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Brewphoria: The Bullpen

By Dominic Shelden

Story Created: Jul 13, 2011 at 2:53 PM MDT

Story Updated: Jul 14, 2011 at 5:30 PM MDT

The Bullpen is a place where some of the hardest throwing guys on the team reside. They may get no more than a few innings per outing, but they have to be ready to go into any game-at any time. For a job that requires you to be ready at a moment's notice-the Brewer's bullpen always seems to be in a good mood, so what on earth are they talking about?

"Oh man, it's some crazy conversations that go on. you wouldn't believe what goes on, and it's really wild actually," says relief pitcher Alan Williams

Closer Alex Jones agrees, "Oh man...most of them we probably couldn't talk about on TV to be honest (Laughs) no...but anything and everything really."

Last year, a tradition was started with the bullpen having a little fun with their manager in-between innings. It all began when a player snuck some eye black on the inside of Joe Ayrault's hat.

"So Joe comes down to the coaches box and we know what had happened, so we all pantomime tipping our hats so we can see the eye black, and he thinks we're all just tipping our hat at him, and it just kind of went from there." explains Jones.

"We try to surprise him with something, whether we're dancing, we got a dance move or some handshake-try to keep it loose, he likes to keep us loose with us, it's just a way of having fun in the game." elaborates catcher Doug Elliot.

Some fans consider behind home plate to be to be the best seat in the house, but as these pitchers tell us, the best seat in the house is a little further down left field line.

"We always tell them, you've finally made it to the best place on the field, because it definitely is. You get to cut it up, and don't have to worry about getting yelled at by the coaches if they aren't in a good mood, and can go grab a snack if you need," Jones explains.

Elliot says Kindrick-Legion is the place to be, "It's a little perk we got in the clubhouse over there. On the road it's a little different, but here we're protected. You've got places like Billings and where we were last night, you're on the field and have fans throwing peanuts at you, so this is definitely the penthouse of bullpens over here."

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