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Some things to read while drama happens.
Late-inning heroics were the story for the second straight day yesterday as the Brewers came from behind to beat the Marlins 6-5 for their third consecutive win. Nicole has the recap, if you missed it.
For the second straight day the Brewers' good news on the field was overshadowed by bad news off of it. Shortly after yesterday's Mug was published the team confirmed that longtime grounds crew member Jeff Adcock passed away on Sunday. Jeremy Warnemuende has a great story with quotes from members of the bullpen, who are taking the loss particularly hard. Brewer groundskeepers will wear "JA" patches for the rest of the season in remembrance of Adcock.
Other notes from the field:
- Carlos Gomez rounded the bases in 17.56 seconds following his line drive home run.
- Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez were both hit by pitches last night, and both benches were warned after Zack Greinke pitched in on Carlos Zambrano in the second. Plunk Everyone has more on the events.
- The Miami Herald has quotes from Carlos Zambrano and some pointless blather from Ozzie Guillen.
- Nicole has a look at last night's turning points.
- Here's the video from Ron Roenicke's postgame press conference.
- The Italian won the sausage race.
The series continues today with a rare Tuesday afternoon game: The Brewers and Marlins will play at 3:10 to avoid a conflict with the Summerfest fireworks tonight. Tom Green has the MLB.com preview, and Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs gave today's Anibal Sanchez/Marco Estrada matchup a 5 on his NERD scale.
Before last night's game Doug Melvin and Ron Roenicke met with the media and said they're still hopeful they can work out a long-term deal with Zack Greinke instead of trading him before the end of the month. Whether that's true or posturing is anyone's guess.
Braves scouts were reportedly in attendance to watch Greinke last night, and probably weren't the only ones. David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution says he can see the Braves being in on Greinke if he's willing to sign an extension at around $15 million per season. If that was an option I think the Brewers would already have worked out a long term deal of their own.
It's been two days but there's also still plenty of chatter about Greinke being snubbed from the All Star Game. Let's head to the bullet points:
- Paul Swydan of FanGraphs listed Greinke as the NL's most egregious snub.
- Wendy Thurm of FanGraphs has Greinke on a list of players that would be selected if the game really counted.
- Rob Neyer has a recap of the Greinke/Tony La Russa drama.
- David Golebiewski of Baseball Analytics says Greinke is "an All-Star at preventing homers."
- Greinke, for what it's worth, is taking the high road in all of this.
Elsewhere in potential trade targets: MLB Trade Rumors spotted a report saying the Mets may be interested in re-acquiring Francisco Rodriguez. I find that relatively hard to believe, but stranger things have happened. Ken Rosenthal says the Cardinals, Phillies or Marlins could also be landing spots for K-Rod.
Zack Greinke isn't the only Brewer being passed over for All Star festivities. As I mentioned yesterday, Ryan Braun leads the NL in home runs but will not participate in the Home Run Derby. Last night he wouldn't say if he turned down an invitation or simply wasn't invited. Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton will be part of the event and MLB.com has video of his batting practice display yesterday.
Nyjer Morgan went 0-for-5 yesterday, reached on an error and was thrown out trying to take second with Ryan Braun due up. Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker notes, though, that Morgan hit .268/.339/.429 in 19 games in June.
Elsewhere in recent contributors, Michael Fiers continues to draw attention for his solid work in the rotation. Brandon Berg of Chippewa.com wonders if Fiers can keep up this level of production.
In the minors:
- Fifth round pick Damien Magnifico reportedly signed for $285,000, which would be $75,100 above slot value for his pick.
- Hopefully these two facts are unrelated or just precautionary, but Huntsville pitcher Jimmy Nelson has been placed on the minor league DL and this morning he tweeted he's getting on an airplane before 5 am. It's possible he's headed to Milwaukee to get checked out.
- Elsewhere in travel tweets, Brevard County infielder/outfielder T.J. Mittlestaedt reports that he's headed to Birmingham, where Huntsville wraps up a three game series tonight. The news would seem to imply he's been promoted after hitting .258/.359/.469 for the Manatees this season.
- Mitch Haniger hit his first professional home run in Wisconsin's win last night.
- Speaking of home runs, Brevard County first baseman Jason Rogers hit three this week and has been named the Florida State League player of the week.
- Wisconsin Sports Tap re-ranked the top catchers in the Brewer organization, and with the exception of Clint Coulter's addition not much has changed.
- Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Sounds manager Mike Guerrero.
- Stadium Journey recently visited Kindrick Field in Helena and gave it 3.3 out of 5 stars.
If you're looking for something to eat at the ballpark this week, the Chef's Table entree for the Marlins series is "Miami's Own Cuban Sandwich."
If you haven't yet, please take a moment today to vote in our BCB Tracking Poll. The poll will remain open through the day today and results will be posted tomorrow.
You're running out of time to buy tickets for Miller Park Drunk's second annual-ish Pants Party on Sunday, July 15. I'll be there, and apparently they'd prefer I keep my shirt on. Good to know.
Finally, congratulations are due out this morning to Lewthelegend, yesterday's winner in our SB Nation Pick 6 contest. Here's the full leaderboard:
Rank | Player | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Lewthelegend | 76.9 |
2 | Braun89 | 49.2 |
3 | Jahiegel | 49.0 |
4 | icecreamman | 41.8 |
5 | jllyons | 40.1 |
6 | sauveb | 39.2 |
7 | GoGregGo | 38.9 |
8 | Samuel1 | 36.6 |
9 | -JP- | 34.0 |
10 | Kiev 'n Rice | 33.0 |
The Brewers are part of baseball's first game today, so you have until 3:10 to make your picks.
Around baseball:
Blue Jays: Designated pitcher David Pauley for assignment.
Diamondbacks: Placed infielder John McDonald on the DL with an oblique strain.
This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History celebrates Greg Vaughn's 47th birthday, and Plunk Everyone notes that his 37 career HBP are the third most ever for a player born on July 3. Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that it's also the 52nd anniversary of Hank Aaron's 200th home run. At the time Aaron was the 49th player ever to reach that mark. On June 5 Dan Uggla became the 302nd.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to vote again.
Drink up.