Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day.

Not after coming within one more failed drug test of a lifetime suspension.  Not after struggling to throw strikes for much of his minor league career.  Not after struggling in his first two trips to Double A.  But now, it seems like it's going to happen.

According to Tom Haudricourt, Jeremy Jeffress is going to be a member of the Milwaukee Brewers this September.

The clues have been there ever since he was added to the 40-man roster earlier this season.  Doug Melvin has been dropping hints about a possible call-up as a reward for working his way back from (an admittedly self-inflicted) low point.  But for whatever reason, I still had my doubts.

While I'm sure there will be plenty of people out there that won't have too much sympathy for him, I find this to be an incredible story of persevering over personal demons.  Regardless of the fact that he got himself into this mess to begin with, it does take a lot to dig yourself out of that hole, and it's something a lot of people haven't been able to do.

He's seemingly re-dedicated himself, he's the one that suggested he pitch out of the bullpen this year to keep his focus on the game, and he's shown more maturity than we've ever seen from him before.  I'm not entirely sure how much we can expect to see Jeffress when it comes to in-game action this September, but he's worked hard to earn this reward.

I love a good story, and this is a good story.  But aside from that, he's going to be really, really fun to watch.  He might not make the Twitterverse go nuts like Aroldis Chapman did, but he throws high-90s heat like it's nothing and has the good off-speed pitch to match.  If he can ever develop that third pitch, he could be that top of the rotation starter everyone thought he could be.  If not, the Brewers at least have another fireballer to fit into their bullpen along with Zach Braddock and John Axford.

Isn't it nice to have some homegrown pitching talent hit the bigs?

With the Brewers facing off against the Reds for the first time since the Jim Edmonds trade, I figured it was a good time to take a look at the early returns of the trade.

Admittedly, we're dealing with a very, very small amount of games here -- the trade went down on August 9, three weeks ago today -- but it's still worth taking a look.

Rum Bunter: Milwaukee Brewers As The Cast of HBO's True Blood
There's only one rational explanation behind the Brewers' dominance of the Pirates: the Brewers must be vampires.  Given their problems hitting during the day until this afternoon's game, I might just have to agree.

Another Cubs Blog: Why Joe Girardi will not be managing the Cubs
ACB slaps some sense into the people thinking that Girardi would be willing to leave the Yankees for Chicago.  I tend to agree -- he's almost guaranteed to get a nice extension from the Yanks, barring some kind of postseason collapse, and interviewing with the Cubs may jeopardize that relationship.  Girardi is still pretty young for a manager, so he'll have plenty of time to eventually return to Chicago.  The Cubs job will likely be open again multiple times before his managing days are done.

(Read More)

The Brewers messed with the shadows at Miller Park by slightly adjusting the roof in right field before today's game.  The Brewers beat the Pirates today, 8-4, in a game featuring more offense than we're used to in a day game.  But I'm not so sure the two are correlated.

Of course, if the Brewers think it helped and they continue to hit well at home during the day -- it'll be hard to tell, since they only have three of those games left -- that's fine.  Psychology is still an important component when you're up to bat, so if Ryan Braun thinks he's hitting better because of the extra shade, so be it.  I just think facing Charlie Morton and the rest of the Pittsburgh Pirates has more to do with it.

Morton is a bad pitcher.  For all the complaining Brewers fans do about Manny Parra, he's like Manny Parra with even worse results.  The first time the Brewers saw Morton this year, they chased him from the game after 1 inning, tagging him for 6 runs (5 earned) on 6 hits and 3 walks.  Today, he allowed 8 runs (7 earned) on 9 hits in 3.1 innings.  He's now made 11 starts this year, and has given up less than 5 earned runs only 4 times. 

This was his first start back in the majors since May 27, and the numbers indicate he was still extremely hittable in Triple A.  In 80 innings for Indianapolis, Morton's K/9 was an even 6.0, and he also carried a BB/9 of 3.4 and a H/9 of 9.3.  His WHIP was 1.412. 

It's possible he's just having a really, really bad year, as those Triple A numbers are pretty much in line with what he did in 18 Major League starts last year.  I just hope the Brewers consider the competition -- or lack thereof -- before they start patting themselves on the back for "fixing" the Miller Park shadows today.

This probably isn't a surprise, but Prince Fielder loves hitting Pirates pitching.  I say it's not a surprise because Pittsburgh's pitching staff is one of the worst in the majors, ranking 29th in team ERA and dead last in WHIP.  Paul Maholm is the team's ERA leader with a sparkling mark of 4.82.  Maholm and Joel Hanrahan are the only Pittsburgh pitchers worth a full win above replacement level according to FanGraphs.

You get the picture -- Pittsburgh is bad.  But just how much has Prince been beating up on the Pirates compared to other teams this season?  You might be surprised.

Following Fielder's two-homer game on Saturday night, he now has 28 home runs on the year.  Of those, 8 have come against the Pirates -- by far the most he has against a single team this year.  The second highest total he has against one team this year is three, against the Texas Rangers.  He's hit two against just about everyone else.

Heading into Saturday night, Fielder was hitting a Branyan-esque .250/.432/.571 against the Bucs, good for an OPS+ of 148.  He's put up these numbers despite Pittsburgh seemingly pitching around him whenever possible -- the 15 walks he drew before Saturday were also the most he's drawn against a single team this year.

Of course, part of the reason why Prince's numbers against the Pirates this year are so far ahead of his numbers against anyone else is because the Brewers have played the Pirates more than any other team this year.  His career numbers against them are also spectacular, though -- after Saturday night, he's hit more home runs against the Pirates (21) than he has against any other team in his career, just ahead of the Cincinnati Reds (19). 

Sunday will be the last time the Brewers get to face the Pirates this year, so hopefully they can get over their day game hitting woes and finish the sweep.