The Keg

Alright, I know it's been a while, so here we go:

I had tickets to the Saturday game of the Twins series when Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder hit their first Major League home runs, but did not actually go into the game. I gave my ticket to a friend of ours whose boyfriend was in town for the weekend and it was his birthday, so we gave up our tickets. The main reason I went was the tailgating, which we had planned for a few weeks.

We got to the park at 3:20 and parked the cars, got the grill out of the truck, started it up and began playing cornhole. For those of you not privy, a description of the game will be coming soon. Anyway, it was quite an enjoyable time in the parking lot, truly one of the great atmosphere's I've been involved with in a while, at least since the Cubs/Red Sox series. Fans as far as the eye could see, everyone being friendly (the people a few stalls down from us who were also playing cornhole even lent us their flipper so Randy didn't have to burn his hands flipping our burgers, and treated us to some Jaeger), and people just there for a great baseball scene.

The Brewers of course ended up winning the game, so that was a plus. I don't know what won the weiner race, though.


This past Sunday, my brother and I were in attendance when the Pittsburgh Pirates came to town. It was an outstanding game and every fan was having a great time until the 7th inning. After the Brewers threw up a 5 spot on the board to take an 8-2 lead going into the 7th, the Pirates put up 5,2, and 2 runs in the final 3 innings to beat the Brewers 11-10.

When we saw Botalico running in from the bullpen in the 7th inning, I said to Ben, "This isn't going to be good", and I was actually right. He has not been doing well at all and Yost should seriously consider NEVER using him again.

The bottom of the ninth had the remaining fans on their collective feet as the Brewers were able to load the bases and be down only one run with two outs. Unfortunately, Damien Miller did not send us home happy as he struck out to end the game.

By far the best part of the game happened in the fourth inning and it had nothing to do with the play on the field. When Ben and I got to the game, there were two people sitting in the seats for which we had tickets, since the seats in front of ours were empty, we moved to them. This was the first row, which is great, because you can stretch out. Enough on that. By the fourth inning I was getting quite hungry as I hadn't eaten yet all game and desperately wanted a hot dog. No vendor was coming down by us, so I was getting upset. I was just about to get up and walk to the concession stand (who wants to do that?) when a lovely young blonde hot dog vendor caught my eye in the field level seats. She was right below us, so I yelled, "HOT DOG!" She looked up and started chuckling. I asked her if she would come up to our section and was greeted with an unfortunate no. Then the following happened:

"How about you throw 2 of them up here?"
"Yeah, I could do that"
"Alright"
"Really?"
"Yeah, give me two of 'em"
"Alright, ready"
"Yup"

The first she threw was pretty good. It came right over the railing to us. The second was a fastball which she almost threw over my head. The guys behind us would have had hot dog all over them save for a great lunging catch by me which was greeted with appreciated applause from sections 228 (my section) and 229. Too bad ESPN didn't have the cameras rolling, because it was a web gem.

The only question left was how the young lass was to be paid. I noticed the dogs were $2.50 each, so I ordered up another one, which she politely threw up to me (and a kid in 229 tried to catch from me) and it was the best throw yet. A crumpled up $10.00 bill thrown down to her and three hot dog throws later and I was quite satisfied. Plus, it gave everyone in 228 and 229 something to talk about and enjoy during a down time in the game.

Season record at The Keg: 6-3
Weiner race winner: The Bratwurst
Next game: Sunday July 17 vs. Washington

-Until next time...