I was awakened in my 15th floor Cincinnati hotel room by significant shaking of the bed before dawn today. My first thought was, "what in the world are they doing in the room next door?!" Still groggy, it took a moment to realize that the shaking was continuing and it couldn't possibly be someone in the hotel doing it, no matter how much fun their party was. The movement lasted what seemed like 15 or 20 seconds and then stopped. Near the end it occurred to me that it might be an earthquake and I tried to remember what city I was in. Cincinnati? Earthquake?? Couldn't be. I went back to sleep a bit later and didn't check the news until I got up later, which is when I found out that indeed a large earthquake centered in southern Illinois had occurred and that people for hundreds of miles in all directions had felt it, including me. I had never felt a tremor before besides a couple of those comeback losses suffered by the Brewers last year. I'm glad that damage was minimal (none that I'm aware of here in Cincinnati) and that, as far as I know, there were no injuries anywhere. It was a very strange sensation, feeling a high-rise hotel shaking and trembling. I hope that is not some sort of omen as the Brewers get ready to open a weekend set in Cincy tonight.
There was a lot of positive feeling in the traveling party after the comeback win over the Cardinals yesterday, as much about Prince Fielder's first home run as about the win (or close to it). When Fielder is smiling so is everybody else. Hopefully, as I said during the game yesterday, this will turn on Fielder's faucet and the Brewers' offense will be awash in runs soon.