The Reconquista Continues, Canto XVI

One of baseball's great diversions is the Milwaukee Brewers' Sausage Race, where folks dressed in costumes that look like a bratwurst, kielbasa, Italian sausage and hot dog race each other after the sixth inning. It's really the only reason to visit Miller Park--well, that and the guy who slides into a beer glass after every home run--since the Brewers haven't finished over the .500 mark in 14 years. The sausage race is also the Brewers' homage to the various ethnic Europeans that made Milwaukee a socialist bastion for half a century. Now, the Brewers have announced Mexicans can play, too. "El Picante," a guy in a chorizo suit will run tomorrow, then head back to Mexico until the 2007 season. He's baseball's third Latino mascot, after the San Diego Padre's Swinging Friar and your Anaheim Angels' Arte Moreno bobblehead.