High & Inside: NL Notes

The Brewers knew their mascot was popular, but when the team decided to hide 1,400 lawn statues of "Bernie Brewer" around town early Tuesday it generated chaos.

The well-intentioned idea of "Where's Bernie?" was that fans would find the statues, some with tickets, prizes, and player autographs attached.

But it didn't take long before social networking websites were buzzing with complaints about fans staking out workers who were stashing the statues, then snapping up Bernies as soon as they were hidden.

One Twitter user posted a photo of at least 10 statues stuffed in the trunk of a car. Several statues were also put up for sale on eBay, with bids topping $200.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, one Twitter poster wrote: "U R the lowest common denominator. 30+ Bernie statues??? Your greed disgusts me more than your profile picture."

Fred Wilpon, who angered some star players by telling The New Yorker they weren't worth their salaries (he has since apologized), kept it up on Tuesday, telling Sports Illustrated the team is "bleeding cash" and could lose $70 million this season.

And just to make Mets fans even more excited about their future as the Yankees' poor relations, Wilpon said he would not reinvest the $64 million that comes off the payroll in 2012.

The family of Giants fan Bryan Stow, who was brutally beaten at Dodger Stadium in March, sued the team and owner Frank McCourt, claiming security cutbacks were partially to blame for the attack.