Your Milwaukee Apocalypse: Avoiding Cover

Despite our best efforts, the Milwaukee Brewers have been able to maintain their grasp upon first place in the NL Central. Why have they been able to do this? I'll tell you why. Somehow the Brewers were able to convince Sports Illustrated not to put them on the cover this week. I had heard that there was going to be a big Brewers write up in SI, so I had my fingers crossed that the SI cover jinx would put an end to their reign of terror. Much to my chagrin however, I opened my mailbox only to find that SI had fallen under the siren's call of these soap opera posers, and had decided to put MMA on the cover even though the Brewer's article was obviously the lead story. Blast you Brewers! Blast!

I fear that the Brewer's may lay claim to another soul this weekend in their series with San Diego, that of WTB favorite and currently perfect reliever Kevin Cameron. Stay strong Kevin, stay strong.

Getting to Know....Perfect Relievers

Here in the "Getting to Know..." universe we like to keep track of stats. Stats of interesting players, oddities, new kids on the block, that sort of thing. So as I was looking through some sortable stats on ESPN, I noticed a little statistical note that piqued my interest quite a bit: there are three relief pitchers (min 8 IP) that have yet to give up a run this season. One you have heard of, but the other two are young guns making a big splash on the Major League stage. Here is a look at the three pitchers still tossing doughnuts for the season:

Eric Gagne:
Games: 9
IP: 8.1
WHIP: .96
Notes: The Rangers took a bit of a flier on the oft-injured Gagne in the offseason, and thus far things seem to be panning out pretty well for them. After a brief stint on the DL this season Gagne has come back with a vengeance, allowing only one hit in five appearances since his return.

Jeremy Accardo:
Games: 18
IP: 20
WHIP: .80
Notes: The Jays picked Accardo up in the Shea Hillenbrand trade last year, and suffice it to say they are looking pretty smart for it. Accardo had a shaky run to end last season, but has stepped into the closer role for Toronto this season while B.J. Ryan has been on the DL. With Accardo pitching lights out, recording 4 saves in the past ten days, it will be interesting to see if he holds on to the closer's role when Ryan returns.

Kevin Cameron:
Games: 11
IP: 16.1
WHIP: 1.29
Notes: Cameron is a rookie, and not just in that funny MLB "he has not pitched X number of innings in a given season" kind of way, Cameron has been seeing his first major league action this year, and the 27 year old is one of the major reasons why San Diego has the lowest bullpen ERA in all of baseball. A notable point about Cameron's performance is that he has pitched 2 or more innings in a relief appearance five times already this season.