Opening Day 2004

When I noticed back in January that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were going to be playing the New York Yankees here in St. Pete on Opening Day (in the U.S.), and that the date was April 6th, I just had to get a ticket. That's my birthday, I'm a Yankee fan and the Devil Rays are a great team to watch. So I got a pretty good seat behind the Rays dugout (about 30 rows behind in section 112) and waited for the day to arrive. I usually try to get to about eight or ten games a year at Tropicana Field. True, it's indoors with fake grass, and real baseball is supposed to be played outdoors with real grass. But when the nearest place to watch big league baseball that's outside is a football field called Pro Player Stadium in Miami, there's not really much of a choice, and the Trop is a pretty nice place anyway. The workers are friendly and helpful and some of them actually seem to remember you from last year, and there's a really big array of food and beverage.

The game was to start at 7:15 P.M. so I left from work, at about 5:15 P.M. to get there as early as I could to hopefully see some batting practice. The traffic was just horrendous right from the start. Eventually it thinned out a bit as I went south on I-275 toward downtown St. Pete. I was amazed at how full the parking lot was at the Trop. Nothing like the Yankees to bring out the crowds. Once inside, sure enough the mighty Yankees are taking batting practice. Watching the balls loft out into the outfield was mesmerizing until I realized that for all the Yankee power hitters there are, I had only seen two or three balls go into the seats. Hmmm...

Anyway, I got a little something to eat (and another Bud) and waited for the game to start. As the Trop started to fill up, I noticed that there were really a lot of people here. Sell outs are very rare here, but this was to be the second one in Devil Ray history. I was sitting next to a retired couple that had moved down here from Maryland some time ago. They were both big Yankee fans, but they agreed that the Devil Rays are an exciting team to watch. Lou Piniella has really changed the game here. Finally the first pitch. Called strike one to center fielder and lead-off batter, Kenny Lofton. Major League Baseball is finally underway, and it's a good feeling. If you're a Yankee fan, there isn't much that's any better than the first inning of that game. Walk, homer, walk, homer, and before you know it it's four to nothing. A-Rod and Sheffield hit their first homers as Yankees. Early on, this game had all the earmarks of being a rout. The Rays got one back in the bottom of the first. Four to one now. Then the Yankee bats went cold. They were done scoring, and almost done hitting, for the night. Their pitcher, Mike Mussina also went cold and the Rays started clocking the ball with a vengeance.

The game ended up nine to four, Rays. I saw the last pitch too, a swinging strike three for A-Rod. Wow, what a game. The Yankees will certainly get their wins this year (I'm saying 93 wins), but this just wasn't going to be one of them. It looks like the Rays could get some wins this year, too. Finally, and good for them.

The worst and hardest part of going to games is the drive home. It's only about a ten to fifteen minute drive, but you can wait in the parking lot for 30 minutes just to get to the street. But at least it gives you time to reflect on things. Maybe I'll get a ticket for another game this weekend. The Orioles are in town for three games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I could think of worse things to do.

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just a thought. bill brower, 07-Apr-2004

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