Tuesday's Hard Cider: The darkest day

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:

Of course Braun news breaks on the one day a year I spend in Door County. Maybe i'll just stay here.

— Brew Crew Ball (@BrewCrewBall) July 22, 2013

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:

• Nathan Petrashek of Cream City Cables has some closure with Braun now.
• J.P. Breen of Disciples of Uecker looks at the current and future ramifications of the Braun suspension.
• Nick Michalski of The Brewers Bar wonders if the game will ever be free of cheaters.
• Mike Bauman has a story on Brewers.com about how Braun misled everyone.
• If you don't want to lose your temper, I'd suggest skipping over this article. Jeff Pasaan of Yahoo! Sports has his opinion on Braun, and it's full of words attacking him.
• Steven Goldman of SBNation analyzes the Braun situation and compares him to others who have been linked to PED usage.
• Rob Neyer of Baseball Nation looks at why Braun decided to accept the punishment and why it seems like a normal decision.
• On ESPN, Buster Olney calls Braun the "Lance Armstrong of MLB", while Jerry Cransick looks at how Braun's reputation will never recover.
• Michael Rosenburg of SI.com says that Braun looks better than Rodriguez, and also has a timeline of the events in the Braun case.
• Scott Miller of CBS Sports isn't buying Braun's apology.
• Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says that the Braun suspension is great for baseball. Meanwhile, Jon Morosi takes a look at how selfish Braun has been.
• Jim Bowden of ESPN gives a word of warning to GMs with players involved in Biogenesis. (ESPN Insider)

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:

• The affiliates went 3-4 last night, with Huntsville getting rained out.
• Victor Roache hit two home runs and had seven RBI in his first two at-bats for Wisconsin. Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio has more postgame coverage.
• Khris Davis had a home run and four RBI for Nashville.

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:

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.