A second-round cheer

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All day on Friday I felt sick. Yes, I was coming off a battle with the 24-hour flu bug, but began rebounding Thursday evening. My Friday sickness wasn't of the achy, head-pressure, vomit-y kind, it was the stomach-in-knots, sweaty-palmed variety. I was sick over Game 5 of the NLDS between my Milwaukee Brewers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a winner-takes-all matchup, and if the Brewers lost, my baseball season, too, would be over. Brewers fans have put their entire hearts into this postseason - a loss would be devastating.

The Crew didn't make it any easier of my Playoff Sickness throughout the game. I was up an down, excited and defeated every few minutes. Then, came the extra inning. The ballgame was tied after the 9th; we were going to get some free baseball, though I was plenty satisfied with the amount of baseball I'd already gotten that night. The D-Backs failed to score in the bottom of the 10th, and then the Brewers came to plate. Speedy Carlos Gomez was hanging at second when Nyjer Morgan (AKA Tony Plush, AKA Tony Plush, AKA Antonio Picante?) took the plate. He hadn't had a remarkable postseason, but Game 5, up to this point, hadn't been about the All Stars on the team. And then, in a moment made for October baseball, T-Plush hit a hard single straight that bulleted straight past the D-Backs second baseman - a game-winning single for the man with the big mouth. Though he talks and talks, T-Clutch was able to back it up - and in Game 5, he did it in his most dramatic fashion.

I turned down tickets to witness this moment at Miller Park that night. I was worried about being a nervous wreck in the company of thousands of people. Though the experience of being there to witness a victory to take the team to the NLCS would be remarkable, in the back of my mind I knew I'd be miserable if I happened to be there if they lost it all. Instead, Eric and I opted to watch the game at a neighborhood bar, filled with raging Brewers fans hanging on every moment. I wish I could have taken pictures at the moment of the win, but I was too busy screaming my lungs out and hugging nearly ever single stranger in that bar. During those 10 innings of baseball, we were best friends brought together by one singular, passionate love: The Milwaukee Brewers.

Today, I will be at Miller Park for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. The baseball gods were at work Friday night, setting the stage for a heated rivalry between two teams that make no secret about not liking each other: The Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals. It's been a hard-fought season between the two teams thusfar, and I couldn't be happier about this Hollywood matchup. No matter the outcome, there will be no love lost.

So, much like I did last week, I'm breaking away from my You-Can-Do-It-Domestic-Diva theme and using this space to rally up some love and excitement for a team the entire state is putting their entire hearts into. This is for the Milwaukee Brewers - Go get 'em, and make 'em pay for what happened in 1982.