Finally, we're back to regular season baseball...if this break had gone on much longer, I might have started building things out of cardboard.

I've gotten so used to scrolling past JS articles without reading them that I almost missed this Anthony Witrado piece on the trials and tribulations of Prince Fielder, which isn't half bad.

If I asked you to guess which Brewer swings at the most pitches that aren't strikes, would Ryan Braun have been one of your first five guesses? Me either. But Beyond the Box Score has him swinging at 35.28% of balls, which is in the top 10 in all of baseball.

UPDATE: Turns out the stat actually means 35.28% of the pitches he swings at are outside the strike zone. Thanks to Battlekow for correcting my work but ignoring our Scrabble game.

I'm guilty of complaining about it myself, but do the Brewers really struggle to hit bad pitching? Turns out the answer is no.

Would an interview with a sideline reporter normally be interesting enough to make the Mug? No. But Trenni...well, Trenni's a lot smarter than your average sideline reporter.

On injuries:

Aaron Harang's "forearm strain" diagnosis could be a sign of worse things to come.
Orlando Hernandez was pulled from his rehab start with a sore foot after just one inning of throwing the banana.
Scott Kazmir isn't injured, but his next start is being pushed back a couple of days after his unexpected All-Star Game outing.
Tim Lincecum's flulike symptoms turned out to be dehydration, and he should be fine.
Pedro Martinez has been scratched from his start Sunday and received a cortisone shot on his sore groin. Ouch.
Edgar Renteria left last night's game with a sore left hamstring (again).

It's possible the pitching market may dry up well before the trading deadline. Yesterday, the Phillies traded three prospects to the A's for Joe Blanton. Phillies Nation thinks it was the wrong move. In the meantime, does this mean the best pitcher still available is Erik Bedard?

Maybe it's actually Francisco Liriano. He's 7-0 with a 2.73 ERA in his last nine starts in AAA, and he's filed a grievance with the Twins, since his extended stay in AAA will keep him from being arbitration eligible this winter. Ron Gardenhire is not at all happy about the union trying to dictate his roster management.

This would be an even bigger dictation: Major League Baseball is considering taking a break for the Olympics, if baseball returns as an Olympic sport in 2016.

For once, the Yankees were frugal: They've signed Richie Sexson, but only for a pro-rated share of the $390,000 league minimum salary.

The All-Star Game pulled in a bit more than $390,000 in ad revenue. Marketwatch takes a look at the relationship between television and baseball, and how the All-Star Game coverage has changed over the years.

Royals beat writer Sam Mellinger has hardly slept for days and just got done sitting in a really uncomfortable seat at Yankee Stadium for several days, but wanted to take a moment to tell us all about the stresses of being a writer. I've emailed him and offered to trade jobs, if he's interested.

Oh, and if you're not sure what you're eating today, try out the Wheel of Lunch.

Drink up.

Remember last week, when I missed trash day on Wednesday? Because I missed last week's trash day, this week the trash is overflowing...and as a result, the garbage truck drove right by it. It's like a trash saga.

All-Star Game Win Probability
BR doesn't appear to have a box score.

Aside from, of course, the ridiculously covered All-Star game, the biggest Brewer news is probably the new infield the team will be playing on when they return home from the break. It can't hurt.

Bodog Sports has the Brewers at 7:2 odds to win the NL (second best, behind the Cubs) and 12:1 to win the World Series, tied for fifth with the White Sox.

Riding the Pine gives the Brewers a B- for their first half. They should've done more extra credit to see if they could sneak up to a B.

No injuries today (thankfully), so let's go straight to the other news: Even though the game went 15 innings and both teams ran out of players, Tim Lincecum couldn't pitch last night and had to check into the hospital due to flulike symptoms. That's a tough break. Does anyone remember a few years ago when Greg Vaughn was the only position player who didn't play in the game because he got food poisoning at the All-Star Gala?

In the other dugout, AL manager Terry Francona said he thought Scott Kazmir, who wasn't supposed to pitch at all, still had an inning or two left, but if the game continued past that he was ready to turn to J.D. Drew.

Which is more valuable: 3 solid bullpen arms or one dominant closer? Skyking162 is on the case.

Yesterday was TheJay's birthday. He spent it writing a post about team LOB percentages for Recondite Baseball. Could someone please help him learn how to appropriately spend a birthday?

Roy Halladay is upset with the Jays annual return to mediocrity. He's taken less money to stay, eaten a ton of innings and pitched Cy Young caliber baseball for years on middle of the road teams so I understand why he's upset, but pitching in Toronto does have one added perk: topless women in the outfield.

That doesn't happen at Yankee Stadium, I'd guess, although there is a NASA Gigapan you can check out if you want to make sure.

Alyssa Milano is done dating baseball players. Thankfully, if players are forced to date someone with less baseball savvy, the Mets are offering a seminar to teach women about baseball.

Got Facebook? Good. Go become a fan of Brew Crew Ball. You can add your photos, videos and other stuff and it won't get washed away like the Fanshots and Fanposts do.

Drink up.

Ok, let's be honest, there's really not a lot going on today, but someone needed to write a post to bump Roguejim's New Kids on the Block post off the top spot.

Sadly, there's not a win expectancy graph or BR Box Score for the Home Run Derby.

Since not much has changed in 24 hours, we're still talking about the rotation platoon idea. Between the Green Pillars takes a look at the potential availability of the non-starter in the platoon and argues the platoon would effectively waste a roster spot.

On injuries:

Jerry Hairston Jr. has a mild hamstring strain and will be re-evaluated on Thursday.
Nats OF Wily Mo Pena has a slight tear in his rotator cuff and fraying of his labrum and will undergo surgery.

I had an unexpected moment yesterday. Since I'm officially back from vacation and not overwhelmed with other stuff, I'm back to casting a weekly ballot in the blogpoll for postseason awards. This week I sat down with a spreadsheet, put in all the numbers, added bonuses for playing on winning teams, playing a premium defensive position, playing everyday...and my AL MVP turned out to be Ian Kinsler. He likely won't even be the leading vote-getter on the Rangers, but he's my AL MVP. And in a strange coincidence, he's also profiled today at Beyond the Box Score.

So Josh Hamilton started out with all kinds of talent, found cocaine and heroin, spent years working to clean up his life, found God, turned it around and hit 28 home runs in 38 swings last night at Yankee Stadium. All of this prompted Rick Reilly to say "It's a lousy night to be an atheist." It seems to me like being an atheist would be pretty much the same every day.

On the other hand, the combination of a booing crowd and a mic he didn't know was live prompted Chase Utley to drop an F. bomb. Oops.

Jose Capellan is on the move again, this time signing with the Royals and heading to AAA Omaha. It's the right Jose Capellan this time, right? I don't even know which one to tag, so both get it.

Tangotiger takes a look at payroll distribution among teams. About 43.2% of the average team's payroll is spent on pitching. You can see the breakdown by position via the link.

Oh, and if you're looking for work, this job with the Cardinals looks like a nice starting point in the front office/player development field. I've been watching the team jobs boards for a while now and jobs like this don't pop up very often.

Drink up.

It may be the All-Star break, but the news hasn't taken a break.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

Apparently hitting a walk-off sac fly only merits a little Gatorade bath.

It appears Ben Sheets will be the first Brewer pitcher ever to start the All-Star Game. It's an honor, certainly, but it also means I'll be holding my breath for the first 2-3 innings. Sheets also won Dayn Perry's first half NL Cy Young, which is much less prestigious but comes without the risk of injury in a meaningless game.

Home Run Derby participants can choose anyone they want to throw pitches they're going to launch into the stratosphere. Ryan Braun, given those roughly 6.4 billion options, has chosen his agent, Nez Balelo. Huh?

Beyond the Box Score is the most recent blog to debunk the "Derby Curse" theory. But if you're looking for a reason to curse during the Derby, feel free to try out the Home Run Derby drinking game.

With six starters and five spots, there's still talk that the Brewers may use a platooned fifth starter, with Dave Bush starting at home and Seth McClung starting on the road. I can't wrap my brain around that logic...statistics would suggest it would work...but how could it?

Maybe next season, one of them can close. Salomon Torres won't say if he's planning on retiring after this season.

The Sabathia trade has been met with pretty widespread approval. In fact, even Matt LaPorta thinks it was the right move.

These brawls are always entertaining when someone else's minor leaguers are in them: here's video (and crappy news coverage) of Saturday night's brawl in Huntsville's game. (h/t Brewerfan.net) I'm guessing suspensions will be coming out shortly for this mess.

On injuries:

Kelvim Escobar will have surgery to repair a torn right labrum and will miss the rest of 2008 and likely some of 2009.
Pedro Martinez left his start Saturday with a sore groin.
Dodgers P Takashi Saito will undergo an MRI to determine the severity and cause of tightness in his elbow.
Kerry Wood will miss the All-Star game due to a blister on his pitching hand.

Reports are coming out that Nats GM Jim Bowden and special assistant Jose Rijo are under investigation for skimming signing bonus money from Dominican players. Obviously, everyone involved is innocent until proven guilty. With that said, if there turns out to be truth behind the allegations, this is a slimy thing to do at best. Many, if not most Dominican players grow up in tremendous poverty, and anyone caught taking money off the top of their first opportunity to do better should never work in baseball again.

Here's a better way to produce some extra cash: Some Korean teams may consider reducing their night games to save on energy costs. The electricity needed to power one night game could power one house for more than six months.

Sabathia's home run was cool, but he's still got a long way to go to reach this milestone: With a home run Friday, Rick Ankiel has now hit more home runs (33) than he's given up (32).

So how bad is Mariners DH Jose Vidro? Apparently it depends on who you ask. Tangotiger asked the question twice, once to non-Mariner fans and once to Mariner fans, and reached an interesting conclusion.

Oh, and the guy who checks IDs at Wrigley Field is sleeping on the job.

Drink up.

This one is short, partly because there's not much good stuff out there today, partly because I'm in a hurry, and partly because my caffeine level has reached a dangerous low.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So Corey Hart is an All Star. Make no mistake, I'm thrilled, but now that we know that Ryan Braun was almost the NL's leading vote-getter, and Corey Hart managed to beat out players from some of baseball's biggest markets for the final spot, does anyone else smell a rat? I'm not going to go all-out and make an accusation, but if someday years from now we discover that the vote might have been artificially impacted, I wouldn't be shocked.

Also, Guillermo Mota is still a Brewer, despite Tom H.'s projection that he'd be designated for assignment. I'm guessing Tom won't be sitting near Mota on a team plane anytime soon.

Apparently batting .211 is bad, but batting .211 with poor body language was what it took to get Richie Sexson released. The Brew Town Beat thinks it couldn't hurt to bring Sexson back. The Transaction Oracle projects him at .230/.323/.419 for the rest of 2008 with one of his top comps being my dog's namesake, Gorman Thomas. In the meantime, in an "unrelated" move, the Mariners traded for Craig Wilson.

On injuries:

Aaron Harang has been diagnosed with a forearm strain and DL'ed.
Vernon Wells is out 4-6 weeks with a Grade 2 strain of his hamstring.

I don't have any non-Brewer related stuff today (except the Sexson stuff). So instead, I'll point you to this: If you like my daily notes about non-Brewer stuff, but would prefer it mainly focused on linking you to pictures of scantily clad celebrities and comments about my beard, consider checking out Aaron Gleeman's Link-O-Rama.

Oh, and not only can lefties pitch in the big leagues until they're 50, they're also more qualified to be President. I'm still not interested in running.

Drink up.

So...1-2 in the Sabathia era.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

For the first day since the Sabathia trade, he's not the big story today. Instead, everyone's talking about Guillermo Mota. Following another poor performance last night, In-Between Hops wondered if it was time to put him on the DL and see if he could figure it out with some time off. But, as noted in the Fanshots, Tom H. is taking the next step and calling for a head to roll. Yes, you read that right. The blogs are calling for a prolonged approach to preserve a potentially useful long-term part of the equation, and the mainstream media is providing the knee jerk reaction. I had to read it twice to be sure, too.

Ned Yost is concerned about Ryan Braun screwing up his approach in the Home Run Derby. Thankfully, I still have this link to use to show those concerns aren't backed up by much evidence.

Likely fueled by the Sabathia deal, the Brewers have moved up from 11th to 8th in the most recent Bugs and Cranks Power Rankings.

If you'd like to see video of the drunken frat boys that give all Brewer fans a bad name, check out Big League Stew's video review of tailgating at Miller Park.

On injuries:

Mets P Tony Armas Jr. has been placed on the DL with a pulled abdominal muscle.
Mariners SP Miguel Batista left yesterday's start after 23 pitches with a sore groin.
Aaron Harang has been scratched from his start Sunday, according to Jim Powell.
Blue Jays SP Dustin McGowan left his start early Tuesday and has been placed on the DL with a sore shoulder.
Mark Mulder's comeback only lasted one third of an inning last night.
Edgar Renteria was pulled from last night's game with a mild hamstring strain and is day-to-day.
Rockies OF Ryan Spilborghs has been placed on the DL with a strained oblique.

The other day I mentioned that Padres Assistant GM Paul DePodesta reached out to the fans for insight on how to handle the trading deadline. A couple of interesting follow-up notes: First, Tangotiger asks if DePodesta or Padres fans are delusional, leading to a conversation between he and I in the comments. Then, DePodesta gathered the responses and posted a follow-up note, clarifying some of the misconceptions commenters had about possibilities and taking a candid look at the situation at hand. I still think DePodesta is doing a good job of doing his due diligence with his fans before waving the white flag, and if all front offices did this when their teams were underperforming, they'd save themselves a fair amount of fan backlash.

Now without their ace, the Indians are free to go into all-out freefall, and have lost 10 straight.

For teams who lost out on the Sabathia and Harden sweepstakes, all hope is not lost: Apparently a new group of bidders is forming to vie for the services of Nelson Cruz. Is the market for AAAA outfielders really that thin?

Yesterday, I mentioned a post on Spitting Seeds about the Reds move to sync their radio broadcasts with TV, so fans watching the games can choose which announcers they'd like to listen to. Big League Stew picked up on the story and added this tidbit: syncing broadcasts may be great for fans at home, but creates a long delay for fans who brought headphones to the ballpark. I tend to favor enhancing the experience for fans at home, because a) there's more of them, and b) the fans who brought headphones to the park likely aren't missing much, they're already at the game.

Several years ago, I spent one season as the play-by-play voice of a high school basketball team. Every now and then, I'd see a handful of fans in the crowd wearing headphones, listening to my broadcast. I was happy to have the listeners, without question, but I still don't understand why watching the game wasn't enough, and they needed a 17-year-old to tell them about it.

A lot of people say baseball is too slow and boring. In response, Major League Baseball has found a way to show them what slow and boring really sounds like. They've invited Josh Groban to perform at the All Star Game. My fiancee insists he has the "voice of an angel." If my mental image of an angel had Josh Groban's voice, I'd be pretty weirded out.

Oh, and by the way, ummm...Italian Spiderman?

Drink up.

So a few weeks ago I moved into a new place. This is the first place I've ever lived where my garbage goes out to the curb and not into a dumpster. I think a key part of growing up is remembering to take the garbage out on time. I'm 1-for-3 in the new place, and forgot it again this morning. Just FYI - when my fiancee comes home and asks why the garbage didn't go out, I'm blaming you.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

I probably don't need to tell you about the excitement of yesterday, which was certainly better than a normal Tuesday. Reviews of the Sabathia deal continue to pour in, including the long awaited BTF Transaction Oracle, which projects CC for 101 innings over 14 starts the rest of the way, with a 3.48 ERA.

Dayn Perry says the trade makes the Brewers the odds-on favorite to win the wild card, but still leaves the Cubs as favorites to win the division.

Regardless of what it will mean for the standings, Adam Charles of Bugs and Cranks would like to share a George Webb cheeseburger with CC.

Ryan Braun will participate in Monday's Home Run Derby. In-Between Hops took a look at the numbers and debunked the myth that being in the Derby "screws up your swing."

On injuries:

Erik Bedard won't pitch again until after the All-Star break.
Eric Byrnes' hamstrings aren't recovering and may need surgery which would mean the end of his season.
Ryan Church has returned to the DL for the third time with symptoms related to concussions.
Rangers RP Eric Hurley has been placed on the DL with a sore hamstring.
White Sox closer Bobby Jenks still has pain when he throws off a mound, and is headed to the DL.
Rangers SP Vicente Padilla will miss his start today with a neck strain and sore thumb.
Marlins C Matt Treanor aggravated an abdominal injury and may be headed for the DL.

Of course the biggest non-Brewer story of the day, as noted in the Fanshots, is the Cubs' acquisition of Rich Harden. Drawing much less attention: the Braves signed Julian Tavarez.

Have I used this joke before? I don't remember. Even if I have, having the Rockies in town gives me an excuse to ring-rang-a-dong for Matt Holliday.

Even 3 months later, Ben Sheets' performance on April 6 against the Giants is tied for the fifth best game score of the season. A more surprising fact, though: Hiroki Kuroda has outperformed him twice in 2008.

The Reds are delaying radio broadcasts of their games so the audio matches up with the video on their TV broadcasts. I haven't done it in years, but I grew up listening to the radio broadcast while watching the Brewers on TV, and don't ever recall having a lag problem. Is it a problem now?

Oh, and it's pretty much never a good idea to intentionally walk home the tying run in the bottom of the 9th.

Drink up.

Here's something to read while twirling your mustache.

Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Are you excited for the CC (no periods, just like KL Snow) Sabathia debut tonight? Yes? Then maybe you'll be interested in these notes on Sabathia from around the blogosphere:

Dixieflatline crunched the numbers and says adding Sabathia increased the Brewers' playoff chances by 10%.
Rluzinski says Sabathia improves the team by 1.93 wins, but that projection is based on Sabathia replacing Dave Bush.
In-Between Hops notes the major difference Mark Attanasio has made as owner of the Brewers, as exemplified in this trade.
Jayson Stark says the Cubs are still the favorites to win the Central, but the Brewers are the NL team you least want to face in October.
Saberscouting's PTO% rankings now have two Brewer pitchers in the top 15.
Joe DelGrippo says the Brewers will coast into the playoffs. Coasting isn't something you do when you're in third place.
Babes Love Baseball has changed Sabathia's nickname (formerly "Captain Cheeseburger") to El Capitán Chorizo.
A's Nation is one of a thousand sources saying the Cubs are suddenly interested in Rich Harden.

Also, in today's lone non-Sabathia note, two Brewers made Dave Cameron's Trade Value Top 50 list.

On injuries:
Padres C Michael Barrett hopes to have surgery soon to repair broken bones suffered when fouling a ball off of his face.
Angels C Mike Napoli has been placed on the DL with a sore shoulder.
Dontrelle Willis still has pain in his knee, and is being re-evaluated with the possibility that he has a torn ACL.

Maybe the Central isn't really a three-team race: Redleg Nation notes that if the Reds win their next six, they'll cruise into the All Star break 2 games over .500.

Presumably this was intended for Padres fans, but when you put it on the web you open it up for everyone: Paul DePodesta wants to know how you would handle the trading deadline for the Padres.

I tend to believe I have my finger on an awful lot of pulses, so how is it possible that Francisco Rodriguez has 35 saves before the All Star break, setting a major league record, and I had no idea?

Jeff Francoeur's tenure in AA only lasted 3 days, but the ill will it created looks like it might last a little longer.

Oh, and apparently throwing out first pitches in Korea is pants optional.

Drink up.