One year ago today the Brewers beat the Dodgers 3-1 at Miller Park. Jerry Hairston Jr. put the Crew ahead in the sixth with a two-run single and Zack Greinke allowed just one run over seven innings for the win. The victory improved the Brewers to 73-51 on the season and gave them 19 wins in a 21 game stretch for the first time in franchise history.

The Brewers' hot streak really didn't have much to do with their offense: They scored just 4.7 runs per game during the streak and scored three runs or less in seven of the 19 wins. Their pitching, however, was dominant: They posted a 2.16 ERA during the hot streak and held their opponents to two runs or less in two thirds of the 21 games.

The Brewers lost the next day but won again two days later to start another streak of eight wins in ten games.

With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:

• 2004 Brewer Jeff Liefer, who turns 38.
• 1971-73 Brewer Bill Parsons, who turns 64.
• Seattle Pilot and 1970-73 Brewer Skip Lockwood, who turns 66.
• Seattle Pilot Diego Segui, who turns 75. We covered his birthday in this space last year.

As seen on FS Wisconsin and archived on The Official Site:

A few hours before last night's game friend of the site Justin Hull of 95.3 FM/AM 1570 The Score in Appleton and I sat down to wrap up the Thursday edition of The Home Stretch with an hour of Brewer talk covering a variety of topics. Here are some of the things we discussed this week:

• We opened the show by taking turns attempting to find positives in the Brewers' 1-5 road trip. (We found seven!)
• Francisco Rodriguez and the possibility that his back-to-back solid outings are a sign that he's bouncing back and/or open the door for the Brewers to trade him in a waiver deal.
• The closer situation for 2013 and the value of internal vs external options.
• Assigning blame for the 2012 season.
• Ron Roenicke, the things this season that are/are not his fault and a conversation about bunting.
• The possibility that this team lacks in leadership with Prince Fielder gone, and whether or not it's fair to expect Ryan Braun to fill that role.

This week's show has been uploaded in two aptly-named parts: Part 1 and Part 2.

We've shifting the schedule a bit for my Home Stretch appearances going forward: Look for me to be there again sometime around Wednesday, August 29.

Some things to read while hating everything and everyone.

If you saw the 2012 Milwaukee Brewers play on the road, you'd never guess they could be this good at home. They beat the Phillies 7-4 on Corey Hart's eighth inning grand slam and are now winners of seven straight Miller Park games for just the seventh time in the ballpark's eleven year history. Morineko has the recap, if you missed it.

Roughly 24 hours after sitting out Wednesday's game in an effort to end his recent slump, Ryan Braun took a very rare early BP session and went on to hit two of the Brewers' four home runs last night. The first was his 30th of the season, making him just the second Brewer ever to reach that mark five times. Here are last night's home run distances and trot times (via Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus and Hit Tracker Online):

Braun now has five multi-homer games this season and 17 for his career. Among Brewers only Prince Fielder (22) and Gorman Thomas (19) have more two homer games.

Other notes from the field:

• The Brewers are now 22-10 in their last 32 games at Miller Park. They're 9-23 in their last 32 road games.
• Corey Hart's grand slam was the fifth by a Brewer this season and his first since 2010.
• The Brewers have hit seven home runs off Cliff Lee in two games this season. The only other team that has hit more than three against him is the Mets, who have faced him four times.
• Manny Parra was the first Brewer pitcher used in the ninth yesterday, but has never recorded a professional save at any level. He was eventually lifted in favor of Jim Henderson.
• We've got video of Ron Roenicke's postgame comments.
• The Hot Dog won the sausage race.
  

The series continues tonight at Miller Park when these two teams meet again at 7:10. Adam Rosenbloom has the MLB.com preview and noted leisured gentleman Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs gave tonight's Vance Worley/Yovani Gallardo matchup a four out of ten on his NERD scale. Today is also Team Photo Day.

Norichika Aoki went 0-for-4 with a strikeout last night, but at least he has this going for him: The JS says he's the third least likely player to ground into a double play in all of baseball.

In injury news: Shaun Marcum is back with the team after making a pair of rehab starts with Wisconsin but the Brewers aren't ready to announce their plans for him yet. Marcum is scheduled to throw a bullpen session today and if that goes well he could start as soon as Monday.

In the minors:

• The affiliates went 3-3 yesterday and all three wins were one run games. The game of the night was in Nashville, where the Sounds needed ten innings to beat Tacoma on a walkoff sac bunt by Eric Farris. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
• Brewerfan.net says the Brewers have released Helena infielder Kevin Bedard. He was a 22nd round pick in the 2010 draft but hit just .245/.318/.301 over three seasons in Rookie ball and was hitting .152/.193/.190 in 23 games for Helena in 2012.
• John Sickels of Minor League Ball listed Helena first baseman Adam Giacalone, who is hitting .353/.418/.462 in 49 games for the H-Brewers, as one of six potential sleepers from the 16th round of the 2012 draft.
• Bob Brainerd of Time Warner Cable Sports 32 has a profile of Wisconsin native and Wisconsin pitcher Eric Semmelhack.

If you're heading out to Miller Park this weekend I'm jealous because you'll get to try this: The Brewers are serving Philly Cheese Steaks at the Chef's Table concession stand on the loge level.

If you'd like more Brewer coverage today but you're sick of reading, my weekly appearance on The Home Stretch with Justin Hull on 95.3 FM/AM 1570 The Score in Appleton has been archived. We covered a variety of Brewer topics over most of an hour.

Finally, congratulations are due out this morning to Ashcampbell, yesterday's winner in our SB Nation Pick 6 contest. Here's the full leaderboard:

Tonight's action starts at 6:05, so there's still plenty of time to make your picks for today.

Around baseball:

Cubs: Signed pitcher Horacio Ramirez to a minor league deal.
Marlins: Placed infielder Nick Green on the DL with a sprained thumb.
Orioles: Placed infielder Wilson Betemit on the DL with a wrist injury.
Red Sox: Acquired pitcher Pedro Beato from the Mets to complete the Kelly Shoppach trade.

Yesterday's top story around baseball might have been the Padres, as MLB officially approved their sale to San Diego businessman Ron Fowler for $800 million. I still say that if the Padres are worth that, then the Brewers could be worth significantly more.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to hide Carson's paper.

Drink up.

This week's poll was open from Monday at noon through Tuesday and received 168 responses. Here are some notable results:

• 48% of voters think the Brewers are doing the right amount of bunting, while 40% think they're bunting too much.
• 53% of voters say bunting is either not a very important issue or not important at all, while 44% classified it as a very or moderately important issue.
• 70% of voters would approve of a decision to shut Mike Fiers down early to limit his innings.
• Ron Roenicke (from 47 to 55%) and Johnn Narron (from 36 to 52%) both had their approval ratings improve significantly this week.

Follow the jump for the full results.

Who should be the Brewers' closer?

The Brewers lead all of baseball with 61 sacrifice hits this season, seven more than the second place Dodgers. How do you feel about their bunting?

How strongly do you feel about your opinion regarding the bunting?

Would you approve of a decision to shut Mike Fiers down early to limit his 2012 innings?

Do you think Fiers has a chance to be NL Rookie of the Year?

Do you approve of the job Doug Melvin is doing as General Manager of the Brewers?

Do you approve of the job Ron Roenicke is doing as Manager of the Brewers?

Do you approve of the job Rick Kranitz is doing as Pitching Coach of the Brewers?

Do you approve of the job Johnny Narron is doing as Hitting Coach of the Brewers?

The Brewers had a 2-5 week, but at least we should have an interesting Brewer of the Week vote.

Ryan Braun had hits in five of his six games this week including two home runs on Thursday. He hit .269/.296/.538 and was worth +.004 WPA.

Yovani Gallardo pitched 7.2 innings against the Astros on Sunday and allowed three runs on nine hits, walking two and striking out eight. He was worth +.161 WPA this week.

Corey Hart only had five hits this week but three went for extra bases, including a grand slam Thursday. He hit .192/.300/.462 and was worth +.620 WPA.

Mark Rogers made two starts this week and allowed a combined six runs on ten hits over 13 innings, walking four and striking out 12. He was worth +.098 WPA.

Rickie Weeks had three multi-hit games this week, including three hit games on Friday and Wednesday. Six of his ten hits this week went for extra bases. He hit .333/.355/.600 and was worth +.406 WPA.

Honorable mentions: Aramis Ramirez, Kameron Loe and Jean Segura.

The Brewers have only won eight consecutive home games nine times in franchise history (including twice in 2011).

They've got a chance to do it for the ninth time tonight with Yovani Gallardo (3.78 ERA, 3.90 FIP) on the mound. Gallardo has been somewhere between very good and dominant in nearly all of his starts this season, and has pitched seven innings or more and allowed three runs or less in three straight appearances. He pitched 7.2 innings against the Astros on Sunday and allowed three runs on nine hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. He threw 114 pitches in the outing.

It's worth noting once again that Gallardo's occasional bouts with inefficiency are the biggest thing keeping him from becoming one of the game's top pitchers. He's averaging 105 pitches per start this season, tenth in all of baseball, but also averaging less than 6.1 innings per start. Among the top ten pitchers in pitches per start, only Yu Darvish is less efficient than Gallardo:

This is only the third time in his career Gallardo has faced the Phillies and the first time in 2012. No current Phillies have faced him ten times or more, but Ryan Howard is 2-for-6 against him with three walks and a home run.

He'll face 24-year-old righthander Vance Worley (3.97 ERA, 3.83 FIP), who is quietly having a pretty good season on a disappointing Phillies team. He's been knocked around a bit lately, though, posting a 5.73 ERA over 44 innings since July 1. He pitched 5.1 innings against the Cardinals on Sunday and allowed four runs on nine hits over 5.1 innings.

Worley's 3.97 ERA is boosted a bit by the fact that opposing batters are hitting .329 on balls in play against him. That's up over 40 points from last season despite the fact that his ground ball rate has gone up significantly, from 39 to 48%. His fastball sits around 90 and he'll compliment it with a cutter and the occasional curve or changeup.

Worley walked the tightrope against the Brewers on July 25, allowing three runs on ten hits and a walk over just 5.1 innings, walking one and striking out six in the game. Rickie Weeks took him deep in that game. No current Brewers have faced him ten times or more, but the batters that have faced him are hitting a combined .404/.451/.723 in 53 PAs.

I wrote this post early today so I could go watch Chikara in Milwaukee tonight, but before I left I was able to scribble down this lineup:

Norichika Aoki RF
Rickie Weeks 2B
Ryan Braun LF
Aramis Ramirez 3B
Corey Hart 1B
Martin Maldonado C
Nyjer Morgan CF
Jean Segura SS
Yovani Gallardo P

And in the bullpen:

Manny Parra pitched .1 innings (12 pitches) last night and has appeared in three straight games.
Jose Veras pitched two innings (45 pitches) last night.
Jim Henderson pitched .2 innings (12 pitches) last night.
Livan Hernandez pitched one inning (8 pitches) last night.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched one inning (19 pitches) on Wednesday.
John Axford pitched .2 innings (8 pitches) on Wednesday.
Mike McClendon last pitched on Monday.
Kameron Loe last pitched on Sunday.

It actually might be a little cool for August at the ballpark tonight. Expect a game time temperature right around 70 and dropping as the game goes along.

Jeff Karstens led the Pirates to a much-needed win Saturday night before leaving after seven shutout innings.

The Pirates couldn't get much going in the first several innings, and Pedro Alvarez being picked off second in the second inning didn't help. But the Bucs were able to take advantage of a key error by Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez in the fifth. Gomez ran a long way to get to a ball hit by Neil Walker, only to have it bounce off his glove. Then, with one out, Michael McKenry doubled to bring Walker home. With two outs, Karstens singled up the middle to bring in McKenry. Then Jose Tabata and Travis Snider had consecutive hits to bring in two more runs. Andrew McCutchen reached on yet another Brewers error, but, as with the second inning, the frame would come to an end with an out on the bases, as McCutchen was thrown out stealing.

Tabata left the game with an apparent groin injury after the end of the inning. Karstens wasn't far behind, but in the meantime, he quietly pitched seven shutout innings that the Pirates badly needed. He left in the eighth with groin trouble, but it doesn't sound like he'll have to miss any time. He left two runners on in the eighth, but Tony Watson and Jason Grilli shut the door, and Joel Hanrahan loaded the bases before finishing off the ninth.

Games of Note: It's the last year of baseball during World War II, and Red Sox hurler Dave "Boo" Ferriss wins his 20th game of the season. Ferriss had spent the last two years in the military, but finally made his major-league debut in 1945 after he was discharged from the military for asthma. Ferriss became the star of the Sox' rotation, and was recognized as one of the league's better hurlers, finishing fourth in the MVP vote.

Ferriss was old-school pitch to contact, with a 1.1 K/BB and just over three strikeouts per nine innings, combined with the league-lead in hits allowed. This strategy worked for him for a few years, as he threw 757 innings with a 107 ERA+ during his first three years in Boston. Not everyone who averaged 250 innings a year for three straight seasons gets out of it in one piece, though, and Ferriss was no exception. A sore arm held him to just 115 frames in 1948, and then just 7-2/3 more for the rest of his major-league career.

Ferriss spent most of 1950 in the minors, as well as the entire 1951 and 1952 seasons, but he just wasn't the same, and called it quits following the '52 campaign at the age of 30.

Transactions: Okay, so it's not trading away nearly $300 million in contracts then getting back prospects in exchange, but this is more like your normal late-August transaction. Back in 2002, with the Red Sox seven games out from the first-place Yankees but just 3-1/2 back of the Mariners for the wild card, Boston claims Benny Agbayani on waivers, receiving him from the Colorado Rockies.

Agbayani, who wore #50 in honor of his home state of Hawaii, had shown some promise with the Mets under manager Bobby Valentine, but had hit just .205/.266/.350 in his first year with the Rockies. Agbayani had been part of a three-team deal that also sent Todd Zeile and cash to Colorado, while Lenny Harris and Glendon Rusch went out to Milwaukee. In return, the Mets received Jeromy Burnitz, Lou Collier, Jeff D'Amico, Mark Sweeney, and a different wad of cash from the Brewers, along with Ross Gload and Craig House from the Rockies. Colorado also received another Red Sox coach connected to Agbayani, Alex Ochoa.

Agbayani's time with Boston was short, and it was also his last stint in the majors. The 30-year-old would play 88 games for the Royals Triple-A club the next year, but then moved on to professional baseball in Japan, as one of the Chiba Lotte Marines. A name you might be familiar with due to a certain current Red Sox manager. Full circle!

Agbayani played there through 2009, and was finished at the age of 37. He was productive even at the end, as he posted on-base percentages of .368, .378, and .366 in his final three campaigns as a part-time player.

Birthdays: One-time Red Sox knuckler Charlie Zink turns 33 years old today. Zink pitched in just one game in the majors, giving up eight runs in 4-1/3 innings back on August 12 of 2008. His career didn't end until 2011, though, as Zink continued to toil in the minors, sticking with Boston for one more year before heading to Minnesota, then indy ball.

Way back on June 2, I wrote a "Today's matchup" praising the Pirates pickup of Erik Bedard (7-13, 4.76). At the time, he had a 3.12 ERA and Pittsburgh had him on a $4.5 million contract. Since that post, however, Bedard has a 6.00 ERA over 13 starts, including five earned runs in 3.2 innings against the Brewers that day. His most recent outing was just as "successful" as he allowed five earned runs in 4.2 innings against the Cardinals.

Overall on the season Bedard has a 3.90 FIP. He has been striking out 8.55 strikeouts per nine innings. Unfortunately for him, he also has a 4.02 BB/9. Bedard must be pretty happy to be at home today. He has just a .553 opponent OPS and 2.63 ERA in the friendly confines of PNC Park while he has .916 opponent OPS and 6.98 ERA on the road.

Bedard throws four pitches primarily: An 89 MPH two seamer (32%), a 76 MPH curveball (29%), an 89 MPH four seamer (25%), and a 77 MPH changeup (11%). Bedard has not yet faced a Pirates hitter at least ten times.

So far, Mark Rogers (1-1, 5.02) has given up 2, 5, 1, 5 and 3 earned runs in his five starts. He has shown flashes of being a very good major league pitcher but has also had his share of troubles. Three of his five starts have been shorter than six innings while just one has gone more than six. Rogers has put up impressive strikeoute numbers with a 9.73 K/9 so far. He also has just a 2.83 BB/9, giving him a 3.80 FIP. The rest of 2012 will continue to be very important for Rogers as he may very well be showcasing his talents for a potential rotation spot in 2013.

Rogers has not yet faced a Pirates hitter ten or more times.

As of 4:40 in the morning, the Brewers have not yet released their lineup. Weird, huh? By this point, you can probably find the lineup right here, though.

In the bullpen:

Livan Hernandez pitched two innings (33 pitches) last night.
Jose Veras pitched one inning (20 pitches) last night.
Jim Henderson pitched 0.1 innings (3 pitches) Friday.
John Axford pitched 0.2 innings (35 pitches) Friday.
Kameron Loe pitched 0.1 innings (5 pitches) Friday.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched one inning (10 pitches) Friday.
Manny Parra last pitched on Tuesday.

On this day in 1952 Marshall Edwards was born in Fort Lewis, Washington. The Orioles signed him as an undrafted free agent in 1974 and he made his big league debut in as a Brewer in 1981. He played three seasons as a backup outfielder for the Crew despite being listed at just 5'9" and 157 pounds.

Edwards was only a Brewer for three years but two of them (1981 and 1982) were two of the four playoff seasons in franchise history. In fact, Edwards is the most prolific postseason pinch-runner in franchise history.

The Brewers were leading 3-0 in Game 3 of the 1982 ALCS when Don Money walked in the seventh inning and Edwards pinch ran for him. He later scored on Paul Molitor's home run and the Brewers went on to win 5-3. The next night he was called upon to run for Money again, this time in the eighth inning, and stole second before scoring on Mark Brouhard's homer.

All told, Edwards made five postseason appearances as a pinch runner over two seasons (two in the 1981 ALDS, two in the 1982 ALCS and one in the 1982 World Series). He's one of just two Brewers ever to be used as a pinch runner in a playoff game:

Edwards turns 60 today. With help from the B-Ref Play Index, we'd also like to wish a happy birthday to:

• 2004-05 Brewer Trent Durrington, who turns 37.
• 1970 Brewer Ray Peters, who turns 66.

Today is also the 37th anniversary of a 1975 game where Bill Travers pitched ten shutout innings but received the loss in the eleventh in a 1-0 Twins win. We covered that event in this space last year.

We're down to five weeks left in the regular season. In Week 19, it was AcesHigh who held on from a strong start to take the week. It broke up a long streak of weeks that had been dominated by aaronetc and icecreamman, who have been dominating the competition so far. Of course, even the weekly win by AcesHigh was not enough to make much of a dent in icecreamman's overall lead, though it has shrunk a little.

Time to move on to Week 20. It's another visit to Chicago, and it's a four-game series. That's four chances to score some points, get some entries into the prize drawing, and make an impact in the standings.

(Click here to view the rules for Prognostikeggers, and click here to view the official rules for the prize giveaway for Pick 6 and Prognostikeggers. All participants are subject to the official rules.)

Extra Prediction for the Series: Predict the total number of strikeouts between both teams. Correct predictions gets 2 points. Predictions within 3 of the actual total get 1 point.

Daily Winners for the Past Series: Congratulations to the following people, who earned entries into the prize drawing with daily wins in the past series.

August 24: Bush League All Star
August 25: jarlbartar
August 26: AcesHigh
.

Entry Forms

August 27 - Marco Estrada vs. Justin Germano
Click here to enter your predictions
Predictions lock at 7:05 PM CDT
Click here to view all predictions

August 28 - Yovani Gallardo vs. Travis Wood
Click here to enter your predictions
Predictions lock at 7:05 PM CDT
Click here to view all predictions

August 29 - Mike Fiers vs. Jeff Samardzija
Click here to enter your predictions
Predictions lock at 7:05 PM CDT
Click here to view all predictions

August 30 - Shaun Marcum vs. Brooks Raley
Click here to enter your predictions
Predictions lock at 1:20 PM CDT
Click here to view all predictions

Check below the jump for detailed scoring from the Pirates series.

Weekly & Overall Winners

Final Standings for Week 19

Overall Standings

Scoring Summary

Some things to read while making your sad face.

Some things never change: The 2012 Brewers have been terrible on the road most of the season but they're still good enough to win in Pittsburgh, where they took two of three over the weekend. They closed out the series with a 7-0 win yesterday, and Noah has the recap if you missed it.

Mark Rogers pitched five shutout innings yesterday with three walks and three hits, but @jdondlinger notes that he did it with significantly decreased velocity. Rogers topped out at 94 and averaged around 92 with his fastball yesterday compared to 96 and 94 two weeks ago. It might be time to thank him for his work, shut him down and see what he's got next spring.

Mike Fiers might have had this weekend's best pitching performance, as he worked 6.2 innings and tied a career high with ten strikeouts on Friday night. Tom Singer of MLB.com said he "looks like right-handed Cliff Lee." Meanwhile, the Brewers are using Fiers' winter ball innings from 2010 and 2011 as justification for not shutting him down.

Other notes from the field:

• Yesterday's win clinched the Brewers' first road series victory of the second half.
• Saturday's loss was the Brewers' 67th of the season, one more than they had in all of 2011.
• Martin Maldonado finished yesterday's game at first base, appearing there for the first time since he did it for Brevard County in 2008.
• The Brewers and Pirates sold out all three games in Pittsburgh this weekend, the 14th, 15th and 16th sellouts at PNC Park this season.
• John Steinmiller has a picture of the watermelon art in the visiting clubhouse.

The Brewer road trip continues today as they head to Chicago to open a four game set with the Cubs. James Walker of MLB.com has a preview of tonight's Marco Estrada/Justin Germano matchup.

Norichika Aoki went 0-for-4 with an RBI yesterday and has struggled a bit lately, hitting .275/.318/.325 in 21 games in August. Julian Levine of Beyond the Box Score still says he's been a bargain for the Brewers, though.

Elsewhere in struggles, Rickie Weeks had a hit yesterday but is still batting just .167/.250/.241 in 14 games since being moved back to the #2 spot in the lineup. Ron Roenicke told reporters he intends to keep Weeks there.

John Axford also had a weekend to forget, as he had to be lifted from a save situation Friday night after throwing 35 pitches and recording just two outs. New Brewer bullpen coach Lee Tunnell had a hand in Axford's initial emergence in 2009 and thinks he'll bounce back again this season.

The Brewers made one relatively minor transaction over the weekend, outrighting reliever Mike McClendon to Nashville and calling up Jeff Bianchi. Unless something changes, McClendon will be a minor league free agent this winter. Meanwhile, Bianchi collected major league hits #1 and 2 Saturday and #3 as a pinch hitter yesterday.

McClendon's demotion leaves the Brewers with two open spots on the 40 man roster. It's possible they'll fill those spots up with September callups.

Elsewhere in roster moves, Ron Roenicke told reporters he's hoping contending teams will consider a trade for Shaun Marcum or Francisco Rodriguez in the next few days. There's still a few days to acquire a player in a waiver deal and have them be eligible for the postseason.

It'll be interesting to see how the Brewers fill innings over the next five and a half weeks without Randy Wolf and with the possibility some pitchers will need to be shut down. Benjamin Orr of Reviewing the Brew wonders what Tyler Thornburg's role will be in all of this.

It's probably safe to assume Yovani Gallardo will pitch every fifth day for the foreseeable future. His two seven inning outings last week earned him Brewer of the Week honors for the first time this season. He's the 13th different player and the fourth pitcher to win the award in 2012.

Most of us seem pretty optimistic about the Brewers' chances of being relevant again next season, but apparently not everyone feels that way. Bob Wolfley of the JS (behind the paywall) notes that five ESPN analysts ranked the Brewers 25th in their future power rankings.

In the minors:

• If you missed it over the weekend, go back and check out Nicole's entry in the Timber Rattlers Notebook from yesterday. She's got a great look at how various Wisconsin players have handled their first taste of full season baseball.
• Thanks to @Mass_Haas for directing my attention to this Ballpark Digest post on the Brevard County Manatees, who may consider moving to Orlando as soon as 2015. The spring training facility they're currently inhabiting could be abandoned by the Nationals soon.
• The Manatees, by the way, had their final home game of the season rained out yesterday.
• The remaining affiliates went 1-4 yesterday with the toughest loss coming from Huntsville, where pitchers Josh Stinson, Kyle Heckathorn and John Hellweg combined to allow a single run on five hits over nine innings in the Stars' 1-0 loss to Birmingham. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
• John Sickels of Minor League Ball has a look back at this year's fifth round selections, and says Brewer pick Damien Magnifico's performance matches his scouting report as a pitcher with good velocity but poor command.
• We've previously mentioned that Wisconsin will represent the Brewer organization in the Midwest League playoffs as their division's first half champion. The AZL Brewers, Huntsville and Nashville have all been mathematically eliminated from postseason contention. Brevard County and Helena (despite a 7-20 record in the second half) are still hanging on.

Finally, congratulations are due out this morning to takeapitchcarlos, yesterday's winner in our SB Nation Pick 6 contest. Here's the full leaderboard:

Today's action starts at 12:35, so you're running out of time to get your picks in. And, of course, a new series means a new set of Prognostikeggers.

Around baseball:

Athletics: Acquired pitcher Jesse Chavez from the Blue Jays for cash.
Blue Jays: Placed outfielder Jose Bautista on the DL with a wrist injury.
Braves: Placed pitcher Ben Sheets on the DL with shoulder inflammation.
Dodgers: Acquired first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, pitcher Josh Beckett, outfielder Carl Crawford and infielder Nick Punto from the Red Sox for first baseman James Loney, outfielder Jerry Sands, pitcher Rubby De La Rosa, infielder Ivan De Jesus and a minor league pitcher and placed pitcher Chad Billingsley on the DL with elbow pain.
Nationals: Signed first baseman/third baseman Chad Tracy to a one year contract extension.
Orioles: Acquired pitcher Joe Saunders from the Diamondbacks for reliever Matt Lindstrom and a PTBNL and designated pitcher J.C. Romero for assignment.
Phillies: Placed catcher Brian Schneider on the DL with a hamstring strain.
Pirates: Claimed reliever Hisanori Takahashi off waivers from the Angels and placed reliever Chad Qualls on the DL with irritation of his left big toe.
Red Sox: Are expected to place DH David Ortiz on the DL with a sore achilles and suspended reliever Alfredo Aceves for three games for conduct detrimental to the team.

If you have a moment this morning, then you have a chance to help out with a pretty cool project. Tom Tango of The Book Blog has opened voting for the 2012 Fans Scouting Report, helping evaluate the defense of players across baseball. As of this writing 31 people have already submitted evaluations of the Brewers.

Today in former Brewers: Peter Gammons reports that Randy Wolf has "interest from several teams, including an AL East contender." Adam McCalvy suggests that contender may have been the Orioles, but they're not likely to be interested anymore.

This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History marks early 1980's Brewer Marshall Edwards' 60th birthday. Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that it's also been 10,000 days since Gorman Thomas' three home run game and 22 years since a Brewers/Blue Jays game was delayed by a swarm of gnats.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see if this space is available.

Drink up.

Rookie Review: Collin McHugh, RHP, New York Mets

New York Mets pitching prospect Collin McHugh made his major league debut last week, throwing seven shutout innings against the Colorado Rockies, allowing just two hits and a walk, while fanning nine. This comes on the heels of a strong season in Double-A and Triple-A.. Little-known pre-season to anyone but fanatic Mets fans, McHugh was completely left of the Baseball America Top 30 Mets prospect list for example, not even making their honorable mention category.

I was more optimistic about McHugh and had him ranked 16^th on my pre-season Mets list, but even as an optimist, I didn't expect the season he put together. Let's take a look.

Throughout the 2000s, the Mets made a concerted effort to scour the smaller colleges, looking for overlooked or underappreciated talent, especially on the mound. McHugh was one of their finds, drafted in the 18^th round in 2008 from Berry College in Georgia. He was brought along slowly, pitching in the Appalachian League after signing, then in the New York-Penn League in 2009, where he performed quite well for Brooklyn (2.76 ERA, 79/21 K/BB in 75 innings). However, he was old for the level, so it was easy to ignore this.

He remained successful in the South Atlantic League in 2010 (3.33 ERA, 129/38 K/BB in 132 innings), but again, he was old for the level at age 23. He began to attract notice in 2011 with a 2.89 ERA and a 100/32 K/BB ratio in 93 innings for Double-A Binghamton, or at least notice from Mets fans and statheads; scouts remained skeptical, and this was reflected in his lack of ranking from BA.

McHugh began 2012 with Binghamton and continued to pitch well, with a 2.41 ERA and a 65/17 K/BB in 75 innings with 63 hits allowed. He didn't lose momentum after moving up to Triple-A Buffalo (3.39 ERA, 67/27 K/BB in 69 innings), and of course his first start with the Mets was brilliant.

McHugh is a 6-2, 195 pound right-handed hitter and thrower, born June 19, 1987 in Covington, Georgia. As you can extrapolate from his lack of press, he doesn't throw hard for a right-hander, topping out at 92 MPH and often working in the mid-to-upper-80s. The fastball plays up due to the contrast with his curveball, slider/cutter, and changeup, with the curve being particularly good. He likes to vary the speed with all of his pitches, and his command is quite sharp. Carson Cistulli at Fangraphs has a detailed analysis of the repertoire McHugh showed in his major league debut.

Pre-season, I felt McHugh could be a number four/five starter or a useful relief asset, due to his ability to throw strikes, change speeds, and keep hitters off-balance. I still see him that way. His profile is similar to Michael Fiers of the Milwaukee Brewers, another small-college strike-throwing rookie right-hander who has mediocre velocity. Fiers' tremendous feel for the craft of pitching has made him one of the best moundsmen in baseball this year. So far the league hasn't caught up with Fiers, and while pitchers like this have little margin for error, some of them can make it work. McHugh could very well be in that category.

This week's poll features questions on Corey Hart, Randy Wolf and more. It will remain open through the day Tuesday with results posted on Wednesday. As always, please vote once.

Follow the jump to vote in the poll.

As the Brewers and Cubs get ready to open their final series of 2012 at Wrigley Field, we'll take a moment to remember the careers of a handful of players both fanbases have had an opportunity to cheer for.

Longest tenured Brewer position player who was also a Cub: Jeromy Burnitz

Burnitz was a big leaguer for parts of four seasons as a Met and Indian before coming to Milwaukee and getting his first chance to play every day and demonstrate just how good he could be. Burnitz appeared in 782 games for the Brewers between 1996 and 2001 and hit .258/.362/.508 and is still among the franchise's all time leaders in walks (seventh), home runs (ninth), HBP (ninth), OBP (eighth among players with >1000 PA) and slugging (fifth among players with >1000 PA).

One of Burnitz's final full major league seasons came with the Cubs in 2005 when he appeared in 160 games and hit .258/.322/.435 with 24 home runs.

The runner-up on this list is 1993-97 Brewer Matt Mieske, who appeared in 435 games for the Brewers before being a 1998 Cub.

Longest tenured Brewer pitcher who was also a Cub: Jim Colborn

The Cubs signed the righthanded Colborn as an amateur free agent in 1967 and he debuted for them in 1969, his first of three partial seasons in Chicago. He posted 1 3.87 ERA over 54 career appearances on the north side.

Following the 1971 season the Cubs traded Colborn to the Brewers in a four player deal, and two years later he was the first 20-game winner in Brewer franchise history. He appeared in 183 games and pitched 1118 innings over five seasons as a Brewer, including a franchise record 314.1 in 1973.

The runner-up on this list is Jaime Navarro, who pitched 1061.2 innings as a Brewer over two stints with the team and was a Cub in 1995 and 1996.

Follow the jump for more memories!

Longest tenured Cub position player who was also a Brewer: Aramis Ramirez

Ramirez was just a couple of days shy of his 25th birthday in 2003 when the Pirates traded him to the Cubs, starting his nine year run on the north side of Chicago. Ramirez hit .294/.356/.531 in 1124 games as a Cub with 239 home runs, the sixth highest total in franchise history.

Ramirez is currently in the first year of a three year contract with the Brewers, and his home run yesterday raised his 2012 line to .291/.356/.516. After a slow start to his season he's become one of the Brewers' most reliable contributors.

Second place here belongs to outfielder Jose Cardenal, who was a Brewer briefly in 1971 before being a Cub for 821 games from 1972-77.

Longest tenured Cub pitcher who was also a Brewer: Dick Ellsworth

The Cubs signed Ellsworth as an amateur free agent in 1958 and he made his major league debut later that same season, his first of eight in Chicago. He posted a 3.70 ERA over 1613.1 innings with the Cubs, was an All Star in 1964 and led all of baseball with 22 losses in 1966.

Ellsworth closed out his 13 year major league career with two partial seasons as a Brewer in 1970-71, appearing in 25 games and posting a 3.26 ERA over 30.1 innings.

Second on this list was Ray Burris, who was a Cub for 1068.2 innings between 1973 and 1979 and a 1985-87 Brewer.

All told, 84 players have appeared in at least one game for both franchises. Five position players have appeared in 160 games or more for each team:

Here are the five pitchers to throw 188 innings or more in both uniforms:

This week's poll features questions on September callups, Carlos Gomez and more. It will remain open through the day Wednesday with results posting on Thursday. As always, please vote once.

Follow the jump to vote in the poll.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: If you're looking for something to do while waiting for tonight's game, I'll be appearing on The Watercooler with Jimmie Kaska on Sports Radio 1400 in Eau Claire at 5:15 and The Sports Den with Downtown Ollie Burrows on SportsFan100.5 in Wausau at 5:30. - KL

The Brewers enter play tonight with a Wild Card elimination number of 21.

Hopefully they can keep that number from going down tonight when they face Wade LeBlanc (2.49 ERA, 3.45 FIP), making just his sixth start of the 2012 season tonight in place of rookie Jacob Turner, who has been pushed back to Friday. LeBlanc pitched a scoreless inning in relief on August 31, and last started a game on August 22.

LeBlanc is having a good season for the Marlins, but most of his best work has come in relief. In 14 appearances out of the bullpen he's posted a 1.37 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. As a starter his ERA goes up to 3.29 and his WHIP is 1.43. He's a left-handed pitcher but has been much better against righties in his career, holding them to a .752 OPS. Lefties have an .886 mark against him.

LeBlanc faced the Brewers twice in relief in July, working 1.2 scoreless innings. No current Brewers have faced him ten times or more, but Ryan Braun is 3-for-4 with two walks against him for a .750/.833/1.000 line.

He'll face Shaun Marcum, who has some work to do to convince teams he's healthy enough to be worth signing as a free agent this winter. He's allowed seven runs since returning from the DL on August 25, but four of them were unearned. He left his start against the Cubs on Thursday early after allowing three runs on five hits over four innings.

Marcum set a career high by pitching 200.2 innings in 2011, but is on pace to throw just 127.1 this season if he makes all six remaining starts and pitches six innings. His 3.05 per nine inning walk rate is also his highest since 2006. His fastball velocity is down a hair this season (from 86.9 mph in 2011 to 86.8 in 2012), and he's now throwing his heater just 29% of the time. Roughly 60% of his pitches are out of the strike zone.

Tonight is Marcum's first ever appearance against the Marlins, but one current Marlin has seen him 12 times before: Carlos Lee is 3-for-9 against Marcum with three walks for a .333/.500/.667 line.

As of this writing tonight's lineup had not been posted. If you've seen it, please drop it in the comments.

And in the bullpen:

Manny Parra pitched one inning (20 pitches) yesterday and also pitched on Sunday.
Livan Hernandez pitched 2.2 innings (36 pitches) yesterday.
Brandon Kintzler pitched one inning (18 pitches) yesterday.
Kameron Loe pitched 1.1 innings (22 pitches) Sunday.
John Axford pitched one inning (15 pitches) Sunday.
Jose Veras pitched one inning (13 pitches) Sunday.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched one inning (9 pitches) Sunday.
Tyler Thornburg started for Nashville and pitched 3.2 innings Sunday.
Josh Stinson started for Huntsville and pitched four innings Saturday.
Jim Henderson last pitched on Saturday.

W: Kameron Loe (6-4)
L: Mike Dunn (0-2)
S: John Axford (24)

HR: Norichika Aoki (7), Jeff Bianchi (3), Giancarlo Stanton (30), Gorkys Hernandez (1, first of career)

MVP: Norichika Aoki (+.386)
LVP: Shaun Marcum (-.279)

Win Expectancy Graph

The Brewers bounced back from a tough loss Monday and got some power from unlikely sources en route to an 8-4 win at Marlins Park tonight.

The Crew took a 3-0 lead in the second when Norichika Aoki hit a two-run homer, his seventh of the season and a rare event in the spacious new Marlins Park. Aoki came to the plate again with a man on in the seventh and drove another ball to the wall in left-center to tie the game at four. Finally, Jeff Bianchi blew the game open in the eighth with a three run home run to give the Crew an 8-4 lead they would not reliinquish.

All told, the Brewers scored five unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth to put the game away. Aoki, Rickie Weeks and Ryan Braun all had multiple hits in the game.

Shaun Marcum's return from injury continued to underwhelm tonight, as he was unable to finish the sixth inning and allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out three. He's allowed eleven runs (seven earned) in three starts since coming off the DL.

This series continues tomorrow night with Wily Peralta making his first major league start against Nathan Eovaldi at 6:10.

1) Gorkys Hernandez's two-run homer in the fifth inning: -.273 WPA

The Brewers were carrying a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning when Gorkys Hernandez took Shaun Marcum deep for the first homer of his career and drove home Donnie Murphy to give the Marlins a 4-3 advantage.

2) Norichika Aoki's seventh inning double: +.237 WPA

Aoki's second extra base hit of the game was a big one, as he doubled to left center and drove home Nyjer Morgan to tie the game at four and give the Brewers new life.

3) Ryan Braun's RBI single in the seventh: +.202 WPA

The Brewers' shortest hit of the night was also one of their biggest as Ryan Braun's dribbler down the third base line was enough to get him to first and bring home Norichika Aoki with the go-ahead run.

4) Norichika Aoki's two-run homer in the second inning: +.187 WPA

There were two outs in the second inning when Shaun Marcum singled to right and Norichika Aoki brought him home with this home run.

5) Jeff Bianchi's three run homer in the eighth inning: +.172 WPA

Jeff Bianchi's cold start as a Brewer has to be close to forgotten now after his third home run, which plated three insurance runs in the eighth inning.

The next five:

6) Giancarlo Stanton's fourth inning home run: -.125 WPA
7) Ryan Braun's first inning RBI double: +.121 WPA
8) Donnie Murphy's second inning RBI single: -.091 WPA
9) Donnie Murphy's fifth inning single: -.057 WPA
10) Francisco Rodriguez strikes out Bryan Petersen in the seventh inning: +.047 WPA

Source: FanGraphs