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Some things to read while losing everything.
Today represents one of the greatest missed promotional opportunities in all of sports. After three days of no baseball, today could be "Re-opening night." A day of three nationally televised games could be a celebration of the return of baseball and the pending stretch run.
Instead, today is baseball's fourth consecutive off day and our top story is Adam McCalvy's recap of a disappointing first half. Dave Radcliffe of Yahoo gave the Brewers a 2.433 GPA for their first half performance, and there's also a haiku about the Brewers in Value Over Replacement Grit's first half review.
The Brewers are back home when play finally resumes Friday, hosting the Marlins for the only time this season. Tyler Maas of Miller Park Drunk has a post that's loosely based on the series.
Tomorrow we'll likely see the return of Ryan Braun, who is due to be activated off the bereavement list for the start of the second half. Hot Corner Harbor took a look at the Brewers' current collection of retired numbers and decided that Braun is the most likely to be the next one.
We'll also get to see Carlos Gomez resume his career year. Jonah Keri of Grantland isn't listing Gomez as the favorite to win the NL MVP Award at this point, but he is among the "also considered."
And, if the first half is any indication, we'll also probably see more of these: Dave Cameron of FanGraphs notes that Jean Segura took one of the five wildest swings of the first half, while Alfredo Figaro and Yovani Gallardo threw two of the wildest pitches.
Speaking of Segura, BrewGIFs captured both of his All Star Game double plays for posterity.
Jonathan Lucroy overcame a rough start to post a .276/.319/.473 batting line at the break. Fake Teams lists him as an underrated fantasy catcher.
When the team is out of contention, individual achievements become one reason to continue to watch the games. Kristin Zenz of PocketDoppler.com has a list of five notable milestones Brewers could reach yet this season.
Wily Peralta is likely to also be a second half storyline. J.P. Breen of Disciples of Uecker has a look at the change in his slider that may have launched his current hot streak.
In the minors:
- The lottery was held yesterday and the Brewers were assigned a pick in the first pool of MLB's "Competitive Balance" draft round for 2014. The Brewers received the sixth pick in the first group, which was #39 a year ago.
- The affiliates went 1-3 yesterday, with first baseman Adam Giacalone collecting four hits in Helena's 9-5 win over Idaho Falls. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
- Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio has more from Wisconsin's 6-2 loss to Bowling Green.
Today may be a quiet day, but here's your reminder that things could always be quieter: Howie Magner of Milwaukee Magazine paints the picture of the Milwaukee sports landscape in a world where the Brewers moved to Charlotte in 1996.
Around baseball:
Padres: Named former Dolphins executive Mike Dee their new president and CEO.
White Sox: Signed first baseman Travis Ishikawa to a minor league deal.
The entire NL Central was off yesterday and, as mentioned above, no one plays today either. Here are today's standings and the top All Star vote-getter for each team:
| Team | W | L | GB | ASG Vote Leader |
| Cardinals | 57 | 36 | -- | Yadier Molina (6,883,258, #1 among catchers) |
| Pirates | 56 | 37 | 1 | Andrew McCutchen (3,855,928, #4 among outfielders) |
| Reds | 53 | 42 | 5 | Joey Votto (5,128,515, #1 among first basemen) |
| Cubs | 42 | 51 | 15 | None |
| Brewers | 38 | 56 | 19.5 | Ryan Braun (2,729,898, #8 among outfielders) |
Today in former Brewers:
- Ron Roenicke Stole My Baseball used the B-Ref Play Index to note some things you may not have known about the Brewer record books.
- Shaun Marcum had successful surgery to treat neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome in his throwing shoulder yesterday. He's still out for the season.
- Charlie Adams of Beyond the Box Score compares Matt Garza to Zack Greinke, and concludes that the Cubs will likely get less in trade for Garza than the Brewers got for Greinke a year ago.
There weren't any Brewers on the list, but yesterday I ran a quick post discussing the 13 players that didn't appear in Tuesday night's All Star Game. Over in the FanPosts aaronetc one-upped me and took a look at other players who have missed the game since 2002.
There are slow news days, and then there's this: I perused this entire list of baseball-related dog names looking for a Brewer to mention...and didn't find one.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I still have no idea what the rock is for.
Drink up.