NLDS home game wrap

So that was postseason baseball. I hit up both games at Miller Park, and the crowds were everything I have ever hoped them to be in October. While we were sitting closer to the pivot of the roof on Saturday than we were to the actual field, the crowd was absolutely electric and never came unplugged. Starting with Dave Bush’s first pitch for a strike, the place was raucous. Somewhere in the playoff tickets process, the fair-weather Brewers fans lost their ability to enter the stadium, because whenever Bush had two strikes on a Phillies batter, the entire place rose to its feet, screaming and yelling, waving the towels. Whenever Jamie Moyer threw one of his 200 first inning pitches for a ball, the place went nuts. Much like a crowd at a football game gets boisterous when the oppositions offense is on the field to make the QBs signals tougher to hear, when Carlos Ruiz went to visit Moyer on the mound, Miller Park became deafening. I’ve never stood for so long in the Terrace, much less any other level, without having someone complain and tell me to sit down. It was truthfully incredible. Everyone, old and young alike, was high fiving each other after every Brewers run, or great defensive play.

Sunday’s crowd, albeit it far less intoxicated, was just as nuts from the onset, thanks in large part to the giveaway of Thunderstix (weren’t those things banned by MLB or maybe that was the NBA?) I envision the Crew’s marketing department thinking about game day giveaways for that one. “Well, the Saturday crowd coupled with the game being the first postseason home game in the past 26 years is sure to be just louder than hell. How do we get a loud crowd on Sunday too? I’VE GOT IT, THUNDERSTIX!” The noise created throughout the stadium when Suppan’s first pitch was in there for a strike was incredible. But a lot of that steam was taken away by Rollins leadoff dinger, and the place went nearly silent after Burrell and Werth went yard.

I was most impressed with how many fans stuck around behind the Brewers dugout on both the field and loge levels a good half hour after the game had ended, hoping the team would come out one last time. Like we couldn’t say goodbye. I was impressed that literally four sections of the stadium remained packed despite the season coming to a close. Great fun this year all around. How odd was it watching Geoff Jenkins celebrate a postseason series win at Miller Park in the opposing clubhouse?