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Tuesday's Hard Cider: The darkest day

It's a dark day for Brewers fans. We take a look at the Ryan Braun suspension, yesterday's game, and more in the daily news roundup.

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Jeff Gross

Good morning everyone. No joke to open with today since it's not a day for joking. In fact, this doesn't feel like a normal mug today, so I'm not even using that to describe it. Yesterday was one of the biggest news days of the year, and we should have anticipated it. This tweet from Kyle sums it all up:

If you've been around, you know that the days when the biggest news breaks are the days that Kyle is gone. So, with Kyle gone today, it's up to me to bring you your daily news and notes from the Brewers. It's going to be a tough one today, so let's get to it.

We've been dreading this news for months, and it finally broke yesterday. Ryan Braun has been suspended for the remaining 65 games of the 2013 season "for violations of Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program." Adam McCalvy's story on MLB.com has quotes from Braun and other MLB officials on it. Noah also posted his take on this yesterday after the news broke.

Adam McCalvy was busy yesterday and had plenty of coverage of the Ryan Braun suspension. He first heard from Doug Melvin, who was at least glad for this to be done and is ready to move on. After that, he collected some quotes from players & managers around baseball, including many from members of the Diamondbacks. Finally, he got some quotes from some of the Brewers on their reactions to the news.

Tom Haudricourt, Todd Rosiak, and the other JSOnline staff also had their coverage of the Braun suspension (behind the JSOnline paywall, of course). Haudricourt takes a look at other big name players that have been linked to PEDs. Don Walker looks at the financial and marketing side of the Braun suspension. Meg Jones has some reactions from fans at Miller Park after hearing about the suspension. Finally, as of this writing, 60% of people on JSOnline.com will not be a fan of Braun when he returns.

Of course, there is plenty of other reaction from around the web with this news. Here are some of the highlights:

I want to finish this on a positive note, and found the perfect article for that this morning. On Baseball Nation, Grant Brisbee (who also works with the San Francisco SBNation site, McCovey Chronicles) welcomes Brewers fans with open arms and gives some positive advice on how to handle the whole situation. It's a nice, uplifting way to end the links on Braun today.

There's much more out there for reaction, and it's not possible for me to cover everything here. I haven't even gone through all of the different Twitter reactions on Braun yet, and there's going to be much more that comes out today. So, we're going to do a little crowdsourcing to help out with that. If you've found some stories or links with Braun reaction that you want to share, please post them in the comments below.

With all of this news from yesterday, it's easy to forget that the Brewers played a game. The Brewers four-game winning streak came to an end yesterday as they fell to the Padres 5-3. If you missed the game because of all the Braun news, Eric Nehm has the recap for you.

After keeping the Marlins scoreless for their whole series, it didn't take long for the Padres to score for the first time. The Brewers streak of scoreless innings came to an end in the second inning last night, ending at 36 innings from a Jesus Guzman home run. Their streak ended around 7:47 pm; meanwhile, the Marlins ended their scoreless streak around 7:46 pm from a Giancarlo Stanton RBI double.

Because no one in the Brewers organization was aware of the Braun suspension, the Brewers ended up playing a man short during the game last night. After the game, they returned their roster to full-strength by recalling Khris Davis from Triple-A Nashville. This is Davis' third stint with the Brewers in 2013, and he could be up here for a while this time. They also have a spot available for now on the 40-man roster.

Other notes from the field:

  • After allowing no earned runs in his last two starts, Gorzelanny allowed five earned runs last night, raising his ERA from 1.88 to 2.47.
  • With his RBI last night, Jonathan Lucroy has recorded at least one RBI in eight of his last twelve starts (and thirteen games).
  • Tyler Thornburg pitched for the first time in seventeen days last night.
  • 30,348 paid to see the game.
  • The Bratwurst won the Sausage Race.

The Brewers continue their four game series against the Padres tonight. Donovan Hand starts for the Brewers, and Tyson Ross gets the call for the Padres. Jamal Collier has a preview of the game on MLB.com.

I've been to more than fifty Brewers games in my short time as a fan, but something I have never done is taken a tour of Miller Park. If you're like me and haven't been on a tour of the stadium, John and Cait has some details on tours for you.

In the minors:

Around baseball:

Cubs: Traded Matt Garza to the Rangers for infielder Mike Olt, pitchers C.J. Edwards and Justin Grimm, and a player to be named later.
Mets: Activated Justin Turner from the 15-day DL and optioned Greg Burke to Triple-A Las Vegas.
Nationals: Fired hitting coach Rick Eckstein and promoted minor league hitting coordinator Rick Schu.
Rangers: Activated Yu Darvish from the 15-day DL.
Rockies: Recalled Drew Pomeranz from Double-A Tulsa and optioned Josh Rutledge to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
White Sox: Activated Paul Konerko from the 15-day DL and optioned Brent Morel to Triple-A Charlotte.

Had the Braun news not broken yesterday, the biggest story in MLB would have been a trade, as the Rangers acquired Matt Garza for a package of prospects. On Ron Roenicke Stole My Baseball, badgernoonan takes a look at the trade in cartoon form.

Going around the NL Central:

  • The Pirates took a 5-1 lead early, but Washington rallied back to make it a close game in the ninth inning. They scored two runs in the ninth to pull it to 6-5 and had the tying run in scoring position as Jason Grilli left the game with an injury, but held on for the 6-5 win.
  • The Cubs took the Diamondbacks out of first place in the NL West, thanks to a four-hit, three RBI night from Junior Lake. He led the Cubs in a 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks.
  • The Reds dominated in San Francisco, scoring runs in each of the first seven innings as Bronson Arroyo threw a shutout and Cincinnati got a 11-0 win.
  • The Cardinals had the day off.
  • The Brewers lost to the Padres 5-3.

Tonight's schedule features an unusual double-header between the Reds and Giants, where the Reds will play both the road and home team tonight while making up a rained out game from Cincinnati. Here's the full standings and schedule:

Team W L GB Today Time Matchup
Cardinals 59 37 -- vs. PHI 7:15 PM Shelby Miller vs. Jonathan Pettibone
Pirates 58 39 1.5 @ WAS 6:05 PM Gerrit Cole vs. Taylor Jordan
Reds 56 43 4.5 @ SFG (road team)
@ SFG (home team)
6:05 PM
Game 2
Tony Cingrani vs. Eric Surkamp
Greg Reynolds vs. Barry Zito
Cubs 44 53 15.5 @ ARI 8:40 PM Travis Wood vs. Patrick Corbin
Brewers 41 57 19 vs. SDP 7:10 PM Donovan Hand vs. Tyson Ross

That's all I have for you today. There's plenty more to talk about, as I didn't have a lot of time to post the full complement of links today. If you have stories or links you want to share with everyone, please post them in the comments below.

Have a good day, everyone. It can't be worse than yesterday.