League Notes.
• Schafer hit a walkoff double for the Sounds in their win last night. @Mass_Haas notes that Jeremy Jeffress was the opposing pitcher.
• Rattler Radio has video highlights from Wisconsin's 7-2 win over Bowling Green.
• Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Sounds manager Mike Guerrero.
• Wily Peralta is holding opposing batters to a .171 batting average this season, the second-lowest mark in the Pacific Coast League.
• Ryan Topp of Disciples of Uecker named Taylor Jungmann their prospect of the week.
• Maureen Wallenfang of the Appleton Post Crescent reports that Wisconsin contributes between $5 and $8 million annually into the local economy.

In power rankings:

• ESPN has the Brewers holding steady at 20.
• Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune has them 22nd, down one spot.

If you haven't yet, please take a moment today to vote in our BCB Tracking Poll. It will remain open through the day today and results will be posted tomorrow. Also, if you're reading this before 9 pm there's still time to make your Prognostikeggers predictions for tonight's game.

Around baseball:

Angels: Infielder Jorge Cantu has opted out of his minor league deal and is now a free agent.
Athletics: Designated utilityman Luke Hughes for assignment.
Mariners: Placed catcher Miguel Olivo on the DL with a strained groin.
Phillies: Placed pitcher David Herndon on the DL with elbow inflammation.
Rays: Signed outfielder/DH Hideki Matsui to a minor league deal.
Tigers: Outfielder Delmon Young has been suspended seven days without pay following his arrest and assault charges.

I'm not sure if this is a sad commentary on the state of the division or just a statistical quirk, but when the Brewers and Reds won last night they each extended their current winning streaks to two games. That's the longest active streak among the six Central teams. You know that and more if you've read this morning's edition of Around the NL Central.

This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History marks the 39th anniversary of the longest relief outing in Brewer franchise history, a nine inning performance by Jim Colborn in 1973. Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that it's also the anniversary of these events:

• Robin Yount's 100th career home run in 1983.
• A 10-9, 19 inning Brewer win over the White Sox in 1991.

Finally, it's also Charlie O'Brien's 52nd birthday. Plunk Everyone notes that his 60 career HBP are the most ever for a player born on May 1.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've lost my list again.

Drink up.