Snapper Game at Miller Park 8/15/03

My Experience at the Game:

The day arrives, a new first in Miller Park history. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (SEA) take on the Beloit Snappers (MIL) in the first ever Minor League game played at Miller Park. I arrived at the ballpark about an hour and a half before game time (5:00). When I arrive, the seating dish is limited to field level seats for fans to sit in. With that, I obviously think that the attendance is going to be limited to around 5,000-7,000 fans. Where are we? Montreal? Anyways, I take advantage of the Minor League prices. $5.00 for the general admission ticket (sit anywhere you want, in the open area of the ballpark), $1.00 for small sodas and hot dogs. After I finish up with my soda and my hot dog (otherwise known as dinner), I go to find the best available seat. I end up sitting right behind home plate around three rows back.

When I sit, I look towards the first base side and see Brewers great Don Money, and high Brewers draft picks Rickie Weeks, Anthony Gwynn Jr., John Vanden Berg, and Prince Fielder signing autographs for the fans. No, I didn’t bring anything to get signed. After about twenty minutes of sitting, I get the craving for my bad habit. So, I go out into the smoking section and do my duty to my lungs. While I am out there, I look over behind home plate and I can see that there is still a lot of people walking into the stadium. I don’t think much of it through since there are plenty of seats available on field level.

When I go back in, I find that my seat has been taken, so I take the next best seat around 3 more rows back from my old one. When I sat down it was time for the pre-game stuff to start. 103.7 Kiss FM DJ Ginger Jordan has been the Brewers Miller Park “fun lady” for the season and she is here leading festivities again. She starts off with explaining everything about what happens at Miller Park during games, and then she shuts up, finally! At this time we watch an episode of U.S.H.E.R.S on the huge video board. It is a small little 30 second show with some of the senior most ushers doing their duties. Afterwards, the stadium announcer comes on and explains the whole Miller Park procedure.

Now, it is really time to get started. We honor America with the National Anthem, I am forced to take my baby blue Brewer hat off with my messed up (from that hat) hair. Then long story short, we go through the lineups and it is time to “play ball.”

As the game starts, I take a look around the seating bowl and it is packed in the lower level. Around five minutes later I see that the Loge (Second) Level is open for people to sit in. In the top of the first, Manny Parra, the Snapper starter allows a leadoff walk, a stolen base, a passed ball, and then a sacrifice fly to get him home. The run gives the Rattlers an early 1-0 lead. With this, I heard a sarcastic comment, “Uh-oh. We’ve seen this before.” Obviously pointed towards the Milwaukee Brewers. The portion of the inning ends that way.

I highly anticipate the 1-4 in the Snappers lineup of Kennard Bibbs, Tony Gwynn Jr., Rickie Weeks, and Prince Fielder. I am disappointed when nothing happens in the first, after the group bats. Prince Fielder ended the inning with a little tapper to the pitcher.

I stay in my seat until the fifth inning with not much happening on the scoreboard. I get bored so I decide to walk around the stadium. At this time, there are no empty seats in the first two levels of the ballpark except for way down the lines. I go and stand in the smoking section to gather some of Milwaukee’s hot and humid air and then go stand down the right-field line.

I watch the game until after the seventh inning stretch from there. The Snappers stole the lead, 3-2, and I am not really sure how. When I was standing there, I was focused on looking at and talking to a few people. Afterwards I walked behind the home plate concourse and settled down at a table to watch the end of the Brewers/Phillies game being played in Philadelphia. The Brewers are down 4-3 and have a march going in the ninth. Scott Podsednik is standing at second base representing the tieing run. John Vander Wal grounds to third so there is one out. Brady Clark gets out. Two outs. And finally, Eric Young grounds to Mike Williams to end the game. Geez, another Brewers loss.

As I turn around to look at the field, it is the eighth inning and Rickie Weeks is up at bat and he goes down on his bottom. I watched the replay on the television which switched to the in stadium game after the Brewer game ended. I saw that Rickie Weeks had been beamed in the head with a 2-1 fastball. He hops up and runs to first, I look at first and the runner who was already there is slowly walking to second staring down the pitcher as if he is daring him to look at Weeks the wrong way. Nothing happens and the game goes on. The Snappers had grabbed a 4-2 lead while I was focused on the Brewer game. Prince Fielder pops to the SS to end the inning, and the threat to add insurance.

I go back to the right field line and watch the remainder of the game. A scary ninth, and a groundout to end a bases loaded threat give the Snappers a 4-2 win and end the event. The Snappers get a great round of applause from the large crowd of 14,447. 7,447 fans off of my initial guess as a “high.”

My Take: I really enjoyed the game. Yes, Minor League Baseball is a little shorter paced then Major League Baseball but, it was a great experience to see the future of two ball clubs. I never made the trip to Beloit to see a Snappers game before so this is my first time seeing these players personally.

My Favorite Moment: Besides the Snappers getting the victory, I loved the Sausage Race. No, the Polish, Italian, Bratwurst, or Hot Dog didn’t win. It was “Snappy” the Beloit Snappers mascot that came from the back of the pack to win the race.

Least Favorite Moment: Seeing Rickie Weeks take one to the helmet.

Game Insight, and News:

The Beloit Snappers average 1,187 fans for their home games this season. At Miller Park Thursday, they got 14,447 to watch them defeat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. It just goes to show that if you win in Milwaukee, fans will come. The crowd was a Midwest League record, and was larger then 16 Brewers home crowds thus far in 2003. Brewers officials had to scramble to open the Loge Level of the stadium which quickly filled with thousands of eager fans who paid $5 apiece to get into the game. The fans came to see a minor league system which was ranked dead last according to Baseball America in 2000 and 2001, and has now raised to be in the upper half.

Snappers starter Manny Parra (11-2) pitched four hitless innings and left after allowing one run with a no-decision after he exceeded his pitch count. Reliever Khalid Ballouli (4-3) allowed only one hit in 3 2/3 innings of relief and got the win while hard-throwing Tim Bausher got his third save.

On offense, second-round draft pick Tony Gwynn Jr. executed the “little things.” Lifting a pair of sacrifice flies, otherwise known as manufacturing runs. John Vanden Berg, who is the son of the Brewers’ head groundskeeper, went 2-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to 19 games. The winning run of the game came on an error of the bat of Rickie Weeks, who also walked twice in the game.

The scariest moment came in the eighth, when Timber Rattlers reliever David Viane hit Weeks in the helmet with a pitch, loading the bases. Weeks jumped up immediately and sprinted to first base, where he stayed in the game. “If I would have stopped and thought about it, I might have charged the mound,” Weeks said. “Anytime that happens, you freeze for a second. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but that’s something you don’t want to see. There’s some intensity there. It seems like every time we play each other something happens.” Said Snappers manager Don Money.

Monday, Weeks and Gwynn were added to the roster for the Snappers. They were stuck ahead of Prince Fielder in the lineup who is hitting .311 with 24 homeruns and 97 RBI’s.

Beloit is 35-17 in the second half, comfortably ahead of second place Kane County in the Western Division of the Midwest League. If the Snappers win the second half, they play Wisconsin in the first round of the playoffs. If they slip to the Wild Card, then they would play Kane County.

“A lot of these guys will be playing in Huntsville next year, “ Money said. “They’ll be skipping Advanced Single-A High Desert in my opinion.”

Bright things to come in the Brewers Organization in the near future.