The Brewers didn't win and their playoff run came to a grinding halt at Miller Park on Sunday, but, nonetheless, the atmosphere in the stadium was amazing and the thunderous crowd rattled the closed roof.

Clearly, starter Jeff Suppan was the wrong man for the job on Sunday, but in his defense, maybe if more than a couple Brewers hitters notched postseason averages above .199, it wouldn't have been so dreadful.

But despite the home run walloped off Suppan in the game's first at-bat and despite the 6-2 final, Miller Park was alive like never before. Not even the first game there nor the 2003 All-Star Game could hold a candle to the excitement, the passion and the all-out noise of the crowd.

Armed with those thunder stix -- which, by the way, haven't much helped the Angels so far, so why not pick a more successful tchochke? -- the stadium was shifting on its foundation Sunday. At every strike, the thunder returned. At every ball, the crowd lost its air like a deflating balloon.

Before the Brewers reached the playoffs, the goal of fans was just to get there. The Crew did it this year and even if the team didn't advance to the NLCS, at least it won one more game in the playoffs than the Cubs did, right?

And, if these first two home playoff games since 1982 did anything for Brewers fans, it reminded everyone of how much they love their team and how much noise Milwaukee can make, even when the chips are down.