The Houston Astros prove their skipper right by sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers at home.  Er, wait.  That's not correct, is it?  Oh well.  No one can make sense of the Astros management right now anyway.  How's LaTroy Hawkins and Randy Wolf working out for you?  Good thing you got rid of a couple prospects from your already depleted farm system.

Be sure to check out the game recap and the minor league boxscores of yesterday's games.

• The Junkball Blues has coined the term "A Cecil Cooper Sweep."  It means a two games to one series loss on the road.  I used to simply call them road series losses, but I stand corrected.  Oh, and anyone else know why Ty Wiggington was batting lead-off?  Me neither.  There must be something in the water down in Houston that makes everyone a little crazy.
  
• Milwaukee is set to get three days off in the next eight calendar days, and it could not come at a better time.  Ryan Braun is ailing with back problems.  He could use the extra rest.  So could Rickie Weeks with his injured thumb and Salomon Torres with his tweaked groin.  Someone a little under the radar that could use some time off is Ben Sheets.  His innings total is the highest its been since 2004, and the pitching arm is probably tired.  A couple of starts on extra rest could be just what the doctor ordered for the right-hander.
• Dayn Perry from FOX Sports gives an overview of every contender's fatal flaw down the stretch.  Milwaukee's is right-handed relief pitching.  I won't argue that.  David Riske has been solid, but unimpressive lately.  Eric Gagne is pitching better, but don't think people will concede that.  They prefer to remember the blow-up days than outings like yesterday afternoon's.  Guillermo Mota is doing okay, I guess, but I don't want him anywhere near a mound in a close game.  How about Carlos Villanueva?  Dayn Perry labels him as part of the problem, as his ERA is over 4.00.  Too bad Dayn almost did his research there and glossed over the fact CV has a 2.14 ERA in 42 innings as a reliever.
• Have you noticed that Ned Yost bases his batting order by position rather than specific players?  How often has Gabe Kapler batted third in the lineup and Craig Counsell second or sixth?  Chuckie Hacks takes a look at this phenomenon and dubs it "The Money Order."  It notes that Yost even had Laynce Nix bat in the three-hole when starting in left field against the Padres.  That is just unintelligent on so many levels.  As ridiculous as the notion is, The Money Order is working for the Crew.  It's most likely due to starting pitching and luck, but the fact remains that Milwaukee is putting up W's with very awkward batting orders.
• Al's Ramblings says that Rickie Weeks is the best lead-off hitter in Milwaukee since Paul Molitor.  I haven't put the time in to crunch the numbers, but I wouldn't forget about Scott Podsednik.  He was pretty good when in Milwaukee.
• In perhaps the most interesting article of the day, The Hardball Times analyzes the growing trend of convenience fees and processing charges for buying tickets to baseball games.  It is written by a self-proclaimed Cubs fan, but the Milwaukee Brewers have the lowest prices on these needless up-charges on tickets.  The author says that he can put aside his hatred for the Crew to recognize that the Brewers organization treats their fans with the respect they deserve.  It's great to see baseball fans realize Milwaukee is a top-notch organization.  It's just a fantastic baseball town in general.
• Dugout Central says that Albert Pujols should beat out CC Sabathia, Ryan Braun, and David Wright for the NL MVP.  Ummmm...duh?
• Will Milwaukee be moving their Triple-A team out of Nashville?  Nashville Scene says that the Sounds will not be getting a new stadium any time soon, and free agents hate playing at Greer Stadium.  That is perhaps the most concerning aspect of the article.  It says that the team struggled to even sign six free agents this off-season because no one wants to play at that old stadium.  If that's the case, Milwaukee needs to be moving after 2010.
• Major League Baseball and the MLB Umpires have agreed on a system that will allow for instant replay to be used on boundary calls, such as balls that are fair or foul and questionable home runs.  I personally would like to see instant replay stay out of baseball, as umpires are correct on 99% of their calls.  Human error is a part of the game.  It will just slow down the games even more, and it will only be for calls that umpires almost always get correct anyway.
• Baseball Digest Daily takes the unpopular opinion that Jim Bowden and the Washington Nationals actually benefited from not signing Aaron Crow and came out on top in the draft.  The Nationals shouldn't have drafted Crow in the first place, as his demands were completely unreasonable, but the team lost the draft overall.  They didn't sign any of their top three picks.  You can't be tight-fisted and try to upgrade your farm system at the same time.  It just doesn't work.