Clock is already ticking on Brewers' playoff prospects

Meantime, the Brewers are only too happy to help their fans gear up for the postseason.

At the team's online gift shop, a Brewers wild-card baseball cap runs $22.99, a wild-card T-shirt $24.99. A wild-card gold coin is $19.99.

Sorry, the Fielder bobblehead is out of stock, but there are three types of clocks available, including a diamond-shaped one for $29.99.

That's so Brewers fans can keep track of how much time their team has left.

Trivia time

Did the Brewers hit more or fewer home runs this year compared with the last season they reached the playoffs, 26 years ago?

Dinger drought

There were 2.01 home runs hit per game in the major leagues this year, the lowest average since 1.78 in 1993.

Made to order

Gallagher's Steak House in Tampa, Fla., is observing the Rays' making the playoffs by offering, among other dishes, the Popeye [Don] Zimmer Porterhouse, Carlos Pena Crab Cakes, Akinori Iwamura Seared Ahi Tuna, and the Joe Maddon-Mignon.

Cover up

Did you catch the San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker on "The Late Late Show" with Craig Ferguson? Parker was on to promote being the cover athlete for the NBA video game by EA Sports.

Said Parker: "I didn't know what a cover athlete was. I thought it was some NBA term for someone who covered something."

No charge

When Indianapolis Colts fan Brian Keitell found Coach Tony Dungy's credit card on top of a gas pump, he returned it, and received an autographed football and a nice thank-you from Dungy.



Trivia answer

Fewer -- 198 this season, 216 in 1982.

And finally

Tiger Woods, about his Chevron World Challenge in December at Sherwood Country Club, where he won't be able to play because of his reconstructive knee surgery: "I can only cheer from the sidelines in a cart . . . getting ready for the senior tour."

thomas.bonk@latimes.com