Monday 8/18/08--And like that, it was gone.

Last night's game was pretty brutal. Losing 5 to 1 would have been bad, but to have Ryan Braun tie it up with a 9th inning dinger only to lose it minutes later when Andre Either hit a homerun of his own was really brutal. But the Cardinals lost too, so the Brewers remain 2 games ahead in the Wildcard. They fell to 5.5 games back on the Cubs in the NL Central.

Speaking of the Cubs, if you want to be able to throw out the opening pitch at Wrigley, all you need is really stupid parents.

The Brewers return to Miller Park today with a series against the red hot Houston Astros. CC Sabathia (13-8, 3.04 ERA, 47 BB/183 SO) takes the mound against Randy Wolf (8-10, 4.56 ERA, 57 BB/124 SO). Cecil Cooper thinks the Astros will sweep the Brewers. They took 2 of 3 from us their last time in Milwaukee, but that was against Suppan, Bush and Parra. Hopefully CC and Benny can crush their spirits early and we can make it a sweep the other way. I'll post the lineups when they're available. Rickie Weeks will be spending some time on the bench, or possibly the DL, after leaving yesterday's game with a sprained thumb--the same thumb he had surgery on a few years ago. I think the reaction from a lot of us is that this could be a blessing in disguise. Weeks has been disappointing for the most part and an injury lets Yost stick by his guy but still play the better player. I'd prefer to have a manager manage the team, but if injuries are going to manage it for him, that's fine. If Rickie's injury is serious enough to send him to the DL, who should Yost bring up? Tonight's game starts at 7:05. Go Brewers.

In other sports news...

Brew Hoops is talking about who the Bucks should start at point guard. I'd guess Ridnour for a while, but Sessions by the end of the first month. Of course I know nothing about basketball.

Ace Cowboy thinks that if you aren't cheering for United States Swimming MONSTER Michael Phelps, you might be a Communissss... or something. Yeah, I agree.

[added] And thanks to ESK for pointing out that Wisconsin native Matt Kenseth got like 5th in some race this weekend. That guy sure can turn left.

Happy Monday folks.