It's a couple of days early, but here's a quick rundown of the National League's upcoming series for anyone else that's bored at work.

Brewers vs. Phillies  

MIL:  90-72.  750 RS (7th); 689 RA (4th).  Pythag:  87-75.

PHL:  92-70.  799 RS (2nd); 680 RA (3rd).  Pythag:  93-69.

Wednesday, 3:00.  Suppan/Bush/Gollardo* v. Hamels

Thursday, 6:00.  CC v. Myers/Moyer. 

Saturday, 6:30.  Suppan/Bush/Gollardo v. Myers/Moyer

Sunday, TBD.

Tuesday, TBD.

I sense that most around here are pulling for the Brewers.  How soon we’ve forgotten the final series of the 1999 season, when Bud Selig’s former team played spoiler and knocked our best team since the BRM out of the wildcard.  Philly, on the other hand, happily embraced our Pete Rose sloppy seconds and values GRIT like no other market outside of the Queen City. 

I’m predicting Philly in 4.  They’re peaking at the right time and enter the postseason without any significant injuries.  Their biggest weakness – rotation depth – doesn’t matter in a best-of-five.  The Brewers’ rotation, on the other hand, has serious questions after Sabathia.  Sheets has said that he’s out for the year, which leaves Gollardo (just coming back from knee surgery), Suppan (poor year) and Bush as the likely starters for the other games.  Milwaukee does have a potential matchup advantage because they hit lefties (806 OPS; 738 against righties), but that hasn’t translated into success against either Hamels (whom they’ve only faced twice, and done poorly) or Jamie Moyer (111 IP, 3.63 ERA career vs. MIL).

Dodgers v. Cubs

LA:  90-72.  700 RS (13th); 648 RA (1st)   Pythag:  87-75.

CHI:  92-70.  855 RS (1st); 671 RA (2nd)   Pythag:  98-63.

Wednesday, 6:30.   Lowe v. Dempster

Thursday, 9:30.  Billingsley v. Zambrano

Saturday, 10:00.  Kuroda v. Harden

Sunday, TBD.

Tuesday, TBD.

This one looks like a mismatch, but the Dodgers finished the year strong in adding Manny Ramirez and riding their young pitchers like Billingsley, Broxton and Kershaw along with veterans like Lowe and Saito.  I’ll say Cubs in 5, if only to set the stage for a Bartman-esque flameout in the LCS.

* Post-season rosters and rotations haven’t been announced, so these are my guesses

I'm listening to the Cubs-Astros game at work, and they just reported that the Brewers have fired Ned Yost.  Nothing posted yet on ESPN or the Brewers' web site. 

I've seen a lot of Brewers interweb talk trashing Yost, but it's pretty amazing for this to happen in the middle of September with a dozen or so games to go.  3B Coach Dale "Send 'em in" Sveum will serve as Milwaukee's Pete Mackanin for the stretch run. 

Edit:  I was about to point out the false rumor about a Yost firing earlier this year, but ESPN has posted a report.  So maybe it's not just the Wisconsin bloggerati running wild this time.

From Hal, the latest shots in the Dunn-Arroyo war of words:

Then Dunn was told that Arroyo said on a recent radio show that the Reds pitchers enjoying the young outfielders chasing down balls, "And, yes, Dunn hit some home runs, but he didn’t catch some balls out there."

Dunn shrugged that one off and said, "That’s because when Arroyo pitched I didn’t have to go after too many. They went over my head."

Oh no he did NOT!!  I didn't hear about Arroyo's comment.  There must have been friction between the two before the trade, because there's no good reason why Arroyo keeps taking shots at Dunn in the press.  It's too bad that he's not pitching this series.

I do miss the big guy's sense of humor:

Dunn is wearing uniform No. 32, the same number Jay Bruce wears for the Reds, but Dunn laughed and said, "That’s not why. I know Jay misses me. Probably carries my picture in his wallet. I’m sure he sleeps with it."

Here's a nice read about Billy Werber, the oldest living former player and our 3B from 1939-1941, who reached his centennial on this earth last week.  Werber started on the pennant-winning '39 team and finished 10th in MVP voting the following year, when he helped lead the Reds to the championship.  He was also the first batter in the first televised game, May 1, 1939, when the Reds played the Dodgers at Ebbets Field.  He scored over 100 runs both seasons but was traded after a down year in '41.  After one year with the Giants he retired.

Werber came up with the Yankees and is the last surviving teammate of Babe Ruth.  From the article:

"In my first game, I got on base ahead of Babe Ruth," Werber recalled. "He hit a home run and I ran around the bases, full speed, because I wanted to show those Yankees how fast I could run. When (Ruth) came in he patted me on the head and said, 'You don't have to run like that when The Babe hits one.' "

More of Werber's stories about Ruth, Foxx and other stars from that era can be found in this Boston Globe article from earlier this year.

Werber sounds like a mix of Brandon Phillips and Paul O'Neil - an athletic, aggressive baserunner who also had a temper and penchant for kicking stuff around in the dugout.  He was inducted to the Reds HOF in 1961.  Happy belated, Billy.

JP Ricciardi, who already receives plenty of abuse from Toronto fans and the media, has sunk to new lows.  On a radio show yesterday he rejected a caller's suggestion to trade for Adam Dunn in spectacular fashion (HT to BBTF):

"Do you know the guy doesn’t really like baseball that much?" Ricciardi  said to the caller. "Do you know the guy doesn’t have a passion to play the game that much? How much do you know about the player?  There’s a reason why you’re attracted to some players and there’s a reason why you’re not attracted to some players. I don’t think you’d be very happy if we brought Adam Dunn here …. "

The caller, who pointed out that the Jays sorely need a power hitter, was spot on.  They currently rank second-to-last in the AL in both HRs and SLG.  Their LF is a mix of Brad Wilkerson, Kevin Mench, and Shannon Stewart.  Their DH is Matt Stairs, a 40 year-old who's returned to earth after a flukish '07.  If this team couldn't use Adam Dunn I don't know who could.  But where could they find a power hitter with excellent plate discipline?  Oh wait ....

F#@% JP and the horse he rode in on.

So Fay writes in today's Enquirer, though Hatteberg's quote doesn't really say that:  "First and foremost, I'd like to be here and help the team win.  I play baseball to play."

Fay also claims that Hattteberg is ill-suited for a bench role, citing the fact that he's 0 for 7 as a PH this year (for his career, Hatteberg has hit 164/315/293  in 143 PAs as a PH).  More interesting to me is Dusty's philosophy on PH:  Manager Dusty Baker stressed to him that the only pitch a pinch-hitter gets to hit is oft times the first one. Hatteberg rarely swings at first pitches.  "That flies in the face of the way I hit," he said. "This is my 13th year in the major leagues. I have a theory behind how I like to hit. I like to see a lot of pitches. Pinch-hitting isn't really conducive to that. I change my approach a little bit."

There may be marginal gains in swinging early as a PH, but I can't imagine they'd be enough to change someone's hitting approach. 

HT to BBTF.

From the Fay.  Didn't see this coming, but it's not surprising that they're inviting a RHB to camp that can play 1B.  He hasn't been good lately. Still, that came in a small number of PAs, he's only 31, and he hits lefties (916 career OPS). He's worth a flier.

300 character filler:  he's caught some early in his career; maybe he negates the need for a third C.

With 86% of the vote, the BBWAA elected Rich Gossage into the HOF today.  Jim Rice fell just a few points shy of the 75% needed for induction and will likely be voted in next year.  

Former Reds on the ballot included Dave Concepcion (16.2), Dave Parker (15.1), and Jose Rijo (0, which means that he received one less vote than in 2001, after his first retirement).  I think there's a good sabermetric argument for Concepcion, but at this point he has no realistic chance of entering the HOF without paying for a ticket.  He also doesn't seem to have the Reds and former teammates backing him in the same way they did for Perez.  But Concepcion's case may just show how tough induction is for the pre-strike shortstops.  Alan Trammel has a stronger case and only received 18%.  

Predictably, Tim Raines was screwed, receiving only 24.3% of the vote.  It will be difficult to raise his tally next year with Henderson gaining eligibility.  Raines may end up being the offensive counterpart of Bert Blyleven, who received 61.9%.

Regarding a different HOF, Baseball Prospectus (no sub) just ran an interview with Rick Walls and Chris Eckes (who run the Reds HOF) that's worth a read.