Winter ball anyone?!

April 11. And we're being blanketed with snow ... It started this morning. The wind whipped. And the snow was flying -- horizontally. The roads were so slippery around here, it was almost unbearable to drive. And when the snow finally stopped late this afternoon, almost a half-dozen inches had been dropped on us ...

Perrrrrrrrrrrfect night for a ballgame.

The Indians and Angels are in Milwaukee baby! $10 tickets! Two of the most exciting teams in baseball! ... Can't beat it.

Woo hoo! ... or would that be Wahoo!?!

Yep, the Indians got snowed plowed right out of Jacobs Field, and Anaheim couldn't host the series, so the teams came to play in Miller Park this week, something I learned from a Brewers e-mail I got Monday night.

And then there was this today from SI:

The Indians have a temporary home in Milwaukee. More than a foot of snow in Cleveland last week forced the Tribe to postpone its four-game home-opening series against the Mariners and to move this week's three-game slate against the Angels to Miller Park, where last night Cleveland won the opener 7-6. Will all the cold weather this April cause Major League Baseball to reconsider its scheduling criteria? Why not let every West Coast team open at home? "If you think the chill of the opening week will prompt baseball to re-address its schedule, forget it," says SI's Tom Verducci. "I know that putting together a schedule is a terribly complex job, especially with interleague play gumming up the works. But the bottom line is that every year the owners would rather roll the dice and subject their millionaire players to hazardous conditions (forget about your comfort, which they did long ago) than surrender the chance to make a few more bucks."

... No, I don't think MLB should rethink it's scheduling criteria. But I digress ...

The opportunity was too good to pass up, and I was determined to take advantage. So last night, I logged on and bought two tickets in the infield loge section behind home plate. I paid $22 total. On a typical night I'd pay $32 each for those seats ...

I would've gone alone if I had to, but ended up taking my friend Liz to the game. "So you think they'll open the roof for the game?" she quipped.

And the mood around Miller Park tonight was, well, festive. There was snow all around, and the PA was playing "Let It Snow" outside the stadium! HA-larious ... Liz and I took pictures of the Hank Aaron statue and the Miller Park decor covered in snow. And, wearing my Indians cap, I ate up every moment ...

The ticket line at Will Call moved fast, and we had our tickets in no time. Inside the stadium, we went immediately to the closest souvenir stand in search of any memento -- a pennant was what I really wanted -- to commemorate the oddity of the series. But we got no dice: The guy in the stand told us there was nothing like that being sold. There was only Brewers stuff. Fine. So I asked for a Brewers scorecard. "Take it," the guy said, "They're complimentary tonight." Great.

Liz and I found our seats and settled in just before the National Anthem. Then I went on a search for my ballpark food -- a brat and Dew in a souvenir cup, of course. But that wasn't meant to be either. Miller Park was working with a skeleton staff for the series, there were no vendors working the aisles, and that meant mile-long lines at the concession stand. I got in line for awhile, but soon realized the game was moving faster than the lines, lost patience and returned to my seat, figuring I could try again later in the game ... That would happen in the fifth inning. Same outcome.

Unfortunately, the game itself was nothing to get excited about either. The Angels cruised to a 4-1 win. The pitching and the defense was decent. Jhonny Peralta hit a solo shot in the 7th, but by then the Indians were all but dead. And Vladimir Guerrero hit two weak singles up the middle, but it was hardly the performance I was hoping for from arguably one of the most exciting players in the game today ...

Not even the sausage race was very exciting.

The most exciting thing about tonight's game? One of the most incredible stadium waves I've ever seen ... It happened about midway through the game, started by a group of fans in the left field corner. It grew slowly as it came to fans on the third base side and hit full stride as it came to our section around home plate, on its way to making several more passes ... And then!! a group of fans on the third base side switched it to a slow motion wave!! No cues (as far as we could tell), nothing!! Bam!! And there it went with all the fans in the stadium slowly rising from their seats and stretching their arms, doing the wave in slow motion ... And then!! a group of fans in the right field corner switched it to a super fast wave!! No cues (as far as we could tell), nothing!! Bam!! And there it went with all the fans in the stadium rising from their seats as fast as they could and throwing their arms in the air as if someone had punched a fast forward button ... The scenario repeated and played for several minutes, and for a time it was more entertaining than the game. In fact, it may go down as one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen ...

That and watching the Cleveland Indians and the Anaheim Angels play in Miller Park with six inches of snow outside in mid-April.

Good reads ...
a From last night's game: Indians find refuge and a win at Miller Park
a At home on the road