Miller Park

Kevin and I are staying at my parents' lakehouse in Delavan, Wisconsin this weekend. We have thought about going to a Brewers game many times, but it's never worked out while we stayed here. But all the stars aligned this weekend, so we took a trip to Miller Park to catch Milwaukee playing the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I had been to Miller Park several times in college, but this was Kevin's first trip. We finally pulled into the parking lot (after following the cars through the backwoods of Wisconsin for about 15 minutes), and we were greeted by thousands of tailgaters! Oh yeah, I forgot Miller Park is a huge tailgating stadium -- it's that Wisconsin blood. We didn't have enough time to join the party, and I was disappointed I hadn't thought of that earlier.

When we got into the stadium, Kevin was pleasantly surprised. He had never been in a dome stadium. It was a beautiful night, so the roof was open. I told Kevin we should stick around after the game to watch them close the roof and that they do that after every game, just to show you how it works.

I was very impressed with the Milwaukee fans. Most of the games I had been to previously were against the Cubs, and being that Miller Park is known as "Wrigley North", it was filled with Cubs fans. So this was kind of my first exposure to the real Brewers fans. The first thing that struck me is how many people were wearing Brewer paraphernalia. The fans also drink a lot, but unlike at Wrigley, they are very into the game. Cheering, booing, standing up -- all at appropriate times!

We sat in the Terrace box level (is Wrigley the only park that doesn't give the Upper Deck a fancy name?), right behind home plate. They were great seats, and only $20. As I mentioned, the Brewers were playing the Dodgers.

We were both rooting for the Dodgers. Me, because obviously I can't root for one of the Cubs' NL Central rivals, and Kevin, because he always has weird reasons as to why he hates a particular team this week. Today his reason was that the starting Milwaukee pitcher Braden Looper was a former closer for the Mets, and Kevin thinks he sucks. I think there was another reason too, but I can't remember why.

Kevin hadn't been feeling well, which meant that he offered to be the designated driver, so I got to drink. He had really wanted to eat a brat at the game, but he couldn't finish it because of his stomach issues. So I took care of that for him too!

It was a great game at the beginning, very close up until extra innings. It was one of Manny Ramirez' first games backing after his 50-game suspension for, ahem, use of women's fertility drugs. He responded to the crowd's boos by blasting a home run. With the Brewers up by one going into the ninth, the Brewers' closer Trevor Hoffman came out. His entrance was quite a production and was pretty cool, but it was nothing compared to Mariano Rivera's entrance at Yankee Stadium. It didn't do too much to help him anyway, as he blew the lead by giving up a run. The Brewers failed to score in the bottom of the ninth.

That's when it got really interesting. The Dodgers rallied to score six runs in the tenth, including a grand slam from Matt Kemp. We were ready to go at that point, but I still wanted Kevin to see the roof close. I asked the man next to me if they still close the roof and re-open it after every game. He laughed. "No, they haven't done that since the first season." Oh. I guess it's really been a while since I've been there!

So we got out of there, apparently missing a great catch to end the game by Kemp. But we had a great time. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so we weren't able to take any pictures :( Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for watching Alex and letting us have a date!

The Cohen Ballpark Tour

I thought it would be fun to create a blog about our quest to visit all of the MLB ballparks...and a few other choice stadiums. I'm not sure if anyone besides me is going to read it, but I'm okay with that. I am thinking of it as more of an online journal so that I can remember these times!

Since we've already done a bunch of stadiums, I am going to have to go back sometimes. Luckily I am married to a sports encyclopedia, so Kevin can help me remember the details of the game!