Friday's Frosty Mug: Brewer News, Links And Notes

Some things to read while looking in the mirror.

The Brewers still aren't mathematically eliminated, but they took a step towards what Craig Calcaterra termed a "very appropriate death" with another blown save and a 2-1 loss to the Reds yesterday. Morineko has the recap, if you missed it. Ron Roenicke called it "a game we couldn't afford to lose."

Adding injury to insult, Wily Peralta left yesterday's game in the sixth inning with what the team is calling "right biceps tightness." Apparently Peralta mentioned something to Aramis Ramirez about the issue earlier in the game, which led to Ramirez refusing to give him the back the ball following a strikeout of Reds pitcher Mat Latos. Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker says Ramirez demonstrated the value of veteran presence.

Yesterday's loss spoiled a big day for Carlos Gomez, who had two of the Brewers' five hits and drove in their only run with a solo homer in the third. Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus notes that he rounded the bases in 20.55 seconds, which is slower than normal.

Losing two out of three to the Reds dropped the Brewers to four games back in the Central with six to play (and half a game behind the Dodgers), and CoolStandings has downgraded their playoff chances to 3.2%. You know that and more if you've read this morning's edition of Around the Wild Card Race.

Other notes from the field:

• Reds catcher Dioner Navarro's walkoff triple was only the third the Brewers have ever allowed and the first since Paul Molitor did it to them as a member of the Twins in 1997.
• Todd Frazier's home run to tie the game in the ninth snapped streaks of 15 consecutive saves for Axford and 108 homerless PA for Frazier.
• When Carlos Gomez homered yesterday he became the first player to advance beyond first base against Mat Latos in ten innings. Gomez also stole his team leading 36th base yesterday.
  
• Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless seventh yesterday and has a 1.86 ERA in his last 20 appearances.
• We've got a transcript of Ron Roenicke's postgame comments.
• The Reds played their final home game in front of just 23,411 fans, which would have been the smallest crowd at Miller Park this season. In fact, the 32 lowest paid attendances for Brewer games this season were all road games.
• The Reds drew 2.3 million fans this season, which is a 600k improvement from 2009.

With their 2012 road schedule wrapped up, the Brewers return home tonight to open their final homestand of the season with a game against the Astros at 7:10. Ethan Asofsky has the MLB.com preview and noted leisured gentleman Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs gave tonight's Edgar Gonzalez/Yovani Gallardo matchup a four out of ten on his NERD scale.

Aramis Ramirez will get a shot at a Brewer franchise record at home this week: He currently has 100 RBI on the season, and 98 as a third baseman (plus two as a DH). The Brewer record for RBI in a season by a third baseman is 102, set by Casey McGehee in 2010.

This homestand is also Ryan Braun's last chance to prove he should be NL MVP. Joe Posnanski has a look at Braun's chances and projects Giants catcher Buster Posey to win the award, but says "the power of a baseball hero hitting clutch homers in the biggest games is usually enough to trump every other narrative."

Norichika Aoki went 0-for-4 yesterday but has still been better than almost anyone could have expected coming into his debut season. Lou Olsen of Reviewing the Brew wonders if Aoki deserves a new contract. He's currently scheduled to make $1.25 million in 2013 with a club option for $1.5 million in 2014. Adam McCalvy says Aoki has been turning heads with his performance in September.

It's probably safe to assume a less-than-capacity crowd at Miller Park on Sunday, as the Brewers play a 1:10 game against the Astros that will likely bleed over into a 3:25 Packer game. The Brewers are taking one step to prevent an empty ballpark by giving away 5000 free tickets to the game starting at 10 am today.

When the Brewers report to spring training in February it looks increasingly likely that Chris Narveson will be back to full strength. He said on Twitter yesterday that he'll throw off a mound on Sunday for the first time since his surgery.

In the minors:

• Baseball America is reporting the Brewers have resigned potential minor league free agents Brock Kjeldgaard and Dayton Buller. Kjeldgaard was on the 40 man roster this spring but lost most of his 2012 season to injury and hit .234/.349/.443 in 48 games for AA Huntsville. Buller hit .248/.315/.416 in 37 games as Nashville's backup catcher.
• John Sickels of Minor League Ball has a look at the 17th round of the 2012 draft and says Helena shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez has a "good approach at the plate, but error-prone at shortstop and lacks distance power."
• Speaking of Helena, no H-Brewers made Baseball America's list of the top 20 prospects in the Pioneer League. Helena went 24-52 this season and was led by first baseman Adam Giacalone, outfielder Raul Mondesi Jr. and infielder Chris McFarland.
• Rattler Radio has their first video update on offseason renovations at Fox Cities Stadium.

Finally, congratulations are due out to Jahiegel, yesterday's winner in our SB Nation Pick 6 contest. Here's the full leaderboard:

Tonight's action starts at 6:05, so you've got plenty of time to make your picks for today. And, of course, a new series means a new set of Prognostikeggers.

Around baseball:

Astros: Announced that Nationals third base coach Bo Porter will manage the team in 2013.
Indians: Fired manager Manny Acta and named Sandy Alomar Jr. as his interim replacement.
Orioles: Placed Randy Wolf on the DL with a torn ligament in his elbow.

The Astros' managerial annoouncement came at a somewhat bizarre time, as searches of this magnitude usually take place during the offseason. The Crawfish Boxes have a look at the process.

Today's most interesting non-Brewer note came to me via The Book Blog, where they have a look at the measures Ichiro takes during the season to remove excess moisture from his bats. It's something most of us probably never think about, but it could add an advantage.

As you may have noticed, today is the fourth day since Brew Crew Ball's makeover as part of SBN United. Gaslamp Ball has a look at some of the issues that have been corrected as part of the implementation process for the largest upgrade in the company's history.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to gather some ingredients.

Drink up.