Unusual Double Header
It was a last minute thing, but my friend Teresa who lives in Saint Petersburg, had invited me to an unusual double header. In the past, Teresa was a partial season ticket holder to the Tampa Bay Rays. I have written about past visits to see the Yankees and Red Sox. This year, she gave up these tickets, as I have given up my Magic Season tickets. She emailed mean opportunity, to see both a Rays baseball game and a Rowdies soccer game, for $30 per ticket.
The baseball game was scheduled for 1:10 pm at Tropicana Field versus the Los Angeles Angels. She had only purchased the tickets Friday night so we had to go and pick them up at the "Will Call". We entered from the city side and had to walk to the other side. We went through the security check, back out, saw a black snake, and then stood in line next to the people that had players leaving them tickets. Tropican is big on the inside, but even bigger on the outside...
We went to our seats first in Section 215. Raymond the Rays mascot was on the field, playing around with some of the visiting Angels. He stole the towel he is holding from the starting pitcher. The pitchers do not have a traditional bullpen but warm up in foul territory along each baseline.
The Rowdies mascot was there too since the games were connected...
They had a first pitch with a baseball and then a first kick with a soccer ball. Here the catcher hands the soccer ball back to the kicker...
There were two Angels I really wanted to see, one was Mike Trout, seen here at bat. The other was Albert Pujols, but he did not play...
Tropicana field is kind of cool, although it is getting old. In centerfield, they have a pool full of Devil Rays. They let the fans in to see the creatures as they swim around in a fairly large pool.
At this game, they also had a whole section reserved for people with their dogs. You can see a few of the dogs in this picture I took. They had a special line for security. They did not send the dogs through the metal detectors but checked each person (and dog?) with a handheld device.
Our seats, for being a deal, were actually pretty good. We were in the last row of Section 215 which is just below some of the reserved boxes. They have TVs for the boxes which we could also see from our seats. Apparently, they have two feeds...
Here is the view from our seats...
I like the Tampa Bay Rays socks on Garcia. The team were wearing throwback Devil Rays jerseys for this game.
Another photo of the rays with no people....
One of our favorite Rays players is Ji-man Choi. He hit a HR in Friday night's game which we watched on TV. You can see the Devil Rays logo on his chest. The name change happened in 2008 when the Devil Rays become the Rays. Although the animal rays are still used, the Rays logo has a burst of sunshine "Rays". My view of Ji-Man.
The TV view of G-Man....Go Rays!
After the fifth inning, my friend Teresa took me on a tour of the stadium. It is quite the walk around the lower outside. You can completely go around the whole stadium. They have a museum and this statue is on the stairwell to the entrance...
They have an outdoor area called "Ballpark & Rec"...
There are bars and viewing areas in centerfield. This is Teresa enjoying her soda out of a Blue TB cup which has unlimited refills. That is Mike Trout in centerfield...
I told you that was Mike Trout...He is making $36,833,333 this season. He has played for nine years and has had 7 All Star games. He has won the AL MVP twice. He can count fake grass blades...
Teresa took this photo of me out in centerfield looking toward home plate.
Our seats were in the back row of 215, just left of the label...I took this photo from centerfield.
After the game, they had shuttles to take us to the soccer game at Al Lang Stadium. We decided to walk even though it was hot & humid but I did get over 12,000 steps for the day. They had a pre-game area set up for us with the Doubleheader tickets. Raymond the mascot was there too.
Apparently they do not have spell check on their sign maker...
We had a voucher for some food and a drink including a Modelo beer. The pizza was cheese but I would call it crust with a little cheese. I should have got the hot dog...The cool cat "DJ Kitty" is another mascot for the Rays...they had music blaring.
I got autographs from three players on the Rowdies, it was part of the Doubleheader deal. This is a picture of Mohamed Kone, born in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
Our seats were located near midfield. The teams sit on the opposite side. The game was scheduled to start at 6:30 pm. Usually games start at 7:30 pm and there were regular fans that did not know the game had been moved up. They were wondering why the score was 1-0 to start the game, which for us was the start of the second half.
Keeping the crossover sports theme, the tall guy in the middle flipped the coin. He is an injured starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow. He was 5-0 when he got hurt.
Al Lang Stadium, although home to a soccer team, was built as a baseball park. The Rays were the last of a long series of Major League Baseball clubs to conduct spring training and host an affiliated minor league team at Al Lang Stadium. Before the Rays, tenants included the Yankees, Cardinals, Mets, and the Orioles. Home plate is now used for corner kicks.
They do have a large screen for replays...
The game was against the Charleston Battery, another team in the USL. Some play near goal...
Although the Rays lost 5-3 and the Rowdies tied 1-1, the day was a lot of fun. I should mention the Rowdies and Rays have the same owners now. There probably will be more events like this in the future. Unique and unusual doubleheader.
The baseball game was scheduled for 1:10 pm at Tropicana Field versus the Los Angeles Angels. She had only purchased the tickets Friday night so we had to go and pick them up at the "Will Call". We entered from the city side and had to walk to the other side. We went through the security check, back out, saw a black snake, and then stood in line next to the people that had players leaving them tickets. Tropican is big on the inside, but even bigger on the outside...
We went to our seats first in Section 215. Raymond the Rays mascot was on the field, playing around with some of the visiting Angels. He stole the towel he is holding from the starting pitcher. The pitchers do not have a traditional bullpen but warm up in foul territory along each baseline.
The Rowdies mascot was there too since the games were connected...
They had a first pitch with a baseball and then a first kick with a soccer ball. Here the catcher hands the soccer ball back to the kicker...
There were two Angels I really wanted to see, one was Mike Trout, seen here at bat. The other was Albert Pujols, but he did not play...
Tropicana field is kind of cool, although it is getting old. In centerfield, they have a pool full of Devil Rays. They let the fans in to see the creatures as they swim around in a fairly large pool.
At this game, they also had a whole section reserved for people with their dogs. You can see a few of the dogs in this picture I took. They had a special line for security. They did not send the dogs through the metal detectors but checked each person (and dog?) with a handheld device.
Our seats, for being a deal, were actually pretty good. We were in the last row of Section 215 which is just below some of the reserved boxes. They have TVs for the boxes which we could also see from our seats. Apparently, they have two feeds...
Here is the view from our seats...
Another photo of the rays with no people....
One of our favorite Rays players is Ji-man Choi. He hit a HR in Friday night's game which we watched on TV. You can see the Devil Rays logo on his chest. The name change happened in 2008 when the Devil Rays become the Rays. Although the animal rays are still used, the Rays logo has a burst of sunshine "Rays". My view of Ji-Man.
The TV view of G-Man....Go Rays!
After the fifth inning, my friend Teresa took me on a tour of the stadium. It is quite the walk around the lower outside. You can completely go around the whole stadium. They have a museum and this statue is on the stairwell to the entrance...
They have an outdoor area called "Ballpark & Rec"...
There are bars and viewing areas in centerfield. This is Teresa enjoying her soda out of a Blue TB cup which has unlimited refills. That is Mike Trout in centerfield...
I told you that was Mike Trout...He is making $36,833,333 this season. He has played for nine years and has had 7 All Star games. He has won the AL MVP twice. He can count fake grass blades...
Teresa took this photo of me out in centerfield looking toward home plate.
Our seats were in the back row of 215, just left of the label...I took this photo from centerfield.
After the game, they had shuttles to take us to the soccer game at Al Lang Stadium. We decided to walk even though it was hot & humid but I did get over 12,000 steps for the day. They had a pre-game area set up for us with the Doubleheader tickets. Raymond the mascot was there too.
Apparently they do not have spell check on their sign maker...
We had a voucher for some food and a drink including a Modelo beer. The pizza was cheese but I would call it crust with a little cheese. I should have got the hot dog...The cool cat "DJ Kitty" is another mascot for the Rays...they had music blaring.
I got autographs from three players on the Rowdies, it was part of the Doubleheader deal. This is a picture of Mohamed Kone, born in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
Our seats were located near midfield. The teams sit on the opposite side. The game was scheduled to start at 6:30 pm. Usually games start at 7:30 pm and there were regular fans that did not know the game had been moved up. They were wondering why the score was 1-0 to start the game, which for us was the start of the second half.
Keeping the crossover sports theme, the tall guy in the middle flipped the coin. He is an injured starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow. He was 5-0 when he got hurt.
Al Lang Stadium, although home to a soccer team, was built as a baseball park. The Rays were the last of a long series of Major League Baseball clubs to conduct spring training and host an affiliated minor league team at Al Lang Stadium. Before the Rays, tenants included the Yankees, Cardinals, Mets, and the Orioles. Home plate is now used for corner kicks.
They do have a large screen for replays...
The game was against the Charleston Battery, another team in the USL. Some play near goal...
Although the Rays lost 5-3 and the Rowdies tied 1-1, the day was a lot of fun. I should mention the Rowdies and Rays have the same owners now. There probably will be more events like this in the future. Unique and unusual doubleheader.
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