Tampa - Rays v. Marlins

We drove the four hours from Miami to Tampa, when we arrived in Tampa we went to the stadium and bought tickets for that nights game. We had a quick visit with Gramp & Emma and then went to the stadium.

We made reservations for dinner at the Batter's Eye, the restaurant in dead center at Tropicana, so we got the field early.

The parking at the field was $15, but free if you had four or more in your car, great deal! We started at a table inside the restaurant, but then the waitress told us we could go sit outside, in the park itself. We moved out and ate dinner and watched BP from the table.

After dinner, we wandered to our seats. Along the way we stopped at the tank & pet the rays.

Our seats were in right center, third row, we spent $17 on them. Not bad for a day of game purchase!

view from our seats.

We had a crazy guy that sat behind us, he was born in Massachusetts in the 1920s. He had a huge cowbell, which was unique to this ballpark. Everyone seemed to have one! Underneath, in the concourse area, it was like a carnival, there were lots of games for the kids and it was really lively. The game was a good game, the Rays ended up winning 7-3. Some exciting things about the game; I got a ball during BP, a fan in front of us caught a homerun, and our row won free sodas because of some race on the field in between innings.

The game got over late, and after we drove the 2 hours to Gainesville where we stayed the night.