Wednesday's Frosty Mug: Back to even

Some things to read while renovating.

The Brewers are back to .500 on the season after a tough night for the pitching staff led to an 8-4 loss to the Rockies on Tuesday. JP has the recap, if you missed it.

If you're just looking at the box score last night probably looked like a bad appearance for new Brewer Mike Gonzalez, who faced three batters and was charged with three runs. JP noted that he's only the sixth pitcher in franchise history to allow a run without recording an out in his first outing of the season. With that said, the first six batters in the seventh inning (against Gonzalez and Burke Badenhop) went walk, bunt single, infield single, sac fly, infield single, bloop single. There's just not much you can do about that.

Gonzalez was one of several Brewers to make their 2013 debuts last night, including Tom Gorzelanny, Brandon Kintzler and Yuniesky Betancourt. Dave Radcliffe of Yahoo has an introduction to 2013's new Brewers.

Last night was also a challenging night for Marco Estrada, who allowed four runs on nine hits over five innings despite striking out eight without allowing a walk. Tom Haudricourt has a look at Estrada and Yovani Gallardo's similar first outings.

Speaking of Gallardo, he's not worried about the fact that his velocity was down a bit on Opening Day, chalking it up to an odd spring.

Other notes from the field:

• Aramis Ramirez had a double again last night and is only the 12th player in franchise history to open the season with doubles in his first two games (one of them is pitcher Jamey Wright). He also has a seven-game hitting streak dating back to 2012.
• We've got a look at the game's turning points and video from Ron Roenicke's postgame press conference.
• Yesterday was Rockies manager Walt Weiss' first managerial win, and the team presented him with a bottle of champagne after the game.
• CoolStandings has the Brewers' playoff chances at 27.4%, down almost four percent from yesterday.
• The Chorizo won the Sausage Race.

The series wraps up tonight at Miller Park, where Wily Peralta makes his 2013 debut against Juan Nicasio at 7:10. Paul Casella has the MLB.com preview. In a related note, Matthew Pouliot of Hardball Talk gave Peralta a 25:1 shot at winning the NL Rookie of the Year.

Ryan Braun joined him at the top last night, but entering the game Norichika Aoki was the Brewers' 2013 home run leader following his solo shot on Monday. Adam McCalvy talked to Aoki about his brief reign at the top of the mountain. He circled the bases in 19.43 seconds following that hit, by the way.

Jonathan Lucroy will likely sit out tonight after catching the Brewers' first 19 innings of baseball on Monday and Tuesday, but it's possible the Brewer pitchers will miss him. Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs has several gifs of Lucroy catching low pitches as part of a conversation on the value of pitch framing.

Looking further ahead, Kyle Lohse is still scheduled to make his Brewer debut against the Diamondbacks on Friday night, and it appears tickets are still readily available. Tom Haudricourt suggests fan reaction to Lohse hasn't been quite what the team expected in our Tweet of the Day:

#Brewers officials surprised that Friday's game has modest pre-sale. That's night Kyle Lohse makes his debut for the club.

— Tom (@Haudricourt) April 3, 2013

In the minors:

• Yesterday was Media Day for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, and we've got a full recap with quotes from manager Matt Erickson, 2012 first round picks Clint Coulter and Mitch Haniger and more.
• Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio has photos of Wisconsin doing long toss in the parking lot yesterday since Fox Cities Stadium still has snow on the field.
• Mark McCarter of The Huntsville Times has a story on local product Jimmy Nelson, who will start on Opening Day for the Stars tomorrow. (h/t @Mass_Haas)
• 2011 second round pick and 2013 Wisconsin Timber Rattler Jorge Lopez is on Twitter.
• Looking further ahead, the 2013 draft is a little less exciting now that the Brewers have forfeited their first round pick. Adam McCalvy talked to scouting director Bruce Seid about trying to do more with less, and Jaymes Langrehr of Disciples of Uecker noted that the Brewers now have just $3.94 million in their draft spending pool.

Back in Milwaukee, it appears the Brewers' porta-potty ban for Monday's Opening Day tailgating came and went without major concern. At least, that's what Jim Stingl of the JS is saying.

The Milwaukee Business Journal didn't take any photos of restrooms, but they do have a slideshow of Miller Park from Monday's opener.

In power rankings:

• View From Bernie's Chalet has the Brewers 15th.
  

Around baseball:

Cubs: Signed outfielder Ryan Sweeney to a minor league deal.
Giants: Claimed pitcher Hunter Strickland off waivers from the Pirates.
Mets: Placed Shaun Marcum on the DL with biceps tendonitis.
Phillies: Claimed outfielder Ezequiel Carrera off waivers from the Indians and designated outfielder Ender Inciarte for assignment.
Red Sox: Signed outfielder Brandon Snyder to a minor league deal.
Reds: Outfielder Ryan Ludwick has been placed on the DL and will have surgery to repair a torn labrum.

Today in former Brewers:

• Big League Stew has a photo of Prince Fielder dressed like he's headed out on an Arctic expedition before a game in Minnesota.
• When Cesar Izturis debuted for the Reds this week he completed the NL Central circuit, already having been a member of the Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs and Pirates.

Last night's big news around baseball came from Houston, where Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish was one out away from pitching a perfect game when Astros infielder Marwin Gonzalez hit a single through his legs and into center for the game's first hit. NotGraphs has a gif of the event, while The Crawfish Boxes documented an eventful night on Gonzalez's Wikipedia page.

Today in baseball economics: At least once expert thinks baseball's current TV money bubble will burst at some point as increasing numbers of TV viewers refuse to pay excessive cable bills.

This is relevant to nothing but it made me laugh harder than anything else I've seen today: Baseball Think Factory has video of Bob Costas performing Ludacris lyrics.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm afraid.

Drink up.