A great pitchers' duel turned into a rout in the blink of an eye today. LA torched Ben Sheets for six of the quickest runs you'll ever see in the top of the seventh, the final three scoring on a home run by former Brewer catcher Gary Bennett. I was just in the middle of discussing Bennett and his lack of power when he caught a hanging curve and lifted it out of Miller Park to left. So much for his .118 slugging percentage. The Dodgers went on to take the game 7-2 to win the series two games to one.
It was a real honor to have the great Bobby "Shot Heard Round The World" Thomson in our booth today at Miller Park. I taped an interview with Bobby in which I asked him about the home run, of course, as well as eliciting comments from him about Miller Park, Ted Williams, and more. You will hear that interview in the next few days on our Jockey Pregame Show. The former NY Giant great also visited with Ueck during our game broadcast. Mr. Thomson is 84 now and looks good. He lives in Savannah, Georgia, and says he doesn't watch too much baseball anymore but he does root for the Red Sox, mainly because he dislikes the Yankees so much. Andy Pafko is also here. Pafko was in left field for the Dodgers that day and watched Thomson's historic home run off Ralph Branca fly into the stands behind him. Incidentally, Thomson says he has no idea what ever became of that baseball and as far as he knows it is not saved anywhere. Can you imagine how much that ball would be worth? The Milwaukee Braves Historical Association is honoring Thomson this evening at Potawatomi Bingo Casino in the Northern Lights Theater. If we weren't heading to Boston, I'd be heading down to listen to all the stories that will be told tonight.
The news of Ryan Braun's new contract was greeted with enthusiasm from all quarters today. 8 years and 45 million bucks may seem like a lot, but by today's standards it has a chance to save the Brewers significant dollars in the long term. Braun looks like a sure bet for shrewd GM Doug Melvin, and hopefully his signing will further encourage some of the other young stars to ink longterm deals to become fixtures for this franchise. The "Brauntasaurus" will definitely be a star in Milwaukee for a long time. I know I wasn't the slightest bit surprised to see him homer a couple of hours after signing the deal. As an unfailingly polite and cheerful young man, Braun is an easy player for whom to root.
Brewers' owner Mark Attanasio and wife Debbie arrived in Milwaukee and took in the finale today. They will travel on the team charter to Boston for the Red Sox interleague series. Attanasio grew up a huge Yankee fan in Brooklyn so I have no doubts that he wants to see the Brewers show well at Fenway this weekend. After a disappointing end to the homestand, the Brewers are back under .500 again and once again are under pressure in the Central as they cross the quarter pole as a fourth place team trying to stave off the fifth place Pirates. A three game series in Pittsburgh follows the Boston contests.