Sunday was getaway day for the Brewers and myself, and I was hoping for a smooth-sailing afternoon. Alex and Jess (my hosts in Chicago) joined me for the game, and we left their apartment in Logan Square just before noon for the 1:10 game. I thought this would be plenty of time because U.S. Cellular field is only nine miles away. I was wrong. The traffic wasn’t too bad, but once we got to the 35th street exit we realized we should have left much earlier. I’d say we were off the interstate by 12:15, but weren’t parked until 12:45. We quickly walked the 1/3 of a mile to get in the park, and made our way to the upper deck. Luckily the staircase provided a good spot for game photo number 72, because the seats towards the front of the sections were pretty much full 15 minutes before first pitch.

Before I forget; I had taken some other pictures before/during the previous two games, and hadn’t posted them. This first one is a six parter, and has the statues that the White Sox have beyond the centerfield wall. Going clockwise from top left:

1) Minnie Miñoso, a 9-time All-Star whose full name is Saturnino Orestes Armas “Minnie” Miñoso Arrieta. He had five stints with the White Sox; 1951-1957, 1960-1961, 1964, 1976, and 1980.

2) Carlton Fisk, an 11-time All-Star who played for the Red Sox the first part of his career, and then the White Sox from 1981-1993. Fisk is most famous for his 12th inning walk off home run that won Game 6 of the ’75 World Series. The left field foul pole is at Fenway Park is commonly referred to as the Fisk Foul Pole, or Fisk’s Pole.

3) Walter William Pierce, better known as Billy. He was a starter for the White Sox, won 186 games for the them during his 13 years with the South Siders (1949-1961), and was a 7-time All-Star.

4) Jacob Nelson Fox “Nellie” played second base for the White Sox from 1950-1963. He was a 15-time All-Star.

5) Luis Aparicio played shortstop for the Pale Hose from 1956-1962, and again from 1968-1970. He was a 13-time All-Star. I put the Fox and Aparicio photos next to each other because that’s how they are positioned at the ballpark. Fox is flipping a ball to Aparicio, who is at the second base bag, something they likely did thousands of times (including practice) while they played together for seven seasons.

6) Harold Baines, a six-time All-Star who played for the White Sox from 1980-1989, 1996-1997, and 2000-2001.

There was also a statue of Charles Comiskey at U.S. Cellular Field, as there should be. Charles “The Old Roman” Comiskey played in the majors from 1882 to 1894. He then managed a Western League team in Iowa, moved it to Saint Paul, and eventually to the South Side of Chicago and renamed the club the White Stockings. They joined the renamed American League, which became a major league in 1901. A lot of people still refer to U.S. Cellular Field as Comiskey Park, which was its name from 1991 to 2003. The White Sox played in one stadium from 1910-1990, and for 64 of the 81 years it was called Comiskey Park.

One picture that I didn’t post from Saturday’s game is of the White Sox’s mascot; Southpaw. I don’t think teams need to have mascots, but it’s mainly for the kids, so I’ll let it slide. Here is Southpaw as he tries to get the crowd going from the camera well. I’m not sure what he’s supposed to be, but he better be a lefty with that name (southpaw is slang for a lefty, and mainly used in baseball circles).

Alright, back to Sunday’s game. Our seats were in the ninth row of 529 (in the upper deck) but we went all the way up to the last row to get some extra space. It’s also a little more breezy in the last row, and it was extremely comfortable up there. This was the view as Jose Quintana delivered the opening pitch to Norichika Aoki.

There wasn’t too much action during the game, but the flying earwigs gave us something to think about. One landed on Jess’ shirt and she freaked out a little. One landed on my knee and I destroyed it after brushing it off, and another landed in my hair; not cool. Other than that we had a good time in the upper deck, and I recommend the seat location, as long as you don’t get stuck behind one of the many beams that support the roof. Mike Fiers was on the hill for the Brewers, and pitched very well, he pitched seven and a third, gave up five hits, one walk, no runs, and struck out seven. Here he is pitching in the first inning.

There weren’t many exciting moments during the game, so Alex and I tried to get a good shot of a fielder making a catch in the outfield. Alex had a shot with the ball closer to the glove, but it was a little blurry, so I’ll declare myself the winner. This is Aoki making a catch on an A.J. Pierzynski flyout in the bottom of the fourth inning. Again, I don’t have an amazing camera, so all my pictures are taken by just hitting the shutter once, not holding it. The really nice cameras can capture 8 or 9 frames per second, mine is somewhere in the 2.5 to 3 range, so I don’t even use it that way.

In the fifth or sixth inning a Twitter follower and some of his friends came up and said hi. Kyle and his friends are going to tonight’s game in Cincinnati as well, and it’s always cool seeing other Brewers fans that are *almost* as crazy as I am. Before they took off in the middle of the seventh inning I had Kyle take a picture of me, Alex and Jess. Alex and Jess got married last June, and I stood up in the wedding as a groomsman. I can’t thank them enough for letting me crash at their place for 11+ nights this season. Their spare room has a couch that I’ve been sleeping on, but the room doubles as Jess’ closet, so I’m grateful that she puts up with me. I couldn’t do this without your guys’ help, so thank you!

The game was scoreless going into the top of the ninth, when Aramis Ramiriz singled to left with one out.

Nyjer Morgan pinch ran for Ramirez, and on the very next pitch Corey Hart singled to right. Weeks then struck out swinging, and George Kottaras came to the plate with two down. On a 3-1 count Morgan took off for third (thinking it was a full count), George swung and missed and Nyjer was thrown out by a mile. Who knows if George would’ve came through with a hit on the next pitch, but I would’ve liked to see him get the opportunity. The White Sox failed to score in the ninth despite having the bases loaded, and the game went to the tenth. The Brewers didn’t score in the tenth, and the White Sox got a leadoff double in their half of the inning. A flyout a walk and a strikeout followed, and the stage was set for Eduardo Escobar. This is what happened, going clockwise from top left:

1) Escobar lining Parra’s pitch to left-center.

2) Alejandra De Aza touching home plate with the only run of the game. Final Score: White Sox 1 – Brewers 0.

3) Adam Dunn barreling into Escobar.

4) The rest of the team celebrating the walk-off victory by giving nougies and body shots to Escobar as a way of congratulating him on a job well done.

Ugh. To make matters worse, the escalators were all shut down where I wanted to exit, so I had to take the back and forth ramps all the way down to the ground level. Boooooooooo! Hisssssssssss! I don’t even think they have staircases that people can take, I know it would’ve been more painful, but I would’ve gotten out of there a lot quicker. The view of Chicago from the ramp is pretty legit, though, so I can’t be too upset.

I got to my car at 4:40 and was on the interstate shortly thereafter. I made it to Cincinnati in exactly four hours and 45 minutes, and that included a 15 minute pit stop for some gasoline, a bathroom break, a Jack Link’s Beef Jerky stick, and an Almond Snickers. I’m staying with Prince in Cincinnati, and he’s a swell fella. He was born and raised in NYC, went to school at Penn State (BOOOOO, Go Badgers!), lived in D.C., then Madison, now Cincinnati, and was a former hotdogger. Victoria met former hot-doggers when she was on the road as a Wienermobile driver back in 2009 and 2010, and now has connections in various cities. This is one of them.

I’m going to hit up a local place for lunch today, then head down to Great American Ballpark around 4:30. I’ll be sitting with a local Brewers fan both Monday and Tuesday, and he’s hooked me up with free tickets to the game. Thanks Barry!

Personal Stats:

Daily:

Season:

If you want to learn more about Be The Match and how you can help, CLICK HERE

I didn’t get up until 11:15 on Saturday morning, but I didn’t go to bed until after 2:00 am the night before, so we’ll call it even. Jess was helping throw a bachelorette party for a friend of hers, so Alex and I had time to hang out. We played two games of cribbage (I won them both) and then we jumped on the L at 2:00 pm. We took the blue line to the Damen stop, where we got off and walked to Piece, a pizza place on Milwaukee Avenue. The four parter below explains what went down. Going clockwise from top left:

1) The interior of Piece, you can’t see much of it, but the ceiling looks like the bottom of a ship (or at least I think it does).

2) The menu. It was a little pricey, but that’s to be expected in a trendy Chicago Brewery and Pizzeria.

3) An advertisement for their takeout. well done, Piece. If you can’t read it, click on the picture, and a larger image will open up in a new tab or window. If you look closely you can also see my hands, face, and shirt in the reflection.

4) Our lunch/dinner. We got a traditional medium pie with red onions, green peppers, italian sausage, and sautéed mushrooms. I know I’ve said that I’m not a big fan of italian sausage because of the fennel seeds, but I don’t think I tasted one on Saturday.

Alex and I managed to eat the whole thing save for one small sliver of a slice. It was quite good, but the $22.25 price tag for a medium pizza does seem a little ridiculous. To their credit, the rent that they have to pay at the location they’re in is probably much higher than a place in Madison. We jumped on the L at Division, and took it to the Jackson stop, where we transferred to the red line. We got to the Sox-35th stop just before 4:45, and were in front of the Cell a few minutes later. We walked around for a bit and found where home plate at Comiskey Park used to be. They commemorated it with a marble home plate at the site of the original.

We got inside around 5:10 and waited until batting practice was over. After they removed the protective tarps from the field we went down to get game photo number 71.

You can see in the background that they were getting the field ready for the game. At the Cell readying the field apparently involves meticulously watering around the chalk lines of the batters box. I know a lot of teams probably do this, but I just think it looks silly with the watering can and all.

While we waited for the game to start I let Alex take some pictures with my camera. This was one that he took. I’m not sure what they’re doing, but the trainer is winning… (I know he is stretching the guys’ hamstring, but just play along).

The game started and I couldn’t help but to take a picture of the White Sox’s starting pitcher. Here he is throwing the second pitch of the ballgame to Norichika Aoki. Just how sweet of a last name is Axelrod? Even if he doesn’t have a successful big league career, he’ll still have that sweet*** last name to fall back on.

The Brewers got on the board in the bottom of the second inning when Kottaras doubled to left. A misplay by the Sox’s left fielder allowed Aramis Ramirez to trot home. Here he is just milliseconds before he touched the plate. Cody Ransom (the on deck batter) has his hands up to tell Ramirez that he doesn’t need to slide. The on deck hitter will position himself in line with the route of the runner, and let them know if they need to slide, and maybe even what type/where they should slide.

In the second inning the White Sox took a 2-1 lead when they got back-to-back one out RBI singles from Viciedo and Alexei Ramirez. The Brewers came back in the third and tied it on an RBI single from Braun. In the bottom of the fourth the White Sox again went in front (4-2), this time on a two-run home run from Viciedo. The Brewers scored one in the fifth on an RBI single from Nyjer Morgan, then three more in the sixth to take a 6-4 lead. RBI singles by Maldonado and Ransom accounted for the first two runs in the sixth, and a sacrifice fly from Gomez the final run. This next picture is of Gomez, just before he connected on the sacrifice fly. I don’t know why, but his bat and the ball are almost unidentifiable. If you click on it and look closely you can see the bat and the ball, but they are both pretty hard to see. I labeled it “Gomez without a bat?” because if you just glance at it that’s what you’d think. The scientific reason for their appeared disappearance is the speed of the bat and the ball, the slow shutter speed (1/160th of a second), the lighting, and the fact that both his bat and the ball are relatively light objects to begin with.

The White Sox weren’t done scoring (unfortunately) and they scored two runs of their own in the sixth, then solo runs in the seventh and eighth. Final Score: White Sox 8 – Brewers 6.

It was a tough one, and Randy Wolf just can’t buy a win right now. He didn’t pitch the best, but he gave the Crew a chance to win. Again the bullpen let him down, but that’s baseball, it happens. I have to mention the guy behind me and Alex because he was obnoxious. From the starting lineup announcements we could tell we were probably going to be annoyed by the end of the game. We were spot on. I’m not sure if he was with his girlfriend, or just a girl that was a friend, but it seemed like he was trying to impress her with his baseball knowledge. Corey Hart made a scoop on a bad throw early in the game, and he said it wasn’t a hard play. I told him that Hart has been in the outfield for the last seven or so years. He then wondered aloud why Prince wasn’t starting at first. I told him that Prince was with the Tigers now. He said “Oh, I didn’t know, I haven’t paid attention to Milwaukee the past 10 years.” We then told him that Detroit is in the White Sox division (the AL Central). I think he responded with something like “well I don’t pay that close attention”. It was a major signing for an intra-division rival, so I’m not sure how he missed it. Later in the game we heard him say that Minnesota was losing, “like they always do”, so he must be somewhat up to date to know that the Twins aren’t very good this year. Late in the game the girl he was with asked if a 3-2 count was a full count and he said yes. She then asked if it was still a full count if it was a 3-2 count with 2 outs. He said yes to that as well, but then said “but it’s more dangerous.” I have no idea what that meant, but now this poor lady is going to be ducking for cover every time there’s a 3-2 count with 2 outs at a baseball game. Ok, maybe not, but still… He also chanted HGH every time Braun came to the plate, which was pleasant. Alright, I’ll stop ranting now.

I’ll be leaving for the game in less than 11 hours, so I’m calling it a night. I’m leaving from the park tomorrow, and driving right to Cincinnati, and I’m hoping to get there by 10:00 pm eastern time. I’m staying with a former hotdogger that Victoria is friends with. I probably won’t get the post up for Sunday until Monday afternoon. We’ll see how I feel when I’m done driving.

Personal Stats:

Daily:

Season:

If you want to learn more about Be The Match and how you can help, CLICK HERE

The off day on Thursday was mostly spent in Madison, trying to recover from a cold. I also had an 11:30 am oil change, but that was the extent of my schedule. I left Madison around 6:00 pm and was parked at Alex and Jess’ place in Chicago at 8:30. We watched game five of the NBA Finals, and then called it a night.

Friday I really didn’t have any plans, and I lounged until 1:00 pm or so, when I decided I should get some lunch. I had been to Hot Doug’s (a local hot dog place) on April 12th, when I was in Chicago for the Brewers-Cubs series. I was craving a Chicago style hot dog, so I figured I should make another visit. The four part picture below explains what went down. Going clockwise from top left:

1) The line wrapping around the building at Hot Doug’s. There were probably 15-20 people in front of those that you are visible in the picture. I think it was about a 45 minute wait.

2) The sausage display case at the counter where you place your order. You can see some racing sausage bobble heads there on the lower right and also a mini wienermobile (my girlfriend Victoria used to be a “hotdogger”).

3) My lunch. On the left you have their “Game of the Week” special, and on Friday it was a Blueberry and merlot venison sausage with blackberry mustard and gouda cheese. The two other sausages are both char-grilled dogs with “everything”, which is mustard, caramelized onions, relish, tomatoes, a pickle, and celery salt. This of course is a Chicago Style hot dog. The venison dog was ok, but a little strange. There were some crunchy bites, and I’m thinking they were the seeds from the blackberry mustard… I hope. with the Vitamin Water my lunch set me back $13.50. All in all it was worth it.

4) What remained when I called it quits. I was more than stuffed. I think this was one of those instances where your eyes are bigger than your stomach.

I drove back to Alex and Jess’ place, rested for about an hour, then left for the game. I jumped on the blue line L-Train at 4:37, transferred to the red line, and arrived at the “Sox-35th” stop. This is what greets you when you get off the train:

The bridge in the picture above provides a nice view of downtown Chicago.

Once I got to the park I walked around and tried to find the best spot for the exterior game number picture. There really isn’t a best spot. You can comment if you want and let me know which one you like better. The first is taken from the first base side of the stadium. I like it because it has the Sox and U.S. Cellular Field graphic, but I dislike it it because of the (ugly) ramps on both sides of said graphic. The second one I like because it’s from around home plate, and you can kind of tell that it’s a baseball stadium… maybe. I dislike it because the U.S. Cellular Field text is barely visible at the very top of the exterior wall.

I went inside after getting the second picture taken, and when I entered the seating bowl on the first base side I saw this:

Lucroy without a cast!!! He’s talking with Roenicke about something, and I’m hoping it’s not about the bat he’s leaning on. I didn’t even notice that until I uploaded this picture just now. I guess if you need both hands… why not? I saw Dillard shagging balls in the outfield and I went over to chat for a bit. When he got close to the wall at one point I shouted in my best Harray Caray voice: “Hey Tim, it’s Ben Rouse”. I thought he didn’t hear it, but then he came walking over (he must’ve turned and looked when I wasn’t paying attention. He said that he did wave towards the press box on Wednesday (like I requested) and now I feel like an idiot for forgetting to watch for him. We didn’t talk for long, but it’s cool that a major leaguer is interested in my mission, and is trying to help spread the word. He told me that he’s telling guys in the clubhouse, “whoever will listen”, he said. Thanks Tim!

This was the view from the left-centerfield bleachers after I got done talking with Dillard. That’s him in the bottom center, just after throwing one back towards the infield. It was really sunny, as you can tell, and I headed to my seat shortly thereafter.

The game started on time at 7:10, and on paper it was going to be a low-scoring affair. Coming into the game Zack Greinke had a 3.10 earned run average and the White Sox’s starter, Chris Sale, a 2.46 ERA. This was the view from my seat in section 117 as Sale pitched to Aoki in the top of the first. I had bought this seat before the Brewers had agreed to help out, and I was on the aisle. Aisle seats are a blessing and a curse at the same time. The aisle was to my left, meaning that whenever people went up or down the steps they were in my way. If I hadn’t “dodged, ducked, dipped, dived, or dodged” I would’ve missed 25-30 pitches, at least. I wound up missing none (I’m patting myself on the back).

Greinke walked Adam Dunn in the bottom of the first inning, and you could tell some of the balls were close to the zone. Greinke wanted to know where he was missing, and after he retired the side he talked with home plate umpire Mike Winters for a minute. It may look like the umpire is upset, but I think it was a friendly talk, as Greinke had a smile on his face after they were done.

In the second inning Greinke made it seem like his talk was worth it, and he struck out Alex Rios looking to open the frame. This is Greinke about to release the pitch that retired Rios.

The game was an old fashioned pitcher’s duel. Greinke pitched nine scoreless innings, giving up 3 hits, the one walk, and he struck out 4. Sale was almost as impressive, and he lasted eight scoreless, giving up 4 hits, one walk, while fanning 7. The Brewers had a few scoring chances in the first nine innings, but the White Sox never had a runner reach second base. Aramis Ramirez doubled to lead off the bottom of the tenth and was pinch run for by Nyjer Morgan. Hart struck out, but T-Plush advanced to third with only one out when the catcher couldn’t coral a wild pitch. Weeks was at the dish, and on a 2-2 pitch Rickie drove one through the left side of the infield to score Nyjer. As Rickie returned to first base this was the scene:

Orlando Hudson, the White Sox’s third basemen, had dove for the ball, and is still heartbroken that he wasn’t quick enough. I like that Ed Sedar is pointing at Rickie, but his attention is still directed towards the ball in the outfield. I wanted Greinke to come out and pitch the 10th inning, because that happens so infrequently, but Roenicke opted for Axford. Greinke was only at 100 pitches, and was dealing, so I thought there was a decent chance. However, for all I know Roenicke could have asked Greinke if he wanted the 10th inning, and Greinke said no, but I doubt that was the case.

Axford walked the leadoff batter, and I started to squirm. I had been at a 0-0 ballgame that went to extras once before, and I didn’t like the results. In 2006 I was at a Brewers-Reds game at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. The game was tied at zeros going into extras, and in the 11th inning Adam Dunn hit a walk-off three-run home run to give the Reds a 3-0 win. What’ya know? Adam Dunn was the second batter in the bottom of the 10th. Axford struck Dunn out on a 98 mph fastball and this was his very next pitch:

It was an 80 mph curveball to the White Sox cleanup hitter, Paul Konerko. The result? You ask. How about a 5-4-3 double play to end the game. Here is Cody Ransom getting ready to throw to first after stepping off the second base bag. Second base umpire Angel Campos approves. Final Score: Brewers 1 – White Sox 0.

You might notice that the last two pictures were taken from a different angle. After the top of the tenth I had moved over to the third base side so I could exit quickly and get to the L stop before it got overcrowded. It worked to perfection and the train came as I got up to the platform. When I transferred I also just barely caught the blue line train, and I’m glad I did. A stop or two after I had gotten on a guy and his friend boarded the train. One friend sat behind me, while the other one stood. The friend behind me fell asleep, and eventually his friend tried to wake him, since their stop was approaching. He slapped his friend’s face to no avail, and the standing friend wound up getting off the train at his stop. This is how the guy was sleeping.

After we started moving again another guy really tried to wake him up. He started slapping his cheeks and the back of his head, even prying one of his eyes open at one point. Eventually he came to, and was pissed that his friend deserted  him. He said he needed to get off at Logan Square, which wasn’t for a few more stops, so I’m not sure if the friend got off at the wrong stop, or this guy didn’t have the right info. Nonetheless it was a nice capper to my successful day. Now if I can just wake up tomorrow without this cold.

Personal Stats:

Daily:

Season:

If you want to learn more about Be The Match and how you can help, CLICK HERE

Wednesday started with a 7:45 am alarm, so I could be coherent for an 8:30 interview on a Milwaukee area radio show. Unfortunately there was a mix-up at the radio station and they never called me to do the interview. I would’ve slept until 9:00 so I was a little frustrated that they messed up. After finding out that they weren’t going to call I started packing for the road trip. I left my parents’ house at 10:50 and met another former coworker (Steve) in Johnson Creek. He offered to drive and it was nice being a passenger for a change. Of the last 2,634 miles I had gone in a car only 17 of them were as a passenger.

We got to the Money parking lot at 11:58, and were inside shortly thereafter. We went to section 220 and I got game photo number 69 taken care of. If you didn’t see the posts were I had explained what I’m doing for home games, I’ll revisit the topic. Before the season started I realized that since I would be going to all 81 home games, I needed to think of a way to make the game number photos (somewhat) interesting. I started in the right field corner of the upper deck and moved over a section or two at a time to get a slow panoramic-esque effect. I’m currently doing the same thing in the loge level, and then wrapping up on the field level.

Steve and I walked around a bit, and then hit up a concession stand for a Polish and a Miller Lite. Steve was buying and I explained that the Polish sausage was my favorite sausage. He had never tried one so we both ordered a Polish with sautéed onions. We then went down the stairs behind section 216, said hi to Bill, and then set up shop in front of the press box. It was over 90 degrees, even hotter in the sun, and we wanted no part of it. My seats in section 221 are in the sun for two and a half hours for 1:10 games, and it can become unbearable.

The Blue Jays took an early 1-0 lead when Edwin Encarnacion led off the second inning with his third home run of the series. In the bottom of the second inning the Brewers answered and erupted for five runs. Corey Hart hit a one out home run that just cleared the right field fence to tie the game at one. After a Rickie Weeks strikeout, Cody Ransom walked, and then Maldonado connected on his 5th home run in just his 59th at bat of the year. Gallardo followed Maldonado with a double and Carlos Gomez hit the fourth home run of the second inning (the 3rd for the Crew) and the Brewers had a 5-1 lead. This was our view from in front of the press box as Gomez touched home plate.

In the fifth inning Nyjer Morgan drove in his first Brewers run this year that wasn’t himself and the Brewers went up 6-1. Coming into the game he had two solo home runs, which accounted for his two RBIs. Gallardo started for the Brewers, and was pulled with two outs in the seventh inning after allowing three straight two-out base runners including a double that drove in the Blue Jays’ second run. Tim Dillard came in and while walking Bautista and hitting Encarnacion, the latter forcing in a run, he got out of the inning without further damage. At this point Steve and I had went down to our seats, and I got a picture of Dillard pitching. I have to give Dillard some love because he reached out to me by leaving a comment (which I didn’t approve because he had included his email address). I was a little skeptical at first but after sending him an email he confirmed that it was him, and since I chatted with him on the field at Dodger Stadium, it makes sense. If someone had commented saying they were Ryan Braun, I’d be a little more skeptical. I joked in my email to him that he should stop in centerfield while pulling the candy suitcase, and wave towards the press box (to reassure me that it was him). He said he would wave if he remembered, but then I completely forget to watch him and Perez walk out to the ‘pen. I was too busy scarfing down the polish sausage, and it slipped my mind. Tim; if you’re reading this and if you did remember to wave, thanks!

The Brewers held a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the seventh, and Ryan Braun provided some Badger Mutual Insurance runs. That’s what insurance runs are referred to as on the Brewers Radio Network, and I can hear Uecker saying that in my head as I type this. Braun’s home run came with one out and T-Plush on first base, and it gave the Brewers a 8-3 lead. As Braun neared third base I took a picture of the scene. I think the “Braun Bomber” scoreboard graphic is new, but I’m not sure. I don’t pay too much attention to the scoreboard during a home run trot, so it could have been used this entire season and I just didn’t notice it.

Dillard pitched the eighth inning, Mike Fiers pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, and the Brewers won the game and the series. Final Score: Brewers 8 – Blue Jays 3. During the seventh inning stretch I had a fan two rows in front of us take a picture of me and Steve with the field in the background. Steve is on the left and I’m on the right. I had a great time with Steve and he and his wife are waiting for their registration kits in the mail so they can join the bone marrow donor registry. Steve also donated $30 to Be The Match and I appreciate his generosity. I told him that Theresa (another former coworker) is up next, and after relaying the message to her she has already texted, asking me what games are left to choose from.

My luck finally ran out, and I’ve got a cold. I could sense it coming a few days ago, but I feel absolutely miserable right now. I wish I could just curl up and sleep for a few days, but I’m not going to let a cold stop me. I’m leaving for Chicago tonight at 5:45, and I should be arriving at Alex and Jess’ place around 8:30 or so. I was hoping to hit up Hot Doug’s tomorrow for a Chicago style hot dog, but I might just take it easy and try to recover before heading to U.S. Cellular for the first game of the series vs. the White Sox.

Brandon, who joined me at Monday’s game, wrote a post on his blog about his experience. I have to give him a shout out for mentioning me, and it’s always nice to hear that a stranger (before we met) enjoyed his/her experience with me at a game. The feeling was mutual, thanks Brandon!

Daily:

Season:

If you want to learn more about Be The Match and how you can help, CLICK HERE

Monday started with physical therapy and occupational therapy appointments at the Dean West clinic in Madison. We’re trying to figure out what is going on with my knee and so far the mystery remains unsolved. They’ve given me stretches and exercises to strengthen my left leg muscles without putting stress on the knee. To be honest; my knee is actually worse now than it was before I started seeing the physical therapist. I am in no way saying that the exercises I’m doing is making it worse, but for whatever reason it’s painful to walk and extremely painful to go up stairs. I *can* make it up stairs without the assistance of a railing, but it’s a struggle. I was an all-conference defensive back in high school, and right now I feel like anybody’s grandmother could beat me on a go route, a slant, or a fade. Pretty much any route, come to think of it.

I left our apartment on the west side of Madison at 3:00 pm. I stopped for gas before getting on the beltline, stopped for a Jimmy John’s sub in Lake Mills, and pulled into the Brewers 1 lot at 4:40 pm. I proceeded to eat the aforementioned sub then gingerly walked the preferred parking lots handing out some cards. I really wish I could get back to the general lot more often, but with the way my knee is feeling I might need to invest in a segway for that to become a routine. I had listed my extra ticket for Monday’s game on Twitter before the road trip, and found a buyer shortly thereafter. Brandon was my partner in crime for the game, and Be The Match will be getting another $30 donation thanks to him.

Brandon met me inside in section 223 where I was planning on getting the game number photo taken. I had forgotten that it was Little League Night and that the Brewers allow this to happen:

All the Little Leaguers (and their coaches) get to walk around the warning track from foul pole to foul pole. This meant that there were parents all over the place trying to get pictures of their kid(s) on the field. It made it a little tricky but luckily there weren’t any in the front row of 223, where I stood to get game photo number 67. I’m not saying the Brewers shouldn’t do this, because I think it’s awesome that they do it, I’m just saying it changed how I went about things.

It was hot and sticky and I was svitzing like pig (or whatever the kids are saying these days). I am this →||← close to getting rid of my “facial hair” and shaving my head. The original plan was to make it the entire season, so that the game number photo slideshow would show progressively longer and longer hair and facial hair, but I’m not sure I can put up with this. The person who is smiling ear to ear as she’s reading this is my wonderful girlfriend Victoria, who has voiced her opinion that I should’ve gotten rid of “it” weeks ago. I hate losing, and me getting rid of my joke of a beard will mean that she won. We’ll call it a tie, and I’ll tell myself that there were extenuating circumstances.

After getting the game number picture Brandon and I were waiting near section 214 for the Ice Man to appear. I’m guessing he had taken the day off because I never did see him. We did see Jill Aronoff, however, who is the Senior Director of Merchandise Branding for the Brewers. She said she had the replacement case for me and went back to the executive offices to get it. I had notified her that the case they had made for me was breaking down, and she said they would swap it out. She had taken the case from me earlier and showed it to some of the manufacturer’s representatives. They said that a substance must have gotten on the case, because they had never seen the type of wear that was visible on my case. I have in the past used hand sanitizer on my phone and cases, and I’m guessing that’s what I had done. Phones are known to have A LOT of germs, thus my precautionary measures (hey, I have the immune system of a 2 and half year old, sue me). So if you’re going to go to the team store to have one of the below cases custom made, don’t use hand sanitizer on it. They are really cool, and if you want one you should check it out at the team store in the left field corner of the field level concourse.

“Front Row Amy”, who sits right behind home plate for about 45 home games a year, offered me her ticket to a game this year. I met up with her before the game on Monday to get the ticket for the August 21st game against the Cubs. It’s one ticket, and I’m looking forward to getting a different perspective on the action. This also means that I will be auctioning off my TWO tickets to the Tuesday, August 21st game. I’ll be donating the money to Be The Match, so if you’re interested in sitting in my seats for that game (section 221, row six), let me know what you’d be willing to donate. I’ll be mentioning it on Twitter as we get closer to that date, so if you don’t use Twitter you can leave a comment now or in a future post.

Brandon and I got to our seats just before the National Anthems, and we noticed this up near the roof. You may have noticed that I said Anthem[S], and that’s because the Brewers were taking on the Toronto Blue Jays, and both “O Canada” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” were sung before the game got underway.

The game started off great, if you were a Blue Jays fan. Brett Lawrie, who in addition to some other minor league prospects at the time, was traded to the Blue Jays for Shaun Marcum in the offseason leading up to the 2011 season. On the second pitch that Lawrie saw, in the stadium that he almost called home, he sent an opposite field home run out to right center to give the Jays the lead. In the bottom half of the first inning the Brewers came right back, and on a full count pitch Rickie Weeks drove one to the outfield to drive in two runs. This was the swing that resulted in the hit. Even though you can’t see the ball I promise you he made contact and drove in T-Plush and Braun.

In the bottom of the second it got even better for the Brewers. They scored four runs on a safety squeeze turned single from Aoki, an RBI fielders choice grounder from Braun, and a two run double from Ram-Ram. Braun was safe at home on Ramirez’s double, and it was a (somewhat) close play. I apologize for the lack of clarity in Braun’s figure. I yelled “SLOW DOWN, I’M TRYING TO GET A GOOD ACTION SHOT!” I think it just made him go faster (at least the catcher and the bat listened).

The Jays scored a run in the third on a double play groundout from Encarnación. In the sixth he made up for the GIDP (grounded into double play) with an absolute BOMB to left field. It hit the inside of Bernie’s slide and then bounced down into the loge bleachers. I remember listening on the radio when Brandon Phillips of the Reds did it back in 2005 (or at least I think it was in ’05). Encarnación’s blast pulled the Jays within three runs at 6-3. In the seventh Brandon and I were hoping Kameron Loe could retire Colby Rasmus, as to not face Joey Bats (José Bautista) representing the tying run. Kameron missed low with a sinker on a full count pitch, and walked Rasmus. Bautista subsequently made him pay with a three-run game-tying home run that landed 15 rows deep in the left field loge bleachers.

In the bottom of the seventh Aramis Ramirez led off and lined one down the left field line that hit some sort of wall. The whole stadium likely heard the smack as it hit the padded portion of the outfield wall. The third base umpire called it a foul ball, and Ron Roenicke came out to argue. Here he is with Ed Sedar as they discuss with the third base umpire where (they think) the ball hit.

The umpires got together, talked about it, and then disappeared into the bowels of the stadium. Since it was a potential home run, they are allowed to look at it, and they went to the video box where they are shown video replays from MLB headquarters in New York. I got to see one when I took the Coors Field tour on May 24th, and I’ve included below a picture that I took during the tour.

After a few minutes the umpires returned and gave the home run signal. Aramis returned to the base paths, and proceeded to take his home run trot.

Ram-Ram’s blast gave the Brewers a 7-6 lead. After a few great defensive plays (one by Weeks, two by Chart) in the top of eighth, the Brewers turned to Axford to close the door in the ninth.

The above picture was taken as Axford was delivering his ninth pitch of the inning. Colby Rasmus lifted the pitch to Braun in left for the third out of the inning, and the Brewers picked up a much needed W. Final Score: Brewers 7 – Blue Jays 6. It was an exciting game, albeit sticky and somewhat painful.

In the middle of the eighth inning I had a fan a few rows in front of us take a picture of Brandon and me. Brandon is on the left and I’m on the right. Besides the fact that Brandon is attending UW-Madison (my alma mater), he also attended 43 Brewers games the season that began in the Spring of his freshman year of college. That’s the same number I attended between my freshman and sophomore years at Madison. He’s a cool guy, a huge Brewers fan, and I wouldn’t mind sitting through another Brewers victory with him in the future.

It’s past 2:00 am on Tuesday morning, and I’m going to bed. I’m driving to Delavan tomorrow before the game to visit with my Grandpa. It’s something that I’ve always done on Father’s Day, but the Brewers schedule dictates my availability, and I can’t change the schedule. He was one of my toughest critics before the season started (as to why I would waste six months of my life following the Brewers). As the season has progressed I really think he’s become quite proud of his only grandson. He even stayed up late when the Brewers were on the west coast to watch the games (and see if I made the broadcast). We’ll have some lunch, play some cribbage, and then it’s off to Milwaukee for game two of the series.

Personal Stats:

Daily:

Season:

If you want to learn more about Be The Match and how you can help, CLICK HERE

I got up Sunday morning expecting decent weather for the game, and didn’t even pack my umbrella or poncho in my drawstring bag. I left Chris and Amber’s place at 11:30 and was parked before 11:45. Once I got to Target Field I went and found two of the other statues that are located outside of the stadium. On the left is Harmon Killebrew (who played with the Senators/Twins from 1954-1974). The Twins were the Washington Nationals/Senators from 1901-1960, before they moved to Minneapolis. On the right is Kerby Pucket (a Twin his whole career from 1984-1995).

Closer to the stadium in the right field plaza they have a giant gold glove. The plaque on the lower left lists all the Twins who have won the Gold Glove award. It’s awarded annually to the best defender at each position, in each league. So every year there are 18 Gold Gloves awarded.

Before I entered the stadium I stood on one of the benches to get a picture of the view looking into Target Field from the right field plaza. It’s an area where people can congregate and meet up before they enter the stadium.

I entered Target Field at 12:15 and went up to the club level, where they show off the awards that Target Field has been honored with.

I then ventured to the upper deck to get game photo number 66. Normally I would get the picture from directly behind home plate in the uppermost deck. At Target Field that doesn’t give you a very good view of downtown, so I compromised and got it taken a little to the left of home plate. There was a group of Brewers fans sitting in the fourth row of the section I was in, so I told them what I was doing and the picture I wanted. When I mentioned I was going to all 162 games they said that they had heard about me and knew my first name, so that was pretty cool. I had Aaron take the picture because he was in the best spot. One of them saw my cardboard diploma envelope that I keep my game number sign in and he told me that they are all going to be sophomores at UW-Madison in the fall. ♫ “U-Rah-Rah! Wisconsin!” ♫

Over my right shoulder you can see that something was going on in the outfield. Here’s a closer look:

A game of mascot tee-ball broke out! I was going to wait until they were done before getting my game number picture taken, but an usher informed me that they would likely be out there until about 12:50 (for the 1:10 start). I didn’t want to risk the stands becoming too full to find a good spot to stand for the picture, so I just took it anyways. I’m not even sure who won, team Bernie had put 10 runs on the board in his team’s turn at bat, and looking at the game number photo, team TC scored at least 7. After thanking Aaron and his friends I went further down the left field line in the upper deck to get a more complete view of the Minneapolis skyline.

I got to my seat as the National Anthem was getting underway, and the game started on time at 1:10. The Brewers struck first and went up 1-0 on an Aramis Ramirez RBI single in the opening frame. As Greinke pitched in the bottom of the first I took a picture of the view from my seat in section 116.

The Twins tied it in the third on a single by Mauer, but the Brewers put three on the board in the fifth. The Brewers had runners on first and third with nobody out in the inning, but a pop out by Braun and a strikeout by Ramirez put the inning in jeopardy. Chart came through for the Crew with an opposite field three-run home run to give the Brewers a 4-1 lead. Whenever Chart gets to Ed Sedar on a home run trot they both do some sort of wiggle, where they put the non-high-five hand on their head and rotate the hips. I don’t know what it’s about and if I ever meet Corey (or Ed) I’ll be sure to ask them. Most players were wearing baby blue armbands because Sunday was Father’s Day, and you can see them on Hart’s and Sedar’s forearms below.

I don’t remember when it started, but it began raining at some point during the game. It was just a drizzle at first, but then got worse, and there was a mass exodus up the stairs into the concourse. Luckily for me my seat was under the second level overhang, and I was dry as can be. I took the picture below in the top of the fourth.

It was looking good for the Crew, and Greinke was pitching well. Here he is in the sixth throwing a slider to Josh Willingham. The pitch was strike three to Willingham, and through six he had given up just the one run.

After walking the leadoff batter in the bottom of the seventh, Greinke got the next two hitters out using a total of four pitches. The next four batters all singled, however, and the Twins tied it up with three two-out runs. Neither team scored in the eighth or ninth, and the game went to extras. In the bottom of the eleventh the Twins had a runner on third with two outs, and the rain really started falling. Kameron Loe got Denard Span to ground out to Rickie Weeks, and the game was going to the 12th. This is what took place over the next 42 minutes, going clockwise from top left:

1) Heavy rain and lightening in the area caused the grounds crew to roll the tarp over the infield as the game went to “weather delay” status.

2) The infield covered, as fans head back up into the concourse.

3) After the sky cleared the grounds crew was back at it.

4) The field after it was uncovered. The grounds crew was spreading a drying agent over parts of the infield (all of them) that had gotten wet before the tarp was rolled out.

The game went to the 15th inning, and in the bottom half the Twins had runners on first and second with only one out. Jamey Carroll singled to right, but Aoki has a good arm, and the runner rounding third was given a late stop sign by the third base coach. Trevor Plouffe got in a rundown between third and home and had made it back to third safely. The runner who had been at first, though, went to third because he was expecting Plouffe to be tagged in the rundown (which he should have been). I’m mad that I didn’t get a picture of it, but there were two Twins just lying there touching third base with outstretched arms, one on the home plate side of third, and one on the second base side. Plouffe was called out (since you can’t have multiple runners on the same base), and the Brewers dodged a bullet. Dillard had been pitching and was relieved by Juan Perez, to get the lefty-lefty matchup on Denard Span. Perez got ahead of Span 0-2, and it was looking like we were headed to the 16th inning. I’ll let the following four part picture explain what happened after the 0-2 pitch. Clockwise from top left:

1) Span singled to left, Dozier scored, and the Twins won. After getting to first Span realized he was going to get mobbed, so he kept running towards second.

2) Span then pulled a nifty juke move on Ben Revere, and escaped for a moment.

3) As he got to the outfield grass more teammates were upon him and stopped running.

4) The Twins celebrating their 15th inning victory.

Final Score: Twins 5 – Brewers 4. It was a tough one to swallow. What made it worse is that I didn’t leave Target Field until 6:45, compared to the 4:00 departure time I had been hoping for. I jumped in my car at 7:00 and made it to Victoria’s and my apartment at 11:04 pm. It’s almost 2:00 pm on Monday, and I need to go. I just realized that I should probably get an oil change before I put another 1,000 miles on my car in the next week and a half. I’ve already put on over 5,000 miles since my last oil change which was right before the season began. The Brewers play the Toronto tonight and I’m looking forward to seeing the Blue Jays in person. Brett Lawrie, who was the main piece in the Shaun Marcum trade, is the Jays’ starting third basemen. He’s got somewhat of a temper, so I might or might not be cheering for some questionable ball-strike calls from the home plate umpire when he’s at the plate.

I forgot to mention this, but during the seventh inning (I think), Dan, or maybe it was Dave (it was a long game), stopped by and gave me $60 to donate to Be the Match. He recognized me and said he reads the blog. THANK YOU!!! If you’re reading this, if you could leave a comment with your email address, I’d like to get in touch. When you leave a comment it doesn’t automatically post, and I’ll get a chance to not approve it once I get your contact info. This actually goes for anyone that wants to get ahold of me.

Personal Stats:

Daily:

Season:

If you want to learn more about Be The Match and how you can help, CLICK HERE

It was a quick turnaround between Friday night’s game and Saturday’s matinee. I got up at 9:00 and worked on the blog until we had to leave at 11:20. Victoria had driven up on Friday and hung out with Amber, who with her fiancé Chris is serving as our host for the weekend. Victoria joined me for Saturday’s game, and it was HOT. We were expecting some rain, but besides a few drops we remained dry. We pulled into a free parking spot that Chris told us about, and made our way towards Target Field. We walked over a bridge and beneath us were some train tracks and a nice bike trail.

Chris had told us that there’s a fenced in area that the Twins use to protect sod for replacing grass on the field. I had walked past it on Friday and wasn’t the wiser. You can see that they’ve already removed some, and they have a small warning track that goes around the grass.

Walking up the sidewalk to the right of the replacement grass leads you (obviously) to the stadium. They have some banners on the fence that you pass along the way.

Once we crossed the street we took a left and walked completely around Target Field. There was some cool stuff along the way, including TravelWisconsin.com hop scotch! Victoria tried it out and said that it indeed was hop scotch. I wonder how much Travel Wisconsin had to pay for these (there were a few). I DON’T think it’s some sort of reciprocity agreement because there isn’t anything like this at Miller Park, at least that I’m aware of.

The four-parter below shows some other things we saw as we walked around the stadium. Going clockwise from top left:

1) The home plate side of the stadium, there’s a factory on the other side of the fence on the left there. Because of how the park had to be situated to fit on the plot of land made it impossible to have a grandiose home plate entrance.

2) A Twins logo on a bike rack. They have lots of bike racks around Target Field, and it’s well done. I *wish* I could just ride my bike to Miller Park. I’m not complaining that Miller Park doesn’t have bike racks, because they do, I’m just saying I don’t live close enough to bike there.

3) The exterior of the third base side of the stadium, with a light rail car in the distance. The train stop is feet from Target Field, and they did a nice job with it.

4) A close-up of the wood panels that are incorporated into the design of the stadium.

After making our way around the stadium we stopped outside gate 29 for game photo number 65.

There are five statues of Twins legends outside of the stadium, and I saw two of them. Chris informed me that the other three are Oliva, Pucket, and Killebrew. Below you have Kent Hrbek on the left (with the Twins from 1981 to 1994), and Rod Carew on the right (1967-1978).

We entered Target Field just before 12:30, and walked around the stadium and took in the sights, smells, and sounds of Target Field. We stopped at one of the State Fair Classics concession stands for some lunch. We each got walleye on a stick and I also got a corn dog. Take a guess what the below cost:

You ready?

⬇

⬇

⬇

⬇

⬇

⬇

TWENTY SIX DOLLARS!!!

The Walleye on a stick sets you back $11 a piece, and the corn dog was $4. They charge you $1.50 for a corn dog at Chase Field in Phoenix. I’m guessing a walleye on a stick would be about the same at Miller Park, because most all stadiums have extremely high prices, but $11 seemed really high. I think if it came with fries or something then $11 would be an acceptable price tag (in a ballpark).

Our food was on a counter that faces the field when I took the photo. In the picture below you can see the people standing up against the counter. The thing on the other side of the counter is the batter’s eye.

We continued around the stadium and made it to our seats just a few minutes before first pitch. We were in the sun, as most people are for a 1:10 game at an outdoor stadium, and it was uncomfortable. This was the view from our $70 seats:

The Brewers struck first with two runs in the top of the second inning. A two out, two-run single by Aoki gave the Brewers the lead. In the top of the third Braun led off the frame with a great at bat against Hendriks. This is what ensued after the 9th pitch of the at bat. Going clockwise from top left:

1) Braun touching second base after his home run to right-centerfield.

2) Braun heading back to the dugout, you’ll probably have to click on the image to see it, but George Kottaras is yelling something as Braun approaches. My guess: “ATTA BOY!!!”

3) On the very next pitch, Aramis Ramirez took Hendriks deep to left-centerfield, and he also got to trot leisurely around the bases. My headline for the inning would be: “Ryan uses braun, Ram-Ram goes Bam-Bam, and the Brewers double their lead on the duos’ back-to-back jacks.”

4) Ramirez as he steps on home plate, giving the Brewers a 4-0 lead.

The Twins got one run back in the bottom of the third inning. The Brewers came back with solo runs in the fifth and sixth on home runs by Braun and Ransom, respectively. In the seventh, Braun came to the plate with a chance to give himself a second three homer day of the season. All he did was hit a measly double to left center, which gave him 10 total bases on the day. Here he is sliding into second.

The Twins put a meaningless run on the board in the eighth, and that concluded the scoring. Final Score: Brewers 6 – Twins 2. Fiers pitched great for the Brewers, and deserves a shout out and a picture. He hides the ball well (as you can see), and I think that is playing a role in his early success in the bigs. A 3.60 ERA isn’t the greatest, but he’s definitely held his own and is doing his part. He finished the day with 7 innings pitched, 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks, and he struck out 5.

Victoria had recorded my interview with Craig Coshun from Wednesday’s game in Kansas City. I’ve included it below for your viewing (dis)pleasure. Check out the other camera guy photo bombing the first millisecond.

When we pulled up to Chris and Amber’s house after the game saw this:

That is Henry, Chris and Amber’s Puggle. He’s a very friendly one-year-old puppy, but he’s got some daggers for claws. When Chris and Amber got home from the Graduation party they were attending we grilled out for dinner, and I added another Bratwurst to the sausage tally. I’ll be leaving for the game at around 11:00 tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to seeing Greinke on the mound for the second time on the road trip. I know this means he won’t be pitching at home Monday through Wednesday, where he’s undefeated as a Brewer, but you can’t hold someone back because of home-away splits.

Personal Stats:

Daily:

Season:

If you want to learn more about Be The Match and how you can help, CLICK HERE

I got to Chris and Amber’s place in Minneapolis at 6:15 on Friday morning. Amber is Victoria’s friend from college, and Chris is her fiancé. I took a nap until 11:15 and then got up to write the post for Thursday. I’m glad I left Kansas City on Thursday night and not Friday morning. Yes, I was exhausted when I was done driving, but I felt better about getting to Minneapolis at 6:00 am on game day rather than 2:00 pm. I left for Target Field at 2:20 because I had an interview with KSTP TV (Minneapolis’ ABC affiliate) at 3:00. I picked up my credentials from gate 29 and then took an elevator down to the press level of the stadium.

There were a few Twins players taking some early BP, and I just watched from the camera well next to the Brewers dugout. It’s always cool to be in stadiums when there are so few people inside, something that I likely won’t get to experience after this season. The Brewers dugout was ready for the game (besides the missing bats):

A reporter and cameraman had come out onto the field and walked right past me. I figured they were there for me, but you can never be too sure. They were on the warning track near the Twins dugout and then the reporter makes a call. My phone starts ringing, and I answered (very unprofessionally) “I thought that was you guys.” I told her to look to her left and then waved. They came over and we did the short interview from inside the Brewers dugout. The cameraman got some B footage of me watching the Twins take BP. I don’t know how it’s going to look because by that time they were just working on bunting. It wasn’t too exciting and I probably just look like a statue since I didn’t have to move my head at all to see the ball.

They left right after the interview but I hung around for a bit, and Craig Coshun and Jerry Augustine appeared in the Brewers dugout. Rickie Weeks came out and Coshun interviewed him, and then Tim Dillard. I talked with Augie for a few minutes and then asked if he wouldn’t mind taking game photo number 64 for me. I know that I’ve always gotten the first picture of a new stadium from the exterior, but I’m not going to be on the field any of the other days, so I figured what the heck. Thanks Augie!

I had gotten a call and a voicemail from Tom Miller of the Janesville Gazette during my interview with KSTP. He wanted to do an interview for an article that would run in Sunday’s paper. I called him back and did the interview from a seat in section 111. I was done with the interview at 4:25 and I left the stadium to meet up with a few Be The Match employees. Nicole has been my main contact with Be The Match, and she asked if I had wanted to join her and two co-workers for Happy Hour at a local pub. I walked the two blocks to Kieran’s Irish Pub, and found them on the patio outside. It’s an enormous patio and it can probably fit 150 people out there. I had two beers and we talked about my mission, Be The Match, and cats. One of her co-workers, Kristin, is a transformed cat lover. We exchanged stories and pictures while Nicole and Jenna laughed to themselves. If they had a cat like Prince they would brag as well. Before we left the pub I had a nearby gentlemen take a picture of the four of us. Left to right you have Kristin, myself, Nicole, and Jenna. Kristin works in marketing for Be The Match and Nicole and Jenna both work for the Be The Match Foundation.

Nicole had tried to get tickets but then gave up, so we parted ways as we left Kieran’s. I walked to Target Field and was inside by 6:35. I had been told that Kramarczuks had a good polish sausage so I hit up one of the stands before heading to my seat. It looks amazing but I was underwhelmed. The casing was too hard, which causes you to use more force when taking a bite, which in turn causes all the contents to fall out of the bun. On top of that it was lacking in the flavor department, in my opinion. Today I’ll try the fried walleye on a stick, since I won’t be able to get that anywhere else this season.

The game moved along quickly through the first four innings, and remained scoreless. The Twins starter, Francisco Liriano, was dealing, and he had a no hitter through five innings. Here’s a an example of how things were going. Going clockwise from top left.

1) Rickie Weeks in the 2nd just barely getting a piece of a ball, but hitting it way down on the handle.

2) Maldonado swinging and missing at an ankle-high ball in the 2nd inning.

3) Cody Ransom swinging and missing in the 5th inning

4) Norichi Aoki barely fouling off a pitch.

Rickie wound up walking in his at bat in the second inning, and stole second base. I got a picture of him sliding in safely as Twins second basemen Alexi Casilla snags the one-hop throw from the catcher.

The Twins broke the 0-0 tie with a leadoff home run in the fifth, and then hit three straight singles to score another run. Gallardo loaded the bases with two outs, but then got out of it with no further damage. For that he gets a picture in the blog. I think Aramis Ramirez is enjoying himself a little too much.

In the top of the sixth Liriano still had the no-hitter intact after walking two of the first three batters he faced. He had an 0-2 count on Ryan Braun, but on the next pitch this happened:

Liriano hung a slider, and Braun didn’t miss, sending the two strike offering to over the centerfield wall. Going clockwise from top left:

1) Braun rounding third as the third base umpire Tony Randazzo looks on.

2) Ed Sedar and Braun going low for a high five.

3) Braun being congratulated at home by Edwin Maysonet and Carlos Gomez, who had drawn the walks before Braun’s homer.

4) Nyjer Morgan giving Braun an extremely low target for a high five as he enters the dugout.

The Brewers took a 3-2 lead on Braun’s home run, but the Twins got it right back with another solo home run from Trevor Plouffe. It remained a 3-3 game into the ninth when Corey Hart led off with a ground rule double down the right field line. I thought the lead-off double was going to be wasted after a Rickie Weeks pop-out and a Taylor Green strikeout. Maldonado delivered once again, however, and on a 2-2 offering from the Twins closer he sent one into the Brewers bullpen to give the Crew a 5-3 lead.

Axford came on in the ninth and tried again to notch his 11th save of the season. The Twins went down 1-2-3 and the Brewers snapped their three game losing streak. Here’s Axford and Maldonado embracing after the win.

It’s raining a bit as I’m writing this, but it’s supposed to clear up and give the teams a window to play in this afternoon. I’m leaving in about 30 minutes, so I need to get a move on.

Personal Stats:

Daily:

Season:

If you want to learn more about Be The Match and how you can help, CLICK HERE

The first half of Thursday was uneventful, but the second half made up for it. I worked on the post for Wednesday until about 2:00 pm and then started getting ready for the day. I was going to be meeting Kris Miner, a Kansas Citian, who is in need of a bone marrow transplant and doesn’t have a match. Her family is promoting Be The Match and trying to find a match for Kris. I agreed to meet with Kris at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday to do a few TV spots for Fox Sports and a couple local news stations.

I left Tom and Danielle’s place at 3:18 and got to Kauffman Stadium just after 3:30. Apparently if you get there early enough parking is free. They have toll booths set up where you pay for parking, and all but one of them had a cone in front of the lane that you drive through. The farthest one to the right didn’t have a cone and I proceeded to park in the A lot. There was an attendant nearby, and after parking (there were a bunch of other cars parked as well) I asked if I just pay her. She said no, and that I got there early enough and didn’t have to pay. Uhhhhhh, OK!!! I put my pass from the previous day on the dash just for good measure and made my way to Gate C, where Erik Miner (Kris’ brother-in-law) told me to enter. They weren’t there yet and the guy manning the door didn’t know what I was talking about so I just waited for everyone else to arrive. In the meantime I took an artsy shot of the exterior of the home plate entrance, with some wheat-like vegetation in the foreground.

When team Kris Miner arrived we entered Gate C and congregated in the lobby while the details for the TV spots were worked out. Kris and I talked about our experiences while we waited for the interviews. She is getting an aggressive chemo regimen 24/7 to try and suppress the Lymphoma until she can find a match.

After about 15 minutes we entered the Diamond Club behind home plate and got situated. When the Royals were taking batting practice I took a picture from the restaurant.

Kris and I eventually got seated and Nate Bukaty (from FSN) sat between us. I had actually done a radio interview on Wednesday with Nate, as he also co-hosts the morning sports talk show on ESPN Radio’s Kansas City affiliate. I had a few hiccups, but overall I think it went well. The audio is a little tinny, but it will suffice. This aired during the Royals pre-game show.

Erik took pictures during the interview and here’s one that I picked out.

After the FSN spot we did a few other short interviews for a couple of the local news stations (thus the microphone clipped to my jersey in the photo above). Kris and I posed for Erik after we were done with the media.

It almost brings tears to my eyes thinking about the situation Kris and her family are in. I was in the same boat three years ago and was bailed out by a couple of matches in the umbilical cord blood database. The doctor’s gave Kris 7-9 weeks without a transplant. She is an amazing individual who understands that even if a match isn’t found for her, she is still helping out others. What we’re trying to do is prevent people from being in the situation where the clock is ticking and there isn’t a match. Check out bethematch.org and find out how easy it is to join the registry. I said it before, but there is a drive in Madison on June 21st, and another in Milwaukee on June 27th. You can also order a kit online to do the cheek swabbing at home.

We left the Diamond Club and went up to the .390 Bar & Grill on the second level of the stadium. George Brett hit .390 in 1980, thus the name of the restaurant.

They started taking orders around 5:30 and I had a co-worker of Erik order for me as Erik and I went to the upper deck to get game photo number 63. It took a bunch of tries to get a decent picture. It had nothing to do with Erik and everything to do with the sun and the problems it was causing. The sun was just showing throw the gap between the stands and the roof of the upper deck. We had to find a spot where the sun would illuminate me and the sign otherwise I would have just been a shadow.

On our way back to the .390 Bar & Grill I took a picture of one of the spiral ramps that is connected to Kauffman Stadium. It doesn’t make for a very pretty exterior, but they need ramps, and this was the style in use when the stadium was built. Arrowhead Stadium can be seen in the background, where the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) play.

When we returned to the restaurant this was waiting for me. I ordered the build-your-own burger, and put on lettuce, tomato, onions, bacon, cheddar, and mushrooms. It was going to set me back $15 but Erik graciously offered to pay. He said it was for helping them out, but it was the least that I could do to raise awareness for something that is so important for Kris and many like her.

The view from the .390 Bar & Grill is pretty good, but the beams are a little distracting. If you’re in the seats right up against the glass they wouldn’t be a problem though.

We stayed in the restaurant until after the National Anthem, and then headed down to our seats. I thought we all were in 224, but I looked at my ticket and saw 234. Apparently the Royals only had 8 together in 224, and then the rest were in 234. I still just sat with Kris, Ken (Kris’ husband), Erik, and some other family members in section 224. Marcum was on the hill for the Brewers, and he pitched a great game. Here he is delivering a pitch early in the game.

The game was knotted at zero heading into the fourth, and that’s when Braun went deep to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Apparently he didn’t want his picture taken, as he shielded himself from my camera as he rounded second.

Ok, he actually was making sure his helmet was on tight, as he routinely does at least once during his home run trot, but it’s fun to imagine, isn’t it? In the bottom of the fourth the Brewers turned a 6-4-3 double play, and I captured Rickie as he was making the turn at second.

In the sixth inning the Royals took the lead on a two-run home run from Eric Hosmer. Hosmer is on my fantasy team, but I honestly don’t even know if I was playing him, as I haven’t checked my lineup in 10 days or so. Either way, I’d much rather see the Brewers succeed than my fantasy team, seeing that I have much more invested (emotionally and financially) in the Brewers than I do in fantasy ($25). Aramis Ramirez tied it at two with a solo blast in the seventh, and I captured him as he stepped on third. Alcides Escobar looks on, as 3rd base umpire Dale Scott makes sure Ram-Ram touches the bag.

In the top of the eighth the Brewers played some small ball and took the lead. Gomez singled, Maysonet sacrificed him to second, and Ransom drove him in to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead. Marcum pitched into the eighth and his final line was 7 and 2/3 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 walks, 2 earned runs and 5 strikeouts. He was definitely deserving of the victory. K-Rod relieved him and got the last out of the eighth. Axford came on in the ninth to try his hand at save number 11 for the second consecutive night. He struck out the first batter (Maier) but his curveball was a 57 footer and got by Maldonado. With the tying run on base Axford induced a groundout and struck out Escobar for what should’ve been the final out of the inning. Jarrod Dyson then drew a walk and the winning run was now on base. Brayan Peña lined Axford’s 1-1 pitch to left field for a base hit, and Maier scored easily. Peña had started going to second and the cutoff throw went to Maysonet (the Brewers shortstop). Maysonet then tried to get Peña and threw low to Rickie Weeks at second. In the meantime Dyson had taken off for home, and Maysonet’s bad throw to Weeks led to him not being able to get the ball home in time. Final Score: Royals 4 – Brewers 3. It was a devastating loss and I was speechless. I honestly didn’t see the winning run because I had turned my back when I saw the tying run score. I was preparing myself for another walk-off in the upcoming at bat or another extra inning affair. I don’t know if I would’ve seen it anyways because I was standing in the concourse and everyone was on their feet with their arms in the air as the Royals finished the sweep.

I was planning on leaving Kansas City early Friday morning, but Thursday’s results made me reconsider. I was really down and figured I probably wouldn’t get much sleep anyways. I went back to Tom and Danielle’s, packed up, said goodbye, and left their place at 11:36. I pulled up to Victoria’s friends’ place in Minneapolis at 6:10 and made it in just over six and a half hours.

I’m leaving for Target Field in about an hour, and I need to get going. I’m doing an interview with a TV station at the park, and then meeting some Be The Match staff at an Irish Pub nearby.

I just want to thank Team Kris Miner for letting me help out with their cause. Stories like hers make me realize that I made the right decision in regards to quitting my job and stepping up to the plate. They were all very nice and I look forward to her finding a match and making a full recovery.

Personal Stats:

Daily:

Season:

If you want to learn more about Be The Match and how you can help, CLICK HERE