Wednesday's Frosty Mug: Post-Elimination Day 1

Some things to read while not standing up.

Milwaukee's 2013 playoff hopes came to an end last night, as the Brewers' 4-2 loss to the Cardinals officially eliminated them from postseason contention. Eric has the recap, if you missed it.

The Brewers lost last night despite a solid performance from Wily Peralta, who got through 5.2 innings without allowing a hit before surrendering a home run to Matt Holliday (on a pitch where he shook off Martin Maldonado). All told, Peralta pitched 6.2 innings and allowed three runs on two hits, walking four and striking out seven. He was rewarded with his 15th loss. Peralta and Ben Sheets (2002) are the youngest Brewers to lose 15 games in a season since 1980.

Other notes from the field:

• Norichika Aoki struck out three times last night for the first time in his MLB career (h/t @AdamMcCalvy).
• Last night's game-time temperature was 95 degrees (h/t @Haudricourt). That's the hottest temperature the Brewers have seen this season. In other news, it's mid-September.

The series continues tonight at 7:15, when Marco Estrada will face Lance Lynn. Kevin Massoth has the MLB.com preview.

The Brewers didn't face John Axford last night, but odds are they'll see him tonight or tomorrow. Adam McCalvy talked to him about the transition into the Cardinals clubhouse and the "Cardinal Way."

Looking further ahead, yesterday the Brewers officially announced their plans to move to a six-man rotation for the rest of the season. Tyler Thornburg will start the Cardinals series finale tomorrow and Kyle Lohse, Johnny Hellweg and Yovani Gallardo will face the Reds over the weekend. Assuming they stick to that, Thornburg and Lohse will make four more starts while everyone else gets three. Jimmy Nelson may also get a start at some point.

Scooter Gennett went 2-for-4 with a double and scored a run last night as his remarkable hot streak continues. J.P. Breen of Disciples of Uecker asks a question we'll probably discuss multiple times this winter: Should Scooter start at second base next season?

Meanwhile, Khris Davis sat out for the fourth straight game with a sore wrist. He's hopeful he could take batting practice today, but it sounds like it'll still be another day or two at least before he's back on the field.

Tom Gorzelanny isn't with the team this week, but congratulations are still in order: He and his wife announced the birth of their second son on Monday.

Gorzelanny will be back with the Brewers next season, and maybe he'll have one of these guys as a teammate: MLB Trade Rumors has a ranking of the top 34 free agent starting pitchers for this offseason.

We are 199 days and counting from Opening Day 2014, where the Brewers will take on the Braves at Miller Park. Major League Baseball released the full 2014 schedule yesterday, including the Brewers participating in home openers in Boston and Philadelphia and the Yankees' first visit to Miller Park since 2005.

In the minors:

• Congratulations are due out this morning to the Helena Brewers, who came from behind to beat Great Falls last night and advance to the Pioneer League championship series. You can read more about the game in this morning's Minor League Notes.
• The championship series starts on Saturday.

If you'd like more Brewer coverage this morning but you're sick of reading, my weekly appearance on The Home Stretch with Justin Hull on 95.3 FM WSCO in Appleton has been archived and can be heard at this link. We spent three segments this week talking about the 2014 schedule and much more.

Around baseball:

Red Sox: Designated pitcher Jose De La Torre for assignment.
Yankees: Acquired shortstop Brendan Ryan from the Mariners for a PTBNL and signed reliever Mike Zagurski.

Let's go around the NL Central:

• The Pirates took a 4-1 lead into the eighth inning in Texas last night and held on for a 5-4 victory. Andrew McCutchen and Jordy Mercer combined for seven of Pittsburgh's 12 hits.
• The Cubs beat the Reds for the second straight night, picking up a 9-1 victory. Chicago had four home runs in the game: Two from catcher Wellington Castillo and one each from Donnie Murphy and pitcher Edwin Jackson.
• The Cardinals, you may have heard, beat the Brewers.

You can read more about those games and all of last night's action in Noah's Wednesday edition of Around the Bases at SBNation.com.

Here are today's updated standings and probables:

Today in former Brewers:

• Sharapova's Thigh has a list of the 40 most unlikely players featured in a Starting Lineup figurine, including Marc Newfield, Glenn Braggs, Chuck Carr and Scott Fletcher (h/t Rob Neyer).
• Baseball Card Vandals had some fun with a Cecil Cooper card.

Today in baseball economics: The Yankees' luxury tax payment for 2013 is $29 million. That represents 33% or more of eleven teams' Opening Day payrolls.

The Brewers will visit both Toronto and Tampa next season, and those series might be two of the last times they ever play on artificial turf. The Globe and Mail has a story about the efforts to turn the Rogers Centre in Toronto into a natural grass facility. (h/t BBTF)

It's not directly relevant to the Brewers, but this post at Mets Cetera caught my attention this morning. It's about Mets broadcasters Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling, frequently cited as one of the best TV teams in baseball. They broadcast for SNY, which is owned by the Mets, but are frequently critical of the team and its direction. This quote from media critic Richard Deitsch explains why:

"Well I think you make a decision, or management makes a decision somewhere along the line, that we're either going to call games straight and we're going to be honest with viewers, or we're going to do nothing more than fill a public relations arm of the team and essentially shield the product on a daily basis. I think viewers are smart enough to know which announcers from team-owned networks are working on behalf of viewers, or which announcers are really working on behalf of the team."

I know I also mentioned this yesterday, but the 2013 Fans Scouting Report at The Book Blog remains open and could use your thoughts on various Brewers' defense. As of this writing 12 Brewer fans have shared their opinions, and I know for a fact that at least 14 people read the Mug some days.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I can't get them all.

Drink up.