It's not exactly the best time to be a Brewers fan. 

The ol' ball club is desperately trying to pull themselves out of a devastating tailspin. Even when they win, they seem to lose, as evidenced by last night's Giancarlo Stanton debacle which left the Marlins' – and arguably the National League's – best player with a fractured face and one of the Brewers' most consistently impressive starting pitchers with a potentially fractured psyche.

Sounds like a good time to get baseball's favorite canine Hank the Dog (sorry, Hercules from "The Sandlot") back in the spotlight!

Today, the Milwaukee Brewers announced the release of "Hank, The Ballpark Pup," a new children's book chronicling the life, time and adventures of Hank the Dog. The 40-page hardcover book, written by Karen Winnick, will go on sale Thursday, Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. at the Brewers Team Store.

To celebrate the occasion, Winnick and Hank will be at the Team Store that Thursday from 4:30 until 5:30 p.m. The first 75 people in line will get a free copy of the book, as well as an opportunity to have it signed by the author and take a photo with Hank. Maybe you could talk Hank into signing the book, too.

The book retails for $19.95. However, as with all Hank-related items sold by the ball club, 20 percent of that price is donated to the Hank Fund, which benefits the Wisconsin Humane Society. 

The Hank the Dog book release comes quickly after the Hank the Dog bobblehead night tomorrow night. Now, considering the low preseason expectations for the Brewers, it made sense when they planned and came up with this date all the way back in March to have a bobblehead night for the wildly popular rescue dog/mascot near the end of the season with attention likely waning and Wisconsin's ultimate pastime – football – all started up. 

However, the Brewers could've never expected how much they desperately needed a distraction, preferably an adorably cute and cuddly one. 

It's insanely convenient timing that this Hank media deluge is opening up right when the team is coping with an epic late-season collapse that has playoff hopes dwindling and folks calling for the manager's head – plus, now the fallout of ending the season (and an inch or two away from potentially ending the career) of one of the NL's best players on a contending team.

The kind of insanely convenient timing that recalls when the Brewers came across Hank back in February while gearing up for what was expected to be one of the more tumultuous spring trainings of recent note considering Braun's return from suspension.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm a Hank Truther. That'd be ridiculous. All I'm saying is that Hank the Dog might be a Time Lord dedicated to saving the Brewers in their deepest times of PR need – something I bet the NFL wishes they had right about now.