The final paragaph of Mostly Harmless, the final book in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series: All told, it wasn't THAT bad of a month, but still, I'm not quite ready to turn on the light music yet.

Game 4 Win Expectancy Graph
Game 4 BR Box Score

Obviously, most of the season wrap-up posts haven't been written yet, but among those already completed, here are a handful of my favorites:

• Between the Green Pillars
• The Brew Town Beat
• Ryan Braun
• MLB Fanhouse

It's good to know someone else is as superstitious as I became this season: Just two games into the postseason, Ryan Braun took a break from his postseason blog because the team was losing while he was writing it. The combination of his blog hiatus and my pumpkin bars led to a win in Game 3. Unfortunately, my pumpkin pudding wasn't very good, and neither was Game 4. I made the pumpkin pudding into pumpkin shakes last night, though, and that was much better.

Also not very good in Game 4: Jeff Suppan. The Brew Town Beat reviews Suppan's 2008 efforts. Baseball Musings wants to know why Yovani Gallardo didn't start.

Of course, members of the local (and in many cases, national) media were too busy watching the Packer game to get ready for yesterday's game. Perhaps the Brewers would have been better off if Corey Hart and Jeff Suppan had been watching the Packers, too.

This Brewer dugout photo, taken post-game, sums things up pretty nicely. Afterwards, Ben Sheets said his goodbyes in the locker room.

So would the NLDS have turned out differently if they had played best-of-7 instead of best-of-5? The Official Site says best-of-7 is the way to go, but Crashburnalley says proponents of the idea are wrong. Bud Selig says it won't happen. In that last link, Selig also notes the huge attendance increases in Milwaukee and Tampa, and cautions clubs against raising ticket prices for 2009 in the face of a down economy.

So what now? Well, I guess we could start with another Sabathia Smorgasbord. Here's a photo of CC's final (pinch hitting) appearance as a Brewer in 2008. After the game, he left the door open for a 2009 return. Jon Heyman says the Brewers are preparing to make a run to re-sign him. It Is About The Money, Stupid thinks Sabathia is posturing himself for a big payday by keeping New York, Milwaukee and the west coast as options for 2009.

The Brewers played Game 4, and most likely would have played most of the subsequent games without Rickie Weeks. Would it surprise you to discover that Baseball by Paul rated Weeks as the 11th best second baseman for 2009? They must not take defense into account, but still, I think Weeks' 2008 season was closer to average than most give him credit for. And yes, Dad, I do know you're going to text or call the second you read that.

2008 isn't over for everyone in the Brewer organization, though. If I got to award medals, I'd give one to TheJay for this roundup of Brewer prospects playing fall and winter ball in Arizona and Hawaii, and how you can track their progress. Also, if you take a trip to see the Venezuelan Winter League, and you see former Nashville Sounds manager Frank Kremblas coaching the Caracas Lions, be sure to tell him we said hi.

It does appear that the end of the 2008 season will also be the end of Fire Ned Yost. Marty, I still think you're making a mistake letting it go.

So today the effort begins to find the pieces to the puzzle that will form the Milwaukee Brewers in 2009. Feel free to click any or all of these links if you're ready to fire up the hot stove:

• Crawfish Boxes says the Astros are already posturing to make a move on Ben Sheets.
• Brewed Sports has a quote from J.J. Hardy, acknowledging the possibility that he could be traded and recounting his first encounter with Alcides Escobar.
• Al has a quote from Mark Attanasio suggesting Doug Melvin will be back in 2009.
• At some point this offseason, we're going to need to revise our statistical formulas for grittiness to include catching fly balls that bounce off support cables.
• Remember the Erik Bedard deal? Remember how that turned out? Want to try sending six prospects away for one player and see if you fare any better? The Padres may auction off Jake Peavy.
• Third base will probably be an area that gets a lot of attention during the offseason, but we can all breathe a sigh of relief now that we know the position will not be filled by Wes Helms, who signed a multi-year deal with the Marlins.

Fresh off a year where he opened up the checkbook in a fashion unprecedented in Milwaukee, Mark Attanasio wants MLB to do more in regards to revenue sharing. All this amidst reports that the Yankeees will exceed $400 million in revenues this season, even without making the playoffs, and will make more next season with the increased revenues related to a new stadium.

Speaking of new stadiums in New York, a movement is underway to save feral cats living in Shea Stadium. In a related note, apparently the Rays and White Sox had some fun with the pigeons at US Cellular Field yesterday.

Here's a project for someone with a better knowledge of the rules than I've got: Reds Blog is compiling a list of Reds that would need to be protected to avoid the Rule 5 Draft. Which Brewer prospects need protection as well?

Eight of Francisco Rodriguez's record-breaking 62 saves this season were achieved while pitching less than one full inning. If the save rule were retroactively changed to eliminate those saves, 1 current and 2 former Brewers would be among the all-time single season leaders.

Some people get statistics, and some don't. On the positive side, Baseball Musings has a study suggesting lineup "protection" may be a myth. On the negative, we have (newly extended) Mets manager Jerry Manuel, who says scrappy players are more comfortable playing in the postseason. So let's say you are Astros SP Brandon Backe. You posted an ERA+ of 70 in 2008, your first full season since 2005. One could make an argument you're among the worst pitchers in baseball. You're probably in "take a chance on a minor league deal" territory at best. What would you do to raise your value before hitting the market? If you said, "get arrested for rioting in Galveston," you could not possibly be more wrong. (hat tip to Lone Star Ball)

My job is so much easier when other people say negative things about the Cubs so I don't have to write them myself. Brian McTaggart is happy the Cubs lost. Meanwhile, The View From the Bleachers thinks the Cubs should trade Carlos Zambrano.

Oh, and here's an introduction to the world of inflatable art.

Drink up.

This isn't where I'd hoped we'd be on Friday, but it's where we are, so let's make the best of it.

Game 1 Win Probability Graph
Game 1 BR Box Score

Game 2 Win Probability Graph
Game 2 BR Box Score

Ok, any idiot could write a gloom-and-doom Mug at this point, dismiss the Brewer season and spend the weekend picking apples or something. I might pick apples this weekend (I'm out), but I'm not giving up yet. Here are my reasons for optimism:

• The last time the Brewers were down 0-2 in a best of five series, they took the last three from the Angels in the 1982 ALCS.
• MLB Playoff Odds still gives the Brewers a 12.3% shot (about 1 in 8) at winning the NLDS and a 2.4% shot (about 1 in 40) at winning the World Series.
• FanGraphs released a list of baseball's ten worst relief pitchers, and there's not a single Brewer on it.
• Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun both know what they need to do.
• Prince has made enough toothpicks to last through the winter.
• Bob Uecker will throw out the first pitch tomorrow.
• And of course, we still have the Rally Lobster:

What else do you need?

The Brew Town Beat in encouraging you not to boo the Brewers this weekend. For once, I'm with him. We've waited 26 years for this moment, let's not waste it complaining about Corey Hart's .132/.159/.197 batting line since September 6.

The Journal Sentinel has a piece on Dale Sveum's "loyalty" to Rickie Weeks. Worth noting: Weeks is still splitting time, and while his game 1 error is permanently carved into Brewer lore, he also hit .281/.395/.547 in his last 20 games, which looks pretty good when compared to J.J. Hardy, Mike Cameron or even Ryan Braun's numbers over the same span.

It's time for today's Sabathia Smorgasbord. Today, Joe Posnanski asks if clutch pitching is more likely to be real than clutch hitting, MLB Trade Rumors suggests both Sabathia and Ben Sheets will be Type A free agents and The San Francisco Chronicle (via MLB Trade Rumors) says the Giants will make a run at signing him.

As noted in the FanShots, I made Sports Illustrated this week. I can't tell you how weird of a feeling it is to spend an entire season writing about a team, and make a nationally-known publication based on a throwaway line about pumpkin pie. Here's my pumpkin pie recipe. No, I don't make my own pie crust.

One injury note to pass along: Carlos Pena left last night's game with blurred vision, but it appears he'll be ok and ready to go for game 2.

In case you missed it, A Greek Orthodox priest exorcised the Cubs' dugout before last night's game. Carlos Zambrano was still there at game time, so apparently it didn't work.

So apparently the Mets are hoping to improve in 2009 by suck-proofing their bullpen. Brewer fans, above all others, should be able to tell them that "throwing a lot of money at it" and "suck-proofing" are two different things.

Via BBTF, I also learned that Lanny Frattare, voice of the Pirates since 1976, retired yesterday. I can't imagine retiring after so long when the team is this bad...it'd be like Uecker retiring in 2001.

On the coaching carousel: The Royals have fired their hitting coach. There's still not a single fired manager this offseason.

Oh, and if you need something to stare at while you spend the off-day spacing out, the Wikipedia Screen Saver works for me.

Drink up. And keep your chin up!

Well, here we are. I'm pulling out all the superstition stops today. I'm having a Nutrisoda and pumpkin pie for breakfast. Even Gorman is excited for an afternoon on the couch. I might even let him take the cone off his head for a bit.

It's Yovani Gallardo vs Cole Hamels at 2 today. Let's start with the previews and predictions:

• Another Baseball Blog has the Brewers at 46% to win the series.
• Baseball Digest Daily has three keys for victory for each team.
• Cardinals Diaspora has the Phillies in 5.
• The Good Phight has the Phillies winning in 4.
• Some guy named Jeff Sackmann predicted a Brewer victory over at The Hardball Times.
• Two other, less knowledgable guys predicted a Phillies win.
• Ken Rosenthal has the Phillies in 4.
• 8 of the 10 writers at MLB FanHouse have the Brewers winning. They're also staging a debate?
• MLB Playoff Odds has the Brewers at 45.7%.
• Peter Schmuck has the Brewers winning the series.
• I have no idea how betting on baseball works, but Results Disoriented has the Brewers at +190 today and +164 to win the series. Whatever that means.
• Rohan Chatterjee of Bugs & Cranks predicts the Phillies in 4.
• WhatIfSports gives the Brewers a 49% chance of winning the series.

Want to make your own predictions? Beyond the Box Score wants to hear them.

Still need tickets for Games 3 and 4? Big League Stew notes there are tickets available for trade on Craigslist, if you've got tickets to a Celine Dion concert or a tab of generic Viagra to give away. And if you're visiting Milwaukee and looking for food, Keith Law has some restaurant reviews for you.

Even if you don't have tickets, you can still follow the Brew Town Beat's postseason roadmap. Or you could follow the Brewers by reading Ryan Braun's postseason blog. By the way, Braun's errorless 2008 season made Umpbump's list of biggest surprises.

It doesn't look like Dale Sveum will be asking Ryan Braun or anyone else to bunt all that often in the postseason, as the small ball experiment is out. A rule against wasting outs in the postseason makes me feel better about the Brewers' chances.

Another thing that could help: Pat Burrell left BP yesterday with discomfort in his lower back. He'll be re-evaluated today.

It's time for the daily gathering of links about CC Sabathia. Jon Heyman has him second for NL MVP, behind Manny Ramirez. Marc Hulet of FanGraphs thinks the Brewers won this trade. MLB Trade Rumors says the Indians are leaning towards taking Michael Brantley as the PTBNL.

Then, on the other end of the postseason-usefulness spectrum, we have Ben Sheets. Sheets was left off the NLDS roster and revealed he has a torn muscle near his right elbow yesterday. The Brew Town Beat thanks Sheets for his efforts as a Brewer.

If you could have any first baseman in baseball for the 2009 season, where would you draft Prince Fielder? Baseball by Paul has him sixth.

Would you have guessed the best offense of any NL playoff team belongs to the Los Angeles Dodgers (of Los Angeles)? Me either.

On the coaching carousel: the Indians have fired bullpen coach Luis Isaac, who had been with the team since 1993. Hopefully he didn't punch anything on the way out, because apparently that can get expensive: The Padres are trying to recover some of Khalil Greene's salary after he missed about a third of the season with injuries sustained punching a storage cabinet.

Oh, and here's the Youtube video of Salomon Torres' speech from Monday's rally, which is now my second favorite Youtube video of the week, behind If I Were A Bond Girl.

Drink up. Then have another. See you back here at 2.

So in this morning's Mug I mentioned needing to compile results from our over-under contests this season. Well, as it turns out I've got other things I'm trying to avoid doing so...ta-da! It actually happened today.

The first set of results is from this over-under contest I posted on April 1, which asked seven questions about the Brewers. Here's how we did as a community, first of all:

14 of the 17 voters correctly predicted that Ben Sheets would pitch more than 150 innings this season.
15 of 17 voters correctly predicted that 3 or fewer Brewers would hit 30 HR (actual total: 2).
5 of 17 voters correctly predicted that Prince Fielder would hit fewer than 42.5 HR.
10 of 17 voters correctly predicted that Eric Gagne would record fewer than 30 saves.
13 of 17 voters correctly predicted that another Brewer would save more than 10 games.
12 of 17 voters correctly predicted that Manny Parra would make more than 20 starts.
15 of 17 voters correctly predicted that the Brewers would win 88 or more games.

Five predictors tied for the lead in this contest, each with 6 correct answers, and since I didn't include a tiebreaker they'll all have to settle for being co-champions:

Grobbins
DaleCoop14
TAPMoney
MadJimiBrewha
Stoa

Congratulations to our winners.

Now, I also have this contest, where I asked everyone to pick five overrated and five underrated teams, based on the Vegas over/under lines for wins in 2008. There were a total of 30 points possible, here are our top 5 scorers:

1) Jcirillo received 8 points for picking winners and 13 points for picking losers, for 21 points.
2) ILostMy4thFinger received 14 points for picking winners and 6 points for picking losers, for 20 points.
3) MolitorFan received 13 points for picking winners and 7 points for picking losers, for 20 points.
4) Griswald received 12 points for picking winners and 6 points for picking losers, for 18 points.
5) Michael received 10 points for picking winners and 7 points for picking losers, for 17 points.

Worth noting, because I like to whine, TheJay and I both had 16 points, and if the Giants and Blue Jays had each lost one more time, we each would have had 21.

For what it's worth, the Rays (+23.5), Twins (+15.5), Marlins (+15.5), Astros (+13.5) and Cubs (+9.5) were the biggest overachievers, and the Mariners (-25.5), Padres (-21.5), Tigers (-19.5), Braves (-12.5) and Nationals (-11.5) were the biggest underachievers.

At any rate, if you're one of the winners listed above, you didn't actually win anything tangible, but congrats anyway!

Two more celebration threads have been posted since yesterday, so swing by Kirbir's blog and Two-Fisted Slopper if you've still got some exuberance you need to get out.

Apparently 14,000 people still had some exuberance left yesterday afternoon, and attended the Brewer pep rally at the Summerfest grounds. Click the link for video. Big League Stew has the Brewers' postseason bid acceptance speech.

So Yovani Gallardo gets the ball in the biggest start of his life tomorrow afternoon. I guess that means this shirt, which was only sent to me yesterday, is already obsolete. The Phillies have named their first three starters: Cole Hamels, Brett Myers and Jamie Moyer.

While the grounds crew paints fancy logos on the field at Citizens Bank Park, pundits around the web are making their predictions for the series:

• Baseball Musings gives the Phillies a 75% chance to win.
• Scott Miller predicts the Phillies win in 4.
• Tim Kurkijian predicts the Phillies will win in 5.
• The mayor of Milwaukee has bet some Usinger's brats on the Brewers.

I recognize it's the playoffs and anything can happen, but anyone who picks the Phillies in 5 needs to remember that a game 5 Phillies win would have to come against CC Sabathia...and if the Brewers get to a game 5 with CC on the mound, I like their chances.

It's time for your daily collection of links about CC Sabathia:

• Mike Greenberg still thinks Sabathia is the NL MVP.
• Beyond the Box Score says Sabathia's performance is one of the best by a pitcher since 1996.
• Al notes that Sabathia's 7 complete games for the Brewers were more than any other NL team had this season.
• Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says the Indians are close to picking the PTBNL.

Dave Cameron of FanGraphs has a look at the Brewers' path to victory.

The Southpaw says Doug Melvin should win Executive of the Year. Not bad for a guy an awful lot of us were ready to can a week ago.

The Junkball Blues takes a look at NL relievers and the leads they successfully converted. The things you probably know: Salomon Torres isn't exactly an elite closer, but Brian Shouse consistently converts leads. The thing you might not have realized: Carlos Villanueva was about as effective as anyone in the bullpen this year.

Via BBTF, I found this story about a musician who won't be invited back to play at Brewer games, but can't figure out why. After all, all he did was play "Go Cubs Go" after a Cub win at Miller Park. His quote: Someone should tell him the reason, then kick him in the balls.

So far, all 30 MLB teams appear to be keeping their managers, but the coaching carousel did spin a little more yesterday: the Padres need a new hitting coach and a bench coach, the Pirates are shopping for a first base coach and a pitching coach, and the Rangers are in the market for a bench coach and third base coach.

Also, we had the first "offseason" signing. A quick recap:

Kyle Lohse, 2006: 5-10 in 34 games (19 starts), 78 ERA+
Kyle Lohse, 2007: 9-12 in 34 games (32 starts), 100 ERA+
Kyle Lohse, 2008: 15-6 in 33 games (all starts), 113 ERA+
Kyle Lohse, yesterday: signed a 4 year, $41 million dollar deal with the Cardinals and laughed all the way to the same bank Carlos Silva probably uses.

One of the things about reading over 200 blogs daily is that I see a lot of opportunities to enter prediction contests, and sometimes I take them, even if it's something I don't know all that much about. For example, I recently missed by 2 in the contest to predict Kila Ka'aihue's 2008 plate appearances. Usually, I forget about them. So I was surprised to discover I almost won True Blue LA's Dodger prediction challenge. I'm also reminded that I never thought to look up the final results on our own BCB over-under contests. I'll add that to my list for today.

Oh, and by all accounts we've got a pretty cool owner, but this quote from Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg makes me feel like they've got a pretty interesting owner, too: Drink up.

Wow. Just wow.

Friday:
Brewers 5, Cubs 1
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Marlins 6, Mets 1
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Saturday:
Cubs 7, Brewers 3
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Mets 2, Marlins 0
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Sunday:
Brewers 3, Cubs 1
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Marlins 4, Brewers 2
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2008 Milwaukee Brewers, winners of the NL Wild Card. You can get your Wild Card gear here, but I'm saving my budget and waiting to see if there's NL Champion or even World Series Champion gear yet to come.

Of course, just about every Brewer blog under the sun (and some non-Brewer blogs) has a celebratory post today, and since I'm in a celebratory mood, I'm going to link them all:

• Adam Charles of Bugs and Cranks
• Another Baseball Blog
• Babes Love Baseball
• Brewers Bar
• Bernie's Crew
• Brewed Sports
• The Brew Town Beat
• Chuckie Hacks
• Fire Ned Yost
• The Griddle
• The Junkball Blues
• Viva Cerveceros
• The Yost Infection

45,299 fans were there to see it yesterday, giving the Brewers a season total of 3,068,458. Of course, if that wasn't enough celebration for you, you can celebrate with the team from 4-8 today at the Summerfest grounds. I wish I could.

I'm not going to link to every photo shot at yesterday's game, although I could. Instead, I'll give you my favorite three, and you can click through to any of them and scroll through the rest if you want.

After the game, Tom H. got quotes from Doug Melvin, Ben Sheets, Dale Sveum, Dave Bush and Craig Counsell.

Ok, let's talk about CC Sabathia for a moment. Ken Rosenthal talked to him after the game about pitching on short rest and everything he's done to help this team win. Scott Miller says Sabathia delivered a postseason to Milwaukee. Rosenthal ranked Sabathia 4th on his NL MVP ballot (and ranked Doug Melvin 3rd for Executive of the Year). Rosenthal has apparently been typing non-stop since the end of action yesterday, because he also wrote that the bold move of firing Ned Yost paid off.

At most recent count, Ryan Braun ranks seventh in the voting for NL MVP over at Beyond the Box Score. Go cast your vote. Meanwhile, The Hardball Times noted a lot more Braun jerseys than Fielders in the crowd at Miller Park. I own a Braun jersey too, but not a Fielder, mainly because I know Braun will still be a Brewer for a few more years.

Remember when we all signed up to pee our pants if the Brewers made the playoffs? I don't remember if I signed up or not, but I'm not ruining my pants. Here's a youtube video of someone who actually did.

Two-Fisted Slopper wonders if everything has happened for a reason, and all the terrible play Wes Helms showed in Milwaukee was just part of the building process towards his home run for the Marlins yesterday.

So now, the Phillies. Cole Hamels will pitch Game One on Wednesday. Todd Zolecki of the Philadelphia Inquirer is my favorite Phillies blogger, and he has a quick series preview here and a quick analysis of the Brewer pitching staff here.

MLB Playoff Odds has the Brewers at 45.7% to win their series with the Phillies, 20.5% to win the NLCS and 9.4% to win the World Series. All three of those numbers are the lowest among the 4 NL playoff teams. Jon Heyman is predicting a Cubs World Series win. I'm predicting I'll get a few more opportunities this year to roll my eyes while linking a Jon Heyman column. In other predictions: Crawfish Boxes has the Phillies winning in the first round, and Purple Row has the Brewers losing to the Rays in the World Series.

If the Brewers/Phillies matchup isn't intriguing enough for you, The Junkball Blues handicaps the 2008 Brewers/1982 Brewers matchup.

Phil Rogers ranked the Brewers 6th in his new power rankings.

On injuries:

Rocco Baldelli was reported to have muscular dystrophy over the weekend, but has since denied it.
Josh Beckett strained an oblique muscle while throwing a side session and won't pitch until at least game 3 of the ALDS.
Francisco Cordero had surgery over the weekend to remove a bone spur from his right foot. He was able to do it this early because he plays on a team that didn't make the playoffs.
Dodgers RP Hong-Chih Kuo will be left off the NLDS roster with numbness in his fingers.
Giants SP Noah Lowry will undergo surgery to remove a bone spur in his elbow.

So now, for the first time in 26 years, we as Brewer fans get to try to re-work our schedules to catch must-see baseball games at bizarre times in the afternoon on a work day. Bugs & Cranks has an open letter to baseball regarding the situation (potentially NSFW language).

The end of the regular season also means the coaching carousel is in full swing. So far, I haven't heard about any managers moving on, but the Tigers fired their pitching and bullpen coaches, the Nationals fired five coaches from their staff after losing 102 games, and the winds of change are starting to blow in Texas. Joe Torre's job is probably safe in Los Angeles, even though Nomar Garciaparra managed yesterday's game.

Speaking of Torre, he's one of three current MLB managers The Hardball Times thinks are locks for the Hall of Fame.

Jayson Stark has his Year in Review up. I could give or take most of his award voting, but the quirky quotes and box score lines make it a must read if you're as nerdy as I am.

Among players over 24 years old, Russell Branyan had the highest MLE (Major League Equivalent) stat line this season. Second place fell to Nelson Cruz.

So Cliff Lee was scratched from the final game of the season yesterday, giving him 22 wins to finish the season and an almost certain AL Cy Young. Tangotiger wants to know what you think he's worth. I know most people will pay him more, but I had a hard time cracking $10 mil/year for a guy who's only had one good season.

Oh, and Brad Nelson and Joe Dillon are probably more concerned with their current jobs, but Baseball Analysts says they'd be candidates to spend 2009 in Japan.

Drink up.

I'm calling this an appropriate time for the untucking of shirts.

Brewers 5, Pirates 1
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Mets 7, Micah Hoffpauir 6
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

It appears Ryan Braun still has a little power left. After the game, he talked to Tom H. about his intercostal strain and the difficulties it's created as he tries to hit down the stretch. I'm sure it hurts less after an extra-inning grand slam.

Of course, even if you weren't watching it, you had to know last night's game was close because a certain someone complained relentlessly about umpiring.

My faith in humanity was both restored and destroyed at the same time yesterday. Eric Gagne, who I'll wholly admit I've said some nasty things about this season, stepped up to the plate and gave away 5000 free tickets last night. Combine that with his $200,000 donation to Brewer charities and now he's only making about $9 million more than he's worth this season. At any rate, that's the good part, and kudos to him for doing it.

Of course, there will always be those among us who will take advantage of someone else's generosity. There's only 4 comments on this post at Chuckie Hacks, but one of them is someone who sold their original tickets so they could get free ones, and another is someone who took 4 seats even though they only needed 2. Way to abuse a nice gesture, douchebags.

As noted in the Fanshots, ESPN the Magazine has created a jukebox with every major leaguer's walkup music. This might be the last chance you get in 2008 to hear Mike Rivera's walk-up music: Daddy Yankee's "Bring It On," even though Rivera is hitting .306/.377/.435.

The Brewers are ranked 9th in this weeks Bugs and Cranks Power Rankings.

Only two injuries today:

John Maine has been medically cleared to pitch, and supposedly couldn't do any more damage to his injured elbow, but Mets manager Jerry Manuel says he's done for the year.
Astros RP Chris Sampson has been pitching much of the season with a torn tendon in his elbow, and will undergo surgery once the Astros' postseason hopes are finished.

So the Mets close their season with a 3 game series with the Marlins, but when it will be played is anyone's guess. The weather forecast has rain more or less non-stop for the next several days. But at least they talked Mr. Met off the ledge.

Ichiro is pretty much the last guy I'd expect to write a paragraph like this about: Apparently there are some in the Mariners clubhouse who see Ichiro as selfish and a bad teammate, to the point where there have been concerns about his safety. Reports like this won't exactly make Mariner fans feel better about being the first team ever with a $100 million payroll and 100 losses.

If this picture didn't have a caption, you'd think some teammates had a problem with Ryan Braun, as well.

Diamondbacks 3B Mark Reynolds is hitting .240/.320/.463 (OPS+ of 98) as a corner infielder, which makes it all the more impressive that he got enough plate appearances to set a new major league record with 200 strikeouts. He also struck out for the 201st time. Before this season, no player had ever struck out 200 times, but this year two players might do it, as Ryan Howard has 196 with 3 games to play. A's DH/OF Jack Cust also has 192, meaning 3 of the top 6 strikeout seasons of all time will happen in 2008. All of the top six and eight of the top ten seasons have occured since 2000.

Oh, and Paul DePodesta used the flex offense to explain why Wally Joyner resigned as hitting coach of the Padres.

Drink up.

Somewhere last night, a whiny baseball purist with a stick up his butt sent the following text: Brewers 4, Pirates 2
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Cubs 9, Mets 6
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Braves 10, Phillies 4
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Well, today we get to see what Yovani Gallardo's got. Should he be pitching today? Until tonight none of us will really know. But Bernie's Crew is against it. I don't anticipate Gallardo being left in to get shelled as he would have been under a certain previous manager. In fact, I only really expect him to go 3-4 innings before Mark DiFelice, Seth McClung, Carlos Villanueva or Jeff Suppan are summoned to eat the middle innings. But, if Gallardo can provide a quality start, it could become a shining moment in Brewer history.

So I'm assuming you all saw Prince Fielder's walk off home run Tuesday night, right? But did you know he hit it wearing Brewer underwear? Home Run Derby has the full scoop.

It appears that, if the game means something, CC Sabathia will come back around on short rest and pitch again Sunday. He needs to throw 6 more innings to reach 250, which no major leaguer has done since Livan Hernandez threw 255 in 2004. Tom H. is praising his efforts and determination, but Umpbump has a poll up asking if the Brewers are screwing Sabathia by pitching him this much.

So you may know that Ryan Braun has led the NL in total bases for most of the season. He's actually in second now, one base behind David Wright. But did you know Braun is also the only major league outfielder to have played in over 140 games with no errors? Not bad for a guy's first year in the outfield.

So Baseball Prospectus has a statistic they call "Secret Sauce," which predicts which teams will do well in the postseason. The Brewers do not fare well in this stat, so I don't buy into it.

The Brewers are, however, compelled by the power of grit. Craig Counsell is one of three players who could play in the World Series for their third different team this season. Only 24 players in history have done it.

On injuries:

Carl Crawford still hasn't received medical clearance to start hitting live pitching and will likely miss the ALDS with his injured hand.
Andy Pettitte has a sore shouder and is done for 2008.
Rockies OF Willy Taveras is done for the year with a stress fracture in his leg.

The Orioles have enough injury news to warrant their own heading. Follow that link to read about the second opinion on Daniel Cabrera's elbow, reliver Jim Miller's torn muscle in his side, Dennis Sarfate's fractured collarbone and Melvin Mora's hamstring.

Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia had to be evacuated yesterday due suspicious packages that turned out to be hot dogs. You can make all the jokes you want, but aren't all hot dogs pretty suspicious packages?

TV ratings confirmed what we all suspected: No one outside of New York cared about the final game at Yankee Stadium enough to choose it over the Packers/Cowboys game. Also under the heading of "no one cared," the Nationals are about ready to set a record for lowest attendance in the first season of a new ballpark.

The Mariners lost their 100th game last night. Somehow, they're even worse than the Giants, who played nine rookies in the seventh inning last night.

So Corey Patterson has collected over 360 plate appearances for the Reds this season despite hitting .206/.241/.341. This lead to rumors that he was only playing because he's dating Dusty Baker's daughter. It was a good theory, but turned out to be false. Now it's just inexplicable again.

Drink up.

I made a pumpkin pie from scratch yesterday. Started with a pumpkin and a frozen crust, and ended the day with a delicious pie. And the Brewers won. I'm going to need a lot more pumpkins.

Brewers 7, Pirates 5:
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Mets 6, Cubs 2:
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Braves 3, Phillies 2:
Win Probability Graph
BR Box Score

Tom H. says Prince Fielder is pressure-proof. I'm not quite ready to forget his long homerless drought in August and September, but he is hitting .419/.500/1.000 in the 50 plate appearances since it ended. Also, Pirates broadcaster John Wehner predicted his home run last night.

Looking ahead, CC Sabathia returns to the mound on short rest tonight to attempt to keep the season alive. Baseball Musings thinks the Brewers are hurting Sabathia's future by starting him on short rest again. CBS Sportsline's Scott Miller says starting Sabathia early gives the Brewers their best shot. The Junkball Blues does not appreciate Dale Sveum's bullpen usage or short-rest starts.

But, with Sabathia having been acquired by trading a first round pick, and Fielder, Braun, Weeks and Ben Sheets all having been #1's as well, the Brewers are getting more performance out of their first rounders than all but one team in playoff contention.

There mustn't have been much news to discuss at the Brewers/Timber Rattlers press conference yesterday, because this is the big scoop: Brett Lawrie, the Brewers 2008 first round pick, might play in Appleton next season. Just like every other prospect.

Yovani Gallardo was activated off the DL yesterday. All of a sudden, he's being mentioned as a possibility to start Thursday, even though he hasn't swung a bat or run the bases since May. If he's available to pitch, and McClung and Suppan would be as well, why not start one of them and have Gallardo ready in case they struggle early?

Jim Powell says the Brewers' season may hinge on the fans ability to support them at Miller Park this week. I tend to think the fans' ability to support them at Miller Park this week will hinge on the Brewers ability to play like a winning team. So we have a chicken and the egg problem.

Of course, there could always be worse outcomes: Futility Infielder takes a look at the Mets and Brewers and doesn't think either of them can win.

On injuries:

Pirates OF Brandon Moss has been advised to have season-ending knee surgery. He's seeking a second opinion.
Carlos Silva's season is over after he was scratched from his start Thursday with back problems.

That noise you heard all through the night was rejoicing coming from everywhere but New York: For the first time since 1993, baseball fans will get to enjoy a postseason without the New York Yankees. Columnists will write about other teams. ESPN will send reporters to chronicle every minute of someone else's pre-game meal...or they'll just all cover the Red Sox. Damn, maybe this isn't better after all.

Brewed Sports found a post on a Cubs board suggesting the Cubs should go out of their way this week to keep the Brewers out of the playoffs. The conspiracy level required to pull that off is a little higher than I can believe in.

The Reds recently finished their home season in front of just 2000 fans. I'm not an expert, but I'm going to guess if they had given away tickets to a game next year, as the Brewers will do on Thursday, they would have drawn better.

I've heard it suggested that if you want to work in baseball, the best way to get your foot in the door is to take any open job, anywhere, and work your way up. This job is the exception to that rule.

Drink up.