We visited Miller Park on Sunday to finish up our 9-day odyssey. I have been to games at Miller Park in the past and so has our family so I’m going to take some liberty and mix in my review from Sunday which was the least pleasant of my 5 or so trips there with the previous visits which will actually help the rating of Miller Park which is really only fair since I am trying to objectively rate each park as honestly as I can. I have sat in the outfield, in the third row behind the on-deck circle, behind home plate in the second deck and in a luxury box in my past visits to Miller. This time we sat in the 17th row just past 1st base out in short RF – very nice seats.
The weather was threatening in Milwaukee on Sunday, so they decided to close the roof which may have been a good idea to keep the rain out although I would have preferred the drizzle over the steamy hot atmosphere we were stuck with instead. I have been to Miller with the roof open and closed in the past and this was BY FAR the worst “weather” I have had to deal with. The temp had to be in the mid-80s with humidity at least that high. There was literally no air movement either so it was really quite uncomfortable which after a long final stretch of driving from Minneapolis was not the way we wanted to finish up our trip.
Anyway, so the temperature was a big strike against Miller at least for that day. The only other real negative was the video display which was really a bit too small as they used a mammoth area below the video for a super huge message board. Personally, I would have rather it been the other way around especially after our visit to KC and being spoiled by CrownVision. Although they did have the out-of-town scoreboard area, they only displayed 3 games at a time while we have seen other parks with more games.
They did copy a bit from Wrigley with some ivy growing on the back wall although the wall with the ivy is actually behind the actual outfield wall but it is still a nice affect. You just have to love the often copied, but never fully duplicated sausage races which are always fun too. The park itself is really nicely laid out with a lot of room in the concourses and a lot of hometown food like brats and Miller beer.
My oldest daughter was saying how we hadn’t seen any “nail biters” on this trip; well yesterday’s game came down to the final swing. The Brewers were facing the Stros and had won the first two games of the 3-game series. This game went back and forth a little bit as the Stros took a 4-2 lead on a 3-run jack by Blum and seemed to extend that lead to 5-2 when Pence went back-to-back. The Brewers came out to challenge and using instant replay, Pence’s HR was reversed to be a long foul ball. That seemed to shift the momentum to the Brewers even though they were still behind. The Brewers tied the score at 4 on a MAMMOTH bomb from Prince Fielder that hit just below the large message board and was measured at 457 feet. And later took the lead to make it 5-4 where the score remained until former Cub David Weathers came in fooling nobody allowing 3 runs and giving up the lead. The Stros pushed across an insurance run in the top of the 9th making it 8-5. If they could get the Brewers to go 1-2-3, they would escape facing Braun and maybe Fielder to earn the W. Nope – a ground rule double by Felipe Lopez extended the inning and Braun followed with a single bringing up Prince Fielder as the potential tying run. On a 3-2 pitch (I would have walked him at this point), Fielder crushed one to deep RF, Pence jumped up just in front of the wall to snag Fielder’s deep fly to ironically end the game (ironic since Pence had been “robbed” of an HR earlier in the game by instant replay). The crowd was going crazy as the ball seemed to be up in the air forever only to be followed by a loud, collective “aaaaaawwwwww!” when Pence came down with the ball for the final out.
With yesterday’s loss by the Brewers, we have ended our hometown winning streak at 8 games and are now 9-5 overall. There are only 13 ball parks listed below because we actually saw a double-header which my youngest was very nervous about during our first trip but was happy to learn that a double-header means two games, not two heads.
OK, so here is my updated ball park ranking to date:
1. Comerica Park (Detroit)
2. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)
3. Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
4. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
5. Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, MO)
6. Fenway Park (Boston)
7. Miller Park (Milwaukee)
8. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
9. Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
10. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
11. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
12. Metrodome (Minneapolis)
13. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next up…there is no next up; at least not this year. I just want to use this last little part here to thank my wife for setting this up again and really outdoing herself with a great trip plan. We did everything I think we could have possibly done bringing us to near exhaustion in the process…one more thing and I think we would have been pushed over that edge. I had a great time sweetie…THANK YOU!
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