Ryan Braun Cheated

We must never forget that Ryan Braun cheated.  I was originally just going to go to two Dodger games and then come home.  Then I realized that if I have to fly all the way across the country, I might as well stop somewhere and cross another stadium off the list.  So my choices of stadiums that I hadn't been to yet for Wednesday were Houston, Minnesota, Toronto, Tampa, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Oakland.  Geographically, Milwaukee made a lot of sense. It's a little more than halfway home.  This was one case where a retractable roof was good.  I didn't have to worry about weather for the game.

So I was in Milwaukee for my third baseball game in three days.  I don't think I had ever done that before.  I've done two days in a row.  I once did three games in four days (a Saturday game and a doubleheader on Tuesday), but I don't think I had been to three games in three days.

I got to the stadium about an hour and 45 minutes before game time.  The gates didn't open until 90 minutes before game time, so I walked around the outside of the stadium.  They had statues of Robin Yount, Hank Aaron, Bud Selig, and Bob Uecker.  I think Yount is the best Brewer ever.  Aaron is the best Milwaukee player ever.  I assume that the Bud Selig statue is for owning the team and not for his time as commissioner.  I would say that Selig has done more good than bad for baseball.  He took too long to handle the steroid problem, but other than that, he's been mostly good.  And Bob Uecker is a legend.  He was outstanding in Major League, another one of my favorite movies.

He's not as good as Vin Scully, but that's like saying Hakeem Olajuwon wasn't as good as Michael Jordan.  Still great, just not the best.

I walked around for a little bit when I got in the stadium.  I went in the bleachers in right field as the Rockies took batting practice.  I think only one home run came all that close too me.  Oh well.  I completely my lap around the lower concourse and then went up to the next level where I was sitting.  I was in front of the press box and just barely off to the first base side of home plate.  Another great view of the game.

I was a little closer than I was the night before in Dodger Stadium.  But the corners of the outfield were obscured whereas I could see the entire field with nothing obscured when I was a little bit higher at Dodger Stadium.

I was a little unsure of who to root for.  On one hand, the Rockies are a division rival of the Dodgers.  On the other hand, the Brewers might be more likely to be competing for a playoff spot with the Dodgers.  The determining factor was that Ryan Braun is a cheater who cost Matt Kemp the MVP award two years ago.  Braun is now my least favorite player in baseball.  I was rooting for the Rockies.

It was Juan Nicasio for the Rockies against Wily Peralta for the Brewers.  The game had a little bit of everything:  four home runs, two guys thrown out at home, and Carlos Gomez making a fantastic catch to take a home run away from Carlos Gonzalez.  It was probably the best catch I've ever seen in person.  I didn't do much applauding during the game.  I applauded for Gomez's catch.  I applauded the second time a runner was thrown out at home until I realized Ryan Braun made the throw and then I stopped (the first time, I was on the concourse with a beverage in my hand, I saw the play, but I couldn't applaud).  And I applauded when John Axford came into the game because he's a Notre Dame alum.  Unfortunately, Axford was terrible.  He pitched two thirds of an inning and allowed five hits, two home runs, and three runs.  The game went from 4-3 to 7-3 with Axford in there in the ninth and the Rockies held on to win in the bottom of the ninth.

So where does Miller Park rank on the list of stadiums that I've been to?  I'm putting it 13th.  Not bad for a stadium with a retractable roof.  I don't like indoor baseball, but I'm putting it ahead of Coors field.  With the temperature in the high 30s, having the roof closed was a good thing.  I was wondering how they determine whether or not the roof is closed.  I know the NFL has a rule about that.  It appears that Major League Baseball does not.  My answer is that the roof should be closed when the weather is bad for the sport being played.  Rain, snow, and cold are not bad weather conditions for football.  The roof should be open, but the NFL rules do not allow it.  If it was up to me, the roof would only be closed for football when the temperature is above 75 degrees (that is bad weather for football).  For baseball, the roof should only be closed for rain, snow, cold, or extreme heat.  When I was in Phoenix and it was 109 degrees, the roof should be closed, but 90 degrees is not bad weather for baseball.  I checked the Brewers website and their policy isn't too bad.  They close the roof when it's below 60 degrees (I might change that to 55 degrees, but whatever), when it is raining, or when there are high winds.  There's no mention of closing it when it gets hot.  So that's good.  If you go to a game in Milwaukee during the summer, the roof is probably going to be open.  That's not true in Phoenix or Miami.  Also, Miller Park had some pretty good food options.  After a Dodger Dog and a Brooklyn Dodger Dog the previous two days, I didn't want to have a hot dog again.  I saw a sign for a concession stand that had mac and cheese.  There were three different types:  beer and brat, buffalo chicken, and jalapeno popper.  I didn't know which one to get, but when I got to the concession stand, that problem was solved.  Instead of picking one, you could get the mac and cheese trio which was a one-third sized serving of each instead of picking just one.  They were all good, but I probably liked the buffalo chicken the most followed by the beer and brat.  And the other good thing about Miller Park was that you could hear Bob Uecker's broadcast as you walked around the concourse.  One negative was that the scoreboard did not have the pitch count.  Now I think teams care too much about the pitch count these days, but it is an important part of the game today whether I like it or not.  It was nice to know how low Clayton Kershaw's pitch count was on Opening Day at Dodger Stadium.  You don't get that at Miller Park.

Mac and Cheese Trio

I'm partial to the Presidents Race at Nationals Park, but the Brewers might have been the first team to do this.  My section won 50 cent sausage coupons because Chorizo won.  I didn't collect my coupon.

So yeah, Miller Park was pretty good.  I have it ranked first of the retractable roof stadiums that I've been to (there are still three that I haven't been to yet, I wouldn't be surprised if Safeco Field was better).  If I was in Milwaukee again and the Brewers were in town, I'd go to another game, but it's definitely not a stadium that I'd make a point of getting back to.  And I crossed Wisconsin off the list of states to visit, but I would definitely love to get back and get to a Packers game someday.  Lambeau Field and the Rose Bowl are the only football stadiums that I would make a point of seeing.