Milwaukee Brewers 3-4 San Francisco Giants
Miller Park (Att 31,644)
21 May 2012
When a draw will do.
I'm not one for leaving before the end of a game. I don't undertsand why people routinely do it to 'beat the traffic'. I don't even leave just because the team are doing badly. Miss NAC is quite vorciferous in her condemnation of anyone leaving the RAT early, just because NAC are losing.
But even for someone with those principles there is a limit. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the rules of baseball, so long as the weather is ok they play, and play till the end. However long that takes. There are no penalty shoot outs, and draws are for girls. It is somewhat surprising given the number of extra innings games that I have only been to one, and that was one extra. But I have read about and seen pictures of fans asleep at games lasting well into the early hours. Whilst this was not that bad, we didn't see the end. We left after 11 innings and still made it back to the hotel in the city and fell asleep before this one ended, 4 hours and 34 minutes after it started, mindnight local time.
The stadium is wonderful, a great place for the family to enjoy the game. Full of things to do for the kids, bars, food places, a rectractible fan style roof (they played opening day whilst it snowed) back panels that open and close, a slide for the mascot when a home run is scored, firewaorks and racing sausages. Everything you should hate in a stadium (well except the bars and racing sausages!!) and yet, in the most American of past-times, everything seemed to fit together nicely. No place for a ground hopper, well not that they will admit to.
Two words of warning:
1) Don't plan a long holiday in Milwaukee. It's small and reasonable quiet (although to be fair the university year had ended the week before). It's one and a half hours by train from Chicago and an overnight is plenty.
2) The ground is 4.5 miles from the city. There are cabs and buses, but we took the free shuttle from Mo's Irish Bar, one of many that are laid on by bars around the city. Give it a try, fast reliable and free!
But even for someone with those principles there is a limit. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the rules of baseball, so long as the weather is ok they play, and play till the end. However long that takes. There are no penalty shoot outs, and draws are for girls. It is somewhat surprising given the number of extra innings games that I have only been to one, and that was one extra. But I have read about and seen pictures of fans asleep at games lasting well into the early hours. Whilst this was not that bad, we didn't see the end. We left after 11 innings and still made it back to the hotel in the city and fell asleep before this one ended, 4 hours and 34 minutes after it started, mindnight local time.
The stadium is wonderful, a great place for the family to enjoy the game. Full of things to do for the kids, bars, food places, a rectractible fan style roof (they played opening day whilst it snowed) back panels that open and close, a slide for the mascot when a home run is scored, firewaorks and racing sausages. Everything you should hate in a stadium (well except the bars and racing sausages!!) and yet, in the most American of past-times, everything seemed to fit together nicely. No place for a ground hopper, well not that they will admit to.
Two words of warning:
1) Don't plan a long holiday in Milwaukee. It's small and reasonable quiet (although to be fair the university year had ended the week before). It's one and a half hours by train from Chicago and an overnight is plenty.
2) The ground is 4.5 miles from the city. There are cabs and buses, but we took the free shuttle from Mo's Irish Bar, one of many that are laid on by bars around the city. Give it a try, fast reliable and free!