Saturday afternoon at Miller Park

My 2008 worldwide baseball tour continued on this afternoon at Miller Park in Milwaukee. 

For a place that reminded me a lot of the Astrodome, I really enjoyed it. 

As I have stated elsewhere today, with each new park I go to it makes me realize even more the colossal amount of mediocrity that was put into the design and construction of Comerica Park. On my all-time list, this would rank only behind PNC Park and The Ballpark In Arlington. 

The only thing I didn't like about the park were the goofy dimensions of the outfield wall. I guess when they were drawing it up on paper they let Michael J. Fox have the pen. 

The brats were as great as you would expect them to be and I got cheese fries served in a mini Brewers batting helmet. It's quite possible the helmet would be tastier than the fries. But I'm not going there.

I picked up the standard schwag I've been accumulating this season: a scorecard, program, yearbook, 2008 Topps team sets of both the Brewers and the Cardinals (more on this later in the week), a pocket schedule, and a fan guide to the park. I've had to go out and get a plastic tub to hold all of the stuff I have accumulated this season. It was baseball card giveaway day too, so I've got a little bobo pack of cards with Jason Kendall on the front. Whoo.

The Cards won 5-3 in a game I won't remember five things about this time next week. I've already forgotten who won the sausage race, and I was paying careful attention not to miss it.

It's Been One Week, Volume 1

This time a week ago my buddy Chris and I were enjoying a lovely afternoon watching the Philadelphia Phillies take on the Pittsburgh Pirates at the most beautiful ball park in the majors, PNC Park. It's a great park with a great view of downtown Pittsburgh. (insert your own joke here, but downtown is actually a very nice area) 

There are cool statues all over the place, including Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and a collection of Negro League stars such as Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, and Satchel Paige. 

There are cheap seats a plenty at PNC Park, and we got to see several of the Pirates stars of tomorrow shine. Paul Maholm pitched a complete game two-hitter and Nate McLouth hit two home runs as the Buccos won 5-1.

It'd be a crime if I didn't mention the awesome chili cheese fries I had from Pop's Potato Patch in Pop's Plaza. For $6.75 you get a bowl that is large enough to feed a family of eight and it's very tasty. I ate on it for close to an hour and ended up throwing half of it away. This is definitely the fare to check out on a visit to PNC Park.

I picked up some cool souvenirs, including a program, a scorecard, a cool little A-Z guide of the park, a pocket schedule, and an official Topps team set of 14 cards in the blister pack. (more about these cards at the end of the week)

Here's a little video I took.

It was a fantastic experience and a great start to our road trip. I can't wait to make my next trip back whenever the Tigers are in town!!!