With an eye on the franchise's first post-season berth in 26 years, Brewers general manager Doug Melvin acquired C.C. Sabathia Sunday night from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for highly-touted prospect Matt LaPorta and other prospects.

The deal won't become official until later today, but word of the deal began to leak following the Brewers' 11-6 victory over the Pirates Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.  Sabathia, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, is 6-8 this season with a 3.83 earned run average. The left-hander struggled out of the gate, starting 1-4, but has since steadied and leads the American League with 123 strikeouts in 122 1/3 innings of work.

The acquisition didn't come without a cost. The Brewers parted with LaPorta, considered one of the top power-hitting prospects in all of baseball. Milwaukee's first-round draft pick a year ago, LaPorta was hitting .288 with 20 home runs and 66 RBI with Class AA Huntsville.

Also included in the deal was left-hander Zach Jackson, who has struggled at Class AAA Nashville (1-5, 7.85 ERA) and Class A right-hander Rob Bryson, who was 3-2 with a 4.25 ERA at Brevard County. Another player, possibly infielder Taylor Green, also could head to Cleveland to complate the trade.

Sabathia last pitched for the Indians on Thursday, allowing four earned runs and seven hits over eight innings of a 6-5 loss to the White Sox. He threw a bullpen session Saturday while the Indians were in Minnesota and is expected to make his first start with the Brewers Tuesday against Colorado.

By making the move for Sabathia, who turns 28 on July 21, Melvin is making a commitment to winning this season. Like his new teammate, all-star Ben Sheets, Sabathia is expected to leave as a free agent following the season.

The Indians offered Sabathia a four-year, $70 million extension during spring training. Sabathia, Cleveland's first-round draft pick in 1998, turned down the offer. With the Indians in last place in the AL Central, general manager Mark Shapiro opted to get a return before losing Sabathia to free agency.

Braun gets All-Star start: By an impressive margin, fans voted Brewers leftfielder Ryan Braun in as a starter for the All-Star Game, set for July 15 at Yankee Stadium.

Braun was in fourth place in the latest round of vote totals released by Major League Baseball, but a push from the Brewers' publicity department helped him make up the less than 40,000 votes that separated him from Cubs' right fielder Kosuke Fukudome.

In the final vote tally, Braun was the second-highest overall vote-getter, finishing with 3,835,840 votes. Philadelphia's Chase Utley led all NL players with 3,889,602 votes.

Along with Fukudome, Chicago's Alfonso Soriano will join Braun in the outfield.

Ben Sheets was also named to the team on the players' ballot, and could be a candidate to start the game. Sheets is 10-2 with a 2.77 ERA in 17 starts this season.

Right fielder Corey Hart (.294, 14 homers, 53 RBIs, 12 SB) is one of five National League players that fans can vote for online to fill the last roster spot. He's up against Philadelphia's Pat Burrell, Carlos Lee of Houston, the Giants' Aaron Rowand and the New York Mets' David Wright.

Fans can vote at mlb.com.

Hardy is hot: Since being moved to the No. 2 spot in the lineup, shortstop J.J. Hardy is starting to look more and more like the player that made the National League all-star team a year ago.

He went hitless in three trips Saturday, snapping his team-best 16-game hitting streak. Hardy went 30-67 (.448) during the streak with six homers and 16 RBI. He raised his average from .242 to .292 and is currently team's second-leading hitter with a .295 average.

"Batting in front of the pitcher kind of played mind games with me," Hardy said. "I wasn't too excited about it. I feel comfortable anywhere in the lineup as long as it's somewhere not in front of the pitcher."

His hitting streak was snapped with a sacrifice in the truest sense of the word. Needing a run in the ninth Saturday to beat the Pirates, Hardy laid down a bunt that advanced Rickie Weeks to second.

Pittsburgh pitcher Tyler Yates followed by intentionally walking Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder went on to win it with an RBI single.

"You got to do what's best for the team, that comes first," Hardy said. "I'm kind of happy it's over because it's kind of stressful going through stuff like that."

More than the lineup adjustment, Hardy's recent hot streak can be attributed to his now-healthy shoulder. The team shut him down a few weeks back to let some soreness in the shoulder dissipate.

After a few days of being held out of workouts, Hardy is playing as close to 100 percent as he has been during his three-plus years in Milwaukee.

"I give that pretty much full credit," Hardy said. "I was playing through shoulder pain for about the first third of the season, so I think it was the best thing for me to take those couple of days off."

A day after his streak ended, Hardy responded by homering in his first two at-bats.

Ready and waiting: Catcher Jason Kendall has long had a history of being a fixture in the lineup, so it makes sense that backup catcher Mike Rivera has only played in 14 games this season.

Rivera has been productive when given the opportunity. He's batting .341 (14 for 44) with a home run, three doubles and 10 RBIs.

Seeking to get Rivera some playing time, Yost put him at first base Tuesday in an 8-6 victory against Arizona. He showed little sign of rust going 2-4 with a pair of RBI. In his first start at first since spring training, Rivera also turned an unassisted double-play.

"I'm just glad that I can contribute," said Rivera.

Welcome back: In his first Miller Park appearance since returning from the disabled list, Eric Gagne got a lukewarm reception.

Entering in the ninth inning Saturday with the game tied at one apiece, Gagne struck out Pittsburgh's Freddie Sanchez on five pitches before giving up a single to Jason Bay.

Corey Hart made a sliding catch to retire Ryan Doumit and Gagne got Xavier Nady to ground into a force out to end the inning.

The right-hander made his first outing after returning to the team in the Brewers' 6-5 loss at Arizona Thursday. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning before giving way to Guillermo Mota, Brian Shouse and Salomon Torres who combined to allow all six Diamondbacks runs while not recording a single out.

Weaver update: Jeff Weaver couldn't make it to the big leagues with the Brewers, but it looks like he might get a shot with the Indians. The veteran signed a minor-league deal with Cleveland earlier this week and will soon report to the team's Class AAA affiliate in Buffalo.

He went 2-4 with a 6.22 in nine starts for the Brewers' Class AAA affiliate in Nashville and was released on June 12. His signing by Cleveland is leading to further speculation that the last-place Indians may use him as a replacement for Sabathia. Injury report: No news is good news, right? LHP Chris Capuano was in Phoenix during the Brewers' recent series with the Diamondbacks and told FSN Wisconsin that he is recovering nicely from "Tommy John' surgery. ... RHP Yovani Gallardo continues to rehab from ACL surgery but it's not yet known if he will return this season. ... LHP Randy Choate is 0-1 with a 6.10 ERA in seven appearances with Nashville.

Quick hits: Seven Brewers have at least 10 home runs this season, the most in baseball. ... Jason Kendall has thrown out 18 of 43 (41.9 percent) runners attempting to steal this season. He threw out just 13 all of last season. ... J.J. Hardy became just the second player in team history to collect four hits in back-to-back games. ... The Brewers are 2,967-3,305 since the franchise's inception and 767-938 since joining the National League in 1998. ... Saturday's game was the shortest (2 hours 14 minutes) of the season at Miller Park. ... The Brewers are 5-4 in walk-off situations and 19-8 in one-run games this season.

On the farm: RHP Jeremy Jeffress was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week (June 23-29) after going 1-0 with a 0.29 ERA in two starts. ... Tony Gwynn had three of Nashville's five hits in a 4-3 loss to Round Rock Friday.

This week: With just more than a week left before the all-star break, the Brewers have a chance to gain ground in the Central with seven home games against the Rockies and the Reds.

He said it: "I've been working with him secretly." -- Yost, on Hardy's recent success.

Attendance (Through 41 home games): Total -- 1,450,368. Average -- 35,374; On pace for -- 2,865,294. Sellouts -- 15.

Under the roof: Games played with roof / panels open -- 13 (10-3); roof closed / panels open -- 2 (2-0); roof open / panels closed -- 0; roof / panels closed -- 23 (13-10). Total home games -- 41.

NL Central Standings: 1, Chicago, 53-36; 2, Milwaukee, 49-39 (-3.5); 3, St. Louis, 50-40 (-3.5); 4, Cincinnati, 43-47 (-10.5); 5, Houston, 41-48 (-12); 6, Pittsburgh, 40-47 (-12).

NL Wild Card standings: 1, Milwaukee, 49-39; (tie), St. Louis, 50-40; 2, Florida, 45-43 (-4); 3, New York, 44-44 (-5).