Unwrapping Miller Park

By David Marasco

It was one of those moments that was too cool for baseball. With the music from 2001 (of course) playing in the background, the Brewers opened the roof at Miller Park. Slowly the panels spread apart, revealing the night sky. The wall that covered the outfield parted, and the flags rippled towards the plate as the cold air displaced the heated atmosphere that had covered the field. That's when you remembered that it was March in Wisonsin. That's when you really understood what Miller Park could do.

Oh yes, there was also a baseball game. They opened the roof after a 5-4 Brewers victory over the White Sox, the very first game in Miller Park. Both the baseball players and the park had some rough edges.

Let's start with the new stadium as many people find that more interesting than the Brewers themselves. Small problems? Sure. The great television in centerfield has jerky video on instant replays. It's sort of like watching something over the internet when traffic is heavy. That's an equipment problem that can probably be solved quickly. The scoreboard has already lost a bank of lights. On Base Percentage is currently being calculated as (hits + walks)/ at-bats, revealing more about the Milwaukee Brewers than we should know. The grass looks very bad. All of that doesn't matter. Those are tiny things that can all be fixed. This new stadium is great place to watch baseball. I was in the fourth deck on the infield and things still looked great. The slope of the seating might be a little shallow, but it isn't a bad problem like it is in Detroit. Last year there was snow on the ground on Opening Day. Now Brewers fans will never have to worry about if it is cold or rainy. If the Brewers put a good squad on the diamond the people will come.

The baseball was a little ugly. Paul Rigdon started for the Brewers and was working very slowly. He was also throwing many pitches, and the White Sox were hitting them hard. The first hit in the new yard was a leadoff double by Ray Durham. Sandy Alomar Jr. hit the first homer in the building and also scored the first run. Henry Blanco got the first Brewers hit, homer and run with a dinger to left in the bottom of the second. The White Sox put four honest runs on the board, but a Herbert Perry error gave the Brewers a pair of runs in the fourth and a Paul Konerko blunder in the eighth gave the Brewers the tying and go-ahead run. Curtis Leskanic came in for the Brewers and rang up a one-two-three inning for the save.

It was an interesting crowd. Normally the people in Milwaukee are fairly loud for the national anthem, but tonight they were silent. There was a lot of cell-phoning from the seats. One of these days I think I'm going to go to a ballgame where the person in front of me calls the person sitting next to him and asks her to marry him. As in most Brewers games, the crowd started to thin after the sausage race. The park was perhaps 60% full going into the eighth. You had the feeling that a lot of the people in attendance did it just so that they could later say that they were there. It was an event rather than a baseball game.

But to tell the truth, I think that maybe they were right. That trick with the roof was pretty amazing.