Miller Park

The Milwaukee Brewers haven't posted a winning season for 11 years and haven't made the playoffs since 1982. They had a 68-94 record last season and considered it progress. But the last month has been as disastrous as any the team has experienced, on or off the field. By deciding to gut their payroll, the Brewers have incurred the wrath of fans and politicians alike. The franchise, controlled by the family of baseball commissioner Bud Selig, was supposed to have been saved with the opening of Miller Park in 2001.

At the urging of the media, manager Larry Bowa sat in the visiting clubhouse yesterday at Miller Park and contemplated some of the shortcomings that have kept the Phillies below .500 for all but six days of this season. The list was long, but it really couldn't compare to the many deficiencies of the Milwaukee Brewers, who must now also answer this question: What's in worse shape, the house that Bud built or the team that Bud bought? Bud, of course, is commissioner Bud Selig, who purchased the Brewers and moved them from Seattle in 1969, then pushed hard for Milwaukee to build a $400-million retractable-roof ballpark to help the small-market team compete with the big boys.

On a nice day for the footloose, Laura Fischer, 6, of Chester Springs, watches as A.J. Gulick, 9, of Parkerford, lets his feet dangle. He was on a climbing structure at Miller Park in Exton yesterday.

MILWAUKEE - In an attempt to inject more energy into Miller Park, the Brewers wore special gold uniforms Saturday as part of a promotion for their fans to "Go Gold. " Of course, last Tuesday the team unveiled a new line of merchandise that just so happens to be all gold. All Brewers stadium employees wore the gold T-shirts. One of the more popular shirts is an ode to the eccentric Nyjer Morgan, who ends his TV interviews by saying, "Ahhhh . . . gotta go!" So that phrase was emblazoned on a T-shirt.

How's this for a visiting fan's nightmare? John and Meggan Peyton of West Chester flew in on Friday. Yesterday, they faithfully followed the rental car's GPS to Miller Park and arrived hours before the game. Midway through their Sam Adams, they noticed they were quite alone in a large crowd wearing the other colors. The GPS had marooned them in a parking lot hard for most out-of-towners to find and thus cherished by Milwaukeeans as exclusive, fervent tailgating territory. In Philly, this is the kind of thing that could ruin a Dallas fan's whole weekend.

Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker said that his racial and ethnic comments in a magazine article made him sound like "a complete jerk. " In his first interview since the uproar began, the relief pitcher, 25, spoke to ESPN at his house in Macon, Ga., and again apologized and repeated that he was not a racist. He pointed out that several minority players stayed in his house while they were playing for the Braves' minor-league affiliate in Macon. "I'll reiterate again and apologize one more time to anybody I've offended," Rocker said.

8:10 p.m., Miller Park, Milwaukee. TV: Comcast SportsNet. Radio: WPHT (1210-AM), WUBA (1480) Spanish. Pitching matchup: LHP Cole Hamels (13-7, 2.63) vs. LHP Chris Narveson (10-6, 4.26) BREWERS vs. HAMELS: In four career appearances at Miller Park, Hamels is 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA. That's his second highest ERA of any road park in which he's made more than two starts (5.05 in six games at New York's Citi Field) . . . In his last 19 starts, he's allowed two or fewer runs 15 times and given up more than three just once . . . Ryan Braun 4-for-17 (.235-2-3)

Exton, a region known for its shopping malls and traffic jams, is about to add something new - a public park. On a vacant 21-acre piece of ground at the corner of Waterloo Boulevard and Miller Way, workers with heavy earth-moving equipment started carving out the Albert C. Miller Memorial Park. The new park is being built behind the Whiteland Towne Shopping Center and west of Route 100. It is the first new public park to be built using money from Chester County's open-space program, said county spokeswoman Joan E. Pitt.

MILWAUKEE - Nyjer Morgan did it again for the Milwaukee Brewers, delivering an RBI single in the 10th inning to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2, Friday in the decisive Game 5 of their National League division series. Morgan hit a one-out grounder up the middle, and Diamondbacks closer J.J. Putz tried in vain to stop it with his leg. Carlos Gomez scored from second, sailing across home plate as a wild throw went high, and Morgan was mobbed by jubilant teammates near the mound.

As expected, righthander Dave Bush was named to start for the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 against the Phillies Saturday at Miller Park. The former Conestoga High star was 9-10 with a 4.18 ERA this season. "He has been one of the top pitchers numbers-wise in the game over the last two months," Sveum said of Bush. In his last 18 appearances, Bush was 7-3 with a 3.23 ERA. Bush did not find it ironic that his first career postseason start would be against a team he followed as a youngster.

JOE MATHER'S two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 3-2 comeback win over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night. St. Louis closer Jason Motte (1-1) had the Cubs down to their final strike when Mather, a former Cardinal, grounded a 2-2 slider up the middle, scoring Bryan LaHair and Geovany Soto. LaHair battled Motte for 12 pitches before drawing a one-out walk. Motte then walked Soto, before Steve Clevenger's grounder moved the runners up to set the plate for Mather.

MILWAUKEE - Shaun Marcum thinks people really want to see two aces face off in Game 7 with the NL pennant on the line. He can go a long way to forcing that matchup with a strong effort Sunday. Marcum will get the ball for Milwaukee when it faces Edwin Jackson and St. Louis in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, with the Brewers trailing, three games to two, in the best-of-seven series. If the Brewers win, Yovani Gallardo would pitch against Chris Carpenter on Monday night.

MILWAUKEE - The Brewers are so hot in Milwaukee this fall that they've obscured the Super Bowl-champion Packers' 4-0 start. Their tickets are being scalped. Their hats and jerseys are ubiquitous. Their players can't go anywhere without being mobbed. Ron Roenicke doesn't have that problem. Thursday night, on the eve of one of the biggest games in franchise history, as the city buzzed with Brewers talk, Milwaukee's first-year manager stopped his car when, on his way home, he noticed a man fishing near the team's Miller Park parking lot. "I saw a guy fly-fishing out there," he said before his Brewers beat the Diamondbacks in Friday's Game 5 and advanced to the NL Championship Series.

MILWAUKEE - Nyjer Morgan did it again for the Milwaukee Brewers, delivering an RBI single in the 10th inning to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2, Friday in the decisive Game 5 of their National League division series. Morgan hit a one-out grounder up the middle, and Diamondbacks closer J.J. Putz tried in vain to stop it with his leg. Carlos Gomez scored from second, sailing across home plate as a wild throw went high, and Morgan was mobbed by jubilant teammates near the mound.

MILWAUKEE - Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo readily calls this start the biggest of his career. Diamondbacks ace Ian Kennedy hoped for any chance to pitch again this season. "It's definitely a whole different atmosphere," Gallardo said. "Anything can happen. " The Arizona Diamondbacks look to complete their biggest rally of the season after being down, two games to none, on Friday when they face the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 5 with a berth in the NL Championship Series at stake.

A Thursday afternoon in America's heartland: sunshine, blue skies, "Wild Thing" pulsing through Milwaukee's mostly empty Miller Park. A baseball stadium before game time is a carnival before opening night: the steady beep of a forklift in reverse, the dull roll of a beer keg on a concourse, the muffled chatter of park personnel running through their pregame routines. In an hour, the gates will open and the stands will begin to fill with pale Midwesterners trickling in from their 9-to-5s.

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Brewers are a small-market team that thinks big. Once again, it's paying off with a trip to the playoffs. Under principal owner Mark Attanasio and general manager Doug Melvin, the Brewers haven't shied away from making high-profile moves to get marquee players. They traded for CC Sabathia in 2008, then acquired Zack Greinke and Francisco Rodriguez for this year's playoff push. And while the Brewers have given up plenty of prospects in the process, making the playoffs twice in the past four seasons is quite the accomplishment for a team whose fan base previously hadn't had reason to watch October baseball since 1982.

MILWAUKEE - Zack Grienke capped a perfect season at home to help the Milwaukee Brewers clinch home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 7-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night. Carlos Gomez, Corey Hart, and Jonathan Lucroy homered for the Brewers, who set a franchise record with 96 wins and open an NL division series at Miller Park beginning Saturday. If the NL Central champions had tied with NL West winner Arizona in the standings, the Brewers would have started the playoffs on the road.

It's all over but the wild-card whooping (or whining, depending on how the Red Sox and Braves do), as the Brewers, Diamondbacks, and Rangers all clinched Friday night. Texas has the distinction, along with the Phillies, of being the only division winner from last season to repeat. Standing in the champagne spray in his clubhouse, manager Ron Washington said that was just the way they planned it. "After the Giants beat us [in the 2010 World Series], we stood in this room and we committed ourselves to get back here and get another opportunity," he said.

MILWAUKEE - In an attempt to inject more energy into Miller Park, the Brewers wore special gold uniforms Saturday as part of a promotion for their fans to "Go Gold. " Of course, last Tuesday the team unveiled a new line of merchandise that just so happens to be all gold. All Brewers stadium employees wore the gold T-shirts. One of the more popular shirts is an ode to the eccentric Nyjer Morgan, who ends his TV interviews by saying, "Ahhhh . . . gotta go!" So that phrase was emblazoned on a T-shirt.