Memorial Day weekend is a busy travel time, with folks scrambling to attend parades, cookouts, graduation parties and those popular cabins "up north."

The Brewers' travel schedule this weekend leaves a little to be desired.

After finishing their game Thursday night in Houston, the Brewers boarded a charter flight for Minneapolis, where they will begin a three-game interleague series with the Twins at the soon-to-be-imploded (but not soon enough) Metrodome.

The Brewers were expected to arrive in Minneapolis between 3:30 and 4 a.m. Now, it's not like the players had to get up and wrestle with TPS reports at the stroke of 9 a.m. They have all day to rest and get ready for batting practice in the late afternoon.

Still, the situation is not ideal. And, when you consider the context, it gets worse.

Because of a rainout last Friday night in St. Louis, the Brewers gave up an day off Monday and played the Cardinals that night at Busch Stadium. A few fans wondered why the Cardinals didn't play an afternoon game that day, but it was understandable why they did not.

With less than 48 hours -- on a weekend, no less -- to sell tickets, attendance at at Monday afternoon game would undoubtedly been lower than at night. Plus, the Brewers' flight from St. Louis to Houston was relatively short and did not include a change in time zone.

For some reason, the Astros don't play a lot of midweek day games. They can't use the Texas heat as an excuse, because of the retractable roof over Minute Maid Park. They just don't seem to accommodate opponents very often.

Players may not like that kind of late-night travel, but they are used to it. When they get acclimated to their surroundings in the Twin Cities, the Brewers will realize -- if they haven't already -- that they face a similar scenario Sunday night into Monday.

ESPN grabbed the Brewers-Twins game for "Sunday Night Baseball," which means the Brewers will be leaving Minnesota at midnight on Sunday. The flight is only about an hour long, so that's not a big deal. The tough thing is that the Brewers play the Cardinals in a Memorial Day matinee at Miller Park. The first pitch is just after 1 p.m., so the players may be a little groggy for that game or -- if tradition holds -- the one that follows.

You won't hear any Brewers players complaining about the schedule (at least publicly). But, it's something to consider because the type of travel the Brewers are undergoing can cause some players to operate at less than peak capacity. Given the competitive balance in baseball today, that can end a hot streak in a hurry.

Land of the Lost: Third baseman Bill Hall knows that Gamel is in his rear-view mirror. Hall, though, seems unable to snap out of his slump -- particularly against right-handed pitchers.

The options are simple -- Hall needs to accept a role as a platoon player or prove that he's too good to be one. From this corner, it appears that his open stance and diving, hitch-y swing is not conducive to a consistent stroke.

Thursday night, Hall may have hit rock-bottom. He had some bad at-bats against Roy Oswalt, a pitcher he's handled in the past, then made a defensive miscue and left the game in a double-switch.

When the camera caught him in the dugout, he looked dazed, confused and in need of a mental breather -- if not a hug.

Don't write Hall off, though. If the Brewers are going anywhere this season, they'll need him to contribute.

Moving on: The Brewers traded Tony Gwynn, Jr., to San Diego on Thursday in exchange for outfielder Jody Gerut, who will join the team in Minnesota.

There are a couple ways to look at this trade.

First, it probably means "sayonara" for Chris Duffy, a scrappy guy who battled his way onto the roster with a strong spring. It's funny that so much of camp focused on Duffy and Brad Nelson battling for jobs and now both are gone. (Nelson signed this week with Seattle, where he was reunited with former Brewers GM Jack Zduriencik).

Second, it means that the Brewers effectively gave up on Gwynn, a second-round pick in 2003 and a close friend of Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks and several other players. Some may say that the Brewers didn't give Gwynn a chance, but it was poorly-timed injuries and his lack of consistency at the plate that punched his ticket home.

The situation couldn't be much better for Gwynn, who was batting .300 at Class AAA Nashville when he got the news. Gwynn grew up and still resides in San Diego, where his father, Tony, and is a Padres legend, Hall of Famer and baseball coach at San Diego State University.

When the Brewers took Gwynn in 2003, the Padres were the next National League team to draft and they likely would have felt pressure to take him.

The other part of this, from the Padres side, is that having the younger Gwynn around will make fans happy in what is shaping up as a disappointing season. The team tried to trade ace Jake Peavy to the White Sox, but the right-hander exercised his no-trade close to squash the deal.

Not so fast ... Sure, the Brewers would love to add Peavy to their team. You can bet former Padres Trevor Hoffman and Mike Cameron are doing a sales job on their ex-teammate.

The problem is that San Diego general manager Kevin Towers is going to want quality young pitchers in exchange for Peavy. The Brewers are short in that department in the minor leagues.

Even if the Brewers were motivated to trade Mat Gamel, which they are not, it would take a pitcher or two to sweeten the deal enough to get Peavy to town.