Game #162 - Brewer Nation, how do you feel ?

[Blancofan1]

Pretty much what I posted in the silver lining thread because I am optimistically excited about the game. At worst we end the year at 89-73, basically right where most of us thought the record would be before the season started. For me there is just a lot to be thankful for going into the biggest Brewer game of my life basically, I was 3 in '82.

 

Tomorrow will be the fifth time this year that I get to see CC pitch for the Brewers in person and about the tenth time overall.

We still have a chance to make the playoffs on the last day of the regular season.

The Mets game starts one hour before the Brewer game, so we will be able to scoreboard watch all game and now where we stand as soon as the last out is recorded.

The ratio of Cubs to Brewers fans the last two days has been pretty good and tomorrow's game having this big of an impact, I am hoping even more Brewer fans are there and proud of the season and the team.

[holybannana]

This is great! We have what is the biggest game in recent Brewers history going on with our best pitcher slinging it for us in a must win situation! I'm about as excited as you can be for a sporting event! And the other team that has to win spent their best pitcher already, giving us the advantage you would assume.

 

So many bad attitudes and negativity on this board and in this city. Just a losers attitude everywhere I look.

 

We are playing for a trip to October baseball tomorrow! This *is* amazing and exciting. Especially since this team was left for dead a week ago.

 

Have fun and GO BREWERS!

[Blancofan1]

Just re-read the preseason prediction article from Brewerfan staff. It is shocking how spot on some of the predictions were. Gave me that extra fuzzy feeling going into the game that comes from expecting greatness, but not knowing what the future will bring.

 

Prediction Article from 3/28/08

[WisconsinSportsRule]

I am optimistic yet scared, as I still can't fall asleep at this time. I have never witnessed the Brewers in the playoffs since I was born after '82. There's no one else that I would want to start this game besides CC. If CC can't get it done in the last game of the year, then so be it.

 

I have faith in this team so I believe we can pull it out. Afterall, we have to take care of business no matter what the Mets do.

[pretendastronaut]

I've been like a kid on Christmas Eve all week. I've been at all but Wednesday's game and I can NOT wait to go back out there tomorrow. This has been a week I won't forget as a sports fan, leaving any cynicism behind. Ya, we shouldn't be in this position, but we are, we can't change that. We go on from where we are now. Do or die, sink or swim, I'll be there, and it will have been a blast.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I want all of you 30 and below folks to have the same joy and memories that the 82 team gave those of us that are a little older. The way that 78-83 era erased the bitterness of the Braves moving, I hope this team erases the pain of the last 15 years. You younger fans deserve it. As much as I love that 82 team...enough already...let's build some new memories...including a playoff berth tomorrow.

[Tailgat0r76]

Wow, we finally have made it to this point. I've been to the last two games and can't tell you the emotional rollercoaster rides I've gone on. After Rickie Weeks homerun someone could have punched me in the face and told me my dog died and I still would have had one of the widest smiles of my life on my face. It was one of the happier days I can remember. Today; not so much; in fact, quite the opposite. So let's go get em' tomorrow and cheer on the Marlins like you never have before and hope that we will have attained what was only an expectation 161 games ago by the end of the day! If you're parked in the Giants lot and we're in the playoffs after the game ends, feel free to join our champagne shower!

[GormanHarvey]

I CAN"T SLEEP...that's how I feel. I think I may be getting an idea of what it feels like to have a panic attack

[bucks2281]

I have so many different emotions and thoughts. I am nervous and terrified. I fear that CC will give up 4 runs in the first inning. I also realize that "it" could happen tomorrow. And I like our chances in a 163rd game.

 

Since the beginning of the Pirates series, I've been telling myself that the baseball gods won't make it easy on us. When we had a 5.5 game lead on Sep. 1, the baseball gods weren't going to let us cruise. When we were up a game Friday night, they weren't going to let us win it Saturday night. It just isn't the Brewers way. I think we just may win this thing, but we're going to sweat it out.

 

And, by the way, big Packer fan here. I don't give two rips about the Packer game tomorrow. God's speed to all my fellow Brewer fans ... I hope we can shed some tears of joy tomorrow afternoon.

[SeriesFinale]

I'm excited and nervous but at peace.

[Glennron]

I have a terrible vibe about it. Today with the loss/Mets win/Badgers collapse, I see the weekend ending in a Brewers/Packers loss.

[InsomniacInkRoss]

Barring a Mets/Brewers lose/lose or win/win occurring I know the following:

 

I will feel an emotion one way or another that I have not felt in my entire life. I don't know how either will feel, not even close. The Brewers are what I have, no one else. Not the Packers, Bucks, Badgers, High School teams, or any other team, nothing.

 

Today will change the feeling of every game I have ever been to in my entire life. The 150 or so, all in a new light

 

I have seen this team do a lot sitting at that ball park, the good, 5 home runs in one inning on my birthday, Ben Sheets opening day 2007, Wes Obermueller going perfect thru 6 1/3, Sabathiamania on his debut, catching a JJ Hardy home run ball, Russel Branyan PH HR against Minnesota, Mother's Day and Father's Day Walk Offs, Braun grand-slam walk off. I would not mind one bit if these events lost a little bit of shine tomorrow.

 

I have sat thru the bad as well, Adam Dunn crushing one to the Dew Deck, Cubs owning us this July, 8/8/07 9th inning collapse against the Philies, Watching Zambrano throw a no-no in my park as I watch the Crew get swept on the TV in the concession stand, 4/6/07 Bush getting touched up for 6 in the first against the Cubs, I sat thru every inning and told myself I had to see the bad, had to feel the pain, to make it that much sweeter, to really appreciate what was to come. A lifetime of bad memories could melt quite a bit today, in just a few short hours.

 

I will be there today section 235/row 7/seat 17, head up, watching, cheering, hoping.

[silversurferr]

The situation was similarly gloomy in '82 against the Angels in the ALCS after the first two games, but the Brewers turned it around and won the series. My dad took me to one of the County Stadium games. I will never forget that crowd. That series was magic and you could taste the electric happiness. The team was special, too, but not just because of the talent. Personality wise, I see similarities between the '82 and '08 teams.

[sveumrules]

I have a terrible vibe about it. Today with the loss/Mets win/Badgers collapse, I see the weekend ending in a Brewers/Packers loss.

 

i have the exact opposite inclination, personally. i have a great feeling about today, especially with cc on the hill. and i think the pack will be 3-1 at the end of the day (move to lambeauleap if necessary).

 

also, very well put jflick1215.

[jeffy]

While the collapse was disappointing, at least they will be either the last in or the last to be eliminated...at least in the NL. With there now being a 50% chance of another game tomorrow, I'm just wondering what the game time would be, do I have to take some time off or will it be a night game?

[Brewer Fever]

Since I tend to be a pessimist, it excites me to wake this morning with nothing but a peaceful confidence. I don't know how things are going to unfold today. I don't know if the Brewers are going to win in a laugher, if they're going to win in dramatic, nail-biting fashion, or if their even going to win at all. The only feeling I have is that somehow everything will work out. I usually dread days like this. I'm usually lamenting the fact that things couldn't have gone smoother or easier. Like clinching a spot with two weeks to go, for instance. I usually witness a day like yesterday, where everything went wrong for Wisconsin sports fans, and assume there's no way it won't carry over into today.

 

But you know what, the Brewers aren't throwing a gimpy starting pitcher out there today. The Cubs aren't sending out a streaking left-hander who pitches on that Miller Park mound like he was raised on it. And all Johan Santana can do for the Mets today is clap and cheer from the dugout.

 

Somehow, some way, I just feel like it's our time. At the very minimum, allow yourself a few minutes to cast aside your doubts, dreads, fears, and enjoy the moment. And no matter what negative thoughts go through your head, or what bad vibes you feel in the early stages of these two important games, know that some diehard fan out there who is no better, no worse, no different from you, has confidence that at the end of the day, Brewers' fans will be pleased with the result.

[fondybrewfan]

I can't believe there is 4.5 more hours until gametime. This wait has been excrutiating. I am confident we will win, I just hope the Marlins cooperate. God I hope Perez just flames out under the pressure today.

[liveforoctober]

I have been praying nonstop for this to happen. I didn't make my screename "LiveforOctober" for no reason. I think if I had to create a lifelong bucket list... the Brewers making the playoffs would be as high as anything else I could come up with.

 

God luck today fellas... it's been one heck of a season. I'm nervous.

[DeacCub]

And no matter what happens today there may still be another game tomorrow. The Cubs lived through one of those in 1998.

[AmyintheSouth]

I haven't been a Brewer fan for nearly as long as a lot of you -- not that there's a test you have to take to post in this thread or anything (at least I hope not). But what I feel right now is surprised by how much this team has come to mean to me. What started four seasons ago as a diversion, as a chance to enjoy baseball in a different way has brought me so much joy and anguish.

 

It's crazy to me that after today (or Monday), the one of the Mets or Brewers fans will have to relive the pain of coming so close and letting it slip away for a second season in a row. My best friend is a Mets fan and he's going crazy and in any other case, I'd be rooting for them for his sake. But not today (or Monday).

 

Right now, I'm nervous and terrified and immensely glad that this year during the last weekend of the season, the team we love is playing for something more than a winning season. And I'm thankful that y'all have let me join your party. This is a great board filled with great people who deserve to know what it feels like to see their team in the playoffs.

[Playing Catch]

This September collapse helped me build a strong emotional wall. I was a rock; cold to the meaning of the game... until reading jflick's post.

 

Now I'm a wreck. For me, the game was going to be liberating, win or lose, because the game was just the cathartic end of the 2008 season.

 

But now, with hundreds and hundreds of summer moments playing catch in the backyard and listening to Uek going through my head (I lived 6 hours away from Milwaukee, but lived and died with them just the same), the game isn't about the 2008 Brewers at all, but about my Dad, my brother and me.

 

Very much Field of Dreams stuff. I'm a wreck.

[Brewcrewin07]

26 years......The time another sports team in Milwaukee went before reaching the pinnacle again. 1977 Marquette Warriors won the National Championship. 2003 the Marquette Warriors again reached the Final Four.

 

 

26 years......The Milwaukee Brewers won the American League Pennant in 1982 before advancing to the World Series. 2008....Milwaukee Brewers.....

 

 

Is this an omen??? You tell me......

[Bikeage77]

I'm excited and nervous as all get out. When the 9 pack ran out of opening day tix, I opted for Today. Thinking, that could be the greatest victory I've ever seen. And of course I want that. However, I didn't want it to come down to this Sunday to get in. Yesterday woulda helped more. Let's see if the Cubs lay down for us again.

 

CC is pitching for the Crew. Olsen is pitching for the Marlins against Oliver. At about 2 or 2:15 I think I'll have a good feeling of what's to come.

 

Let's just hope the Crew can knock on a huge crooked number early and never look back.

 

My idea of a celebration on a Sunday night isn't nearly gonna be the same celebration that I had in mind for a saturday night though.

[hawing]

I'm excited and nervous but at peace.

 

I surprised myself by waking up with a degree of peace, for what feels like the first time this homestand.

But now that I read more of this thread, I'm already crying - starting with jflick's post - and not just because he was kind enough to mention me, but because I feel the same way.

 

I will be happy for myself, of course, if the Brewers advance today (or Monday), but now that I've come to know (and in some cases meet) so many of you, I almost want it more for others than for myself. I want bball123h to be able to extend his stay in Wisconsin. I don't want bensheeps' last game to be that crappy 1-10 loss to SD. I want davego's trip from La Crosse and his Oktoberfest negotiations to not be in vain. Now I want jflick to be happy for the rest of us too.

 

The cub fanbase (at least the ones who tend to turn out at Miller Park) gives me fits, and as soon as I saw the 2008 schedule last October I have been partially dreading this day. I don't want my last memories of the 2008 season to be a crapload of blue Ws waved in my face. Part of me suspected all along that this game would be necessary, though, so we're going; and I managed to mostly keep my cool among the terrace level fans yesterday.

As vexing as the 2008 Brewers have been at times, they deserve my support, and all of ours.

 

So I guess I'm nervous again, and I'm definitely bringing an extra hankie to the game. May I have the opportunity to use them for tears of joy, instead of the other kind.

[lcbj68c]

I'm very nervous. Echoing what a lot of people have said, I want it for other people more than myself I think. For the big people, Mark Attanasio & Doug Melvin. For Ned Yost and the Selig Family, who are no longer with the team, but must be so emotionally involved, yet personally detached. For the little guys; for the guy who has been hauling bags of confetti to the catwalk for the past 2 games, and the clubhouse crew spending extra hours lining the clubhouse with plastic. How depressing that would be to carry down full bags of unused confetti and to pack up the plastic without a drop of champagne to help it stick together. For the ushers who have been here for 40 years, even if they didn't really walk to County Stadium...in the snow..uphill both ways. It might just end up being one game, one home game and done in the playoffs, one 3 hour baseball game, but to all of us it'll end 26 years... 5.9 million hours plus...just to enjoy those 3 hours of making it again.

 

That said, I'll predict a Mets loss where a bad Oliver Perez was a welcome sight, but a Oliver Perez on 3 days rest is really a great opportunity for Florida to score a win. Fish win 7-2. I won't predict a Brewers score. I think this team will have the lead at one point, will be behind at another point, I'm just not sure in what order or the final outcome.