Tropicana Field #16
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Road Trip! Insanity ensues. 10pm last night the boys and I are watching Papelbon close out the Rays to move within 4 1/2 games of first place. Peter says, “I’d really like to go to Tropicana sometime.” And the moment of genius/insanity strikes. Florida is cheap at this time of year, and despite having the best team/record in MLB, the Rays can’t sell out a stadium. Why not go to St.Pete?
Delta and Marriott both cooperated, and even more importantly, so did Kate.
Saturday, 8/28/10, 5:30am ET: Starting from scratch, I packed me and the boys into one roll-aboard suitcase, and kissed Kate goodbye. She definitely had a “you’re crazy” look on her face. She’s catching the flight later this afternoon and will join us tonight after the game.
8/28/10, 11:50am ET: Gogo Inflight stoked up, emailing / video skyping with Kate. Flightview.com has us somewhere over Virginia. Hi Ho Grammy and Dick.
8/28/10, 12:30pm ET: We landed ATL and took the tram from Terminal B to A, and have 45 minutes to kill in the Sky Club. The boys are happily working their way through the all-you-can-eat cookies and endless sodas.
8/28/10, 1:30pm ET: Time to head to the gate for our second leg to Tampa/St.Petersburg.
8/28/10, 3:00pm ET: 2nd flight goes fine; we are in our monster Tahoe SUV at 3:30pm and headed southwest to Treasure Island, FL where we will check into the Residence Inn for 48 hours. After a quick McD’s en route, we arrive at the hotel, change into our game gear and head to Tropicana Field.
Call me a Fenway Park snob, but “The Trop” is a piece of crap. It has the charm of a dark warehouse. It’s grimy, dingy, musty and without a soul. It also has artificial turf. Despite the complaints, it was nice to be in air conditioning on an especially warm Saturday night. Ditto the sentiment when booming thunderstorms and pounding rain passed overhead in the 2nd and 3rd innings. Okay, I’ll admit it, even the ugly dome has its merits in south Florida.
The Rays beat the Sox 2-3 in a well-pitched game by both sides. The horror show started in the 10th when Scott Atchison gave up the walk-off win to Dan Johnson. Ugh.
10/28/10, 10:30pm ET: We beat it out of the Trop before Johnson has crossed the plate and drive back to the hotel, where Kate and Elle have just arrived. We have some family reunion time and then hit the hay.Sunday, 8/29, 9:00am ET: After breakfast, we head to the beach for a great day in the sun. The weather was perfect and we got some fabulous lounging time to read, snooze and swim. Everyone had a nice time.
8/29, 6:00pm ET: We head to the Trop for the rubber match of the three-game series against the Rays. Lackey does a pretty good job holding the Rays back, but in the end the Sox are not up up to the task and fall to 6 1/2 games out of first place.
We had much better seats for this game. The kids got to upgrade to the first row and managed to get a ball tossed from Darnell McDonald after he caught a Jason Bartlett fly ball to center field to record the 3rd out of the bottom of the 8th inning. Video below:
8/30, 9:00am ET: We get a half beach day and then pack up and point the massive Tahoe back to TPA.
4:00pm 8/29: After a quick pre-flight meal, we head to the gate. Doing the free ticket dance with Delta means Kate and Elle return via Atlanta. The boys and I are returning via Detroit. According to the flight tracker, we have 39 minutes until we reach DTW. Weather is great, so no delays anticipated.
8:30pm 8/20: Killing time in the Detroit Sky Club in Terminal A. The last time I was here this space was operated by Northwest Airlines. Travel gods are smiling (so far). Spoke with Kate; she and Elle are enduring a 2+ hour delay at hell-hole Atlanta Hartsfield.
Baseball Trip 2010 - The Trop
