Game #5-Tampa Bay Rays have historical start to the year!

We just completed our 5th ballpark visit on Friday, April 21 to Tropicana Field where the Tampa Bay Rays played the Chicago White Sox. The Tampa Bay Rays team is HOT and they certainly have an fascinating ballpark. The capacity for this domed field is 25,025 and this Friday evening brought in a crowd of 17,973. The Tropicana Field has an interessting history having been built long before Tampa Bay had a Major League Baseball team, in fact 8 years. It was built in the hopes of drawing a MLB team to Tampa Bay. Original capacity was 45,369 but in 2008 the top third of the upper deck seating was tarped over reducing the capcity to 36,048 and then again in 2019 the entire upper deck was closed reducing capaity to 25,025-the lowest in the league. They felt this would create a more intimate and appealing experience for the fans and they were right. Tropicana Field has a unique exterior with a slanted domed roof and an almost circus-like tent look from the inside. The reason it was designed this way was to reduce cooling costs and protect from hurricanes. Lucky for us it was a giveaway night and we received two very nice belt bags when we entered the park. We did our usual walk around the ballpark and were so pleasantly surprised by the extremely friendly staff! Jim and I did not pass one single staff member without them welcoming us and greeting us. I definetly give this ballpark the friendly staff award! The ushers are called "Fan Hosts." One of the first Fan Hosts we encountered was Tom. He was so kind and offered to take pictures for us. He really took his time to get the just right photo; see his handywork in the photo on this post. Next as we arrived at our seats we talked with Fan Hosts, Sandy and Ellen who gave us lots of information and namely the hot dog recommendation for Jim. If you are not following us on Instagram you are missing Jim's entertaining hot dog reviews. @ourfieldofdreams2023 Of course, we gave our kind Fan Hosts our San Clemente gift bag with a surfboard keychain and salt water taffy and thanked them for their kindness. I would say the unique feature at this ballpark is the Rays Touch Tank. Just over the right field fence is a 10,000 gallon tank filled with three different species of rays. Admission to the tank is free but they limit it to 40 fans at a time. Pictures are on Instagram of Jim enjoying this experience. Tropicana Field has many food choices but as per usual we had to get the hot dog which was a foot long hot dog with grilled onions, bellpeppers, ketchup and mustard. Jim gave it an 8 which is his highest so far tied with Texas Rangers "boomstick." I could not resist getting the chicken and fries served in a helmet. Just something about eating food out of a plastic helmet at a ballpark that makes the game complete. The chicken was very good and the fries were excellent. It's rare I turn my nose up to a french fry. Now here comes the part that has you playing the Twilight Zone music in you head.....Sitting just two rows in front of us we see a man with a shirt on that says "A Lifetime of Memories One Field at a Time" with a big 30 on it. You know my husband Jim and how diffident he is, so he walked down to ask him about his shirt. Soon I saw them laughing and chatting as if they were best friends. See the pictures on Instagram as I camptured the moment. This gentleman is from California and visiting all 30 parks traveling by car. Oh and here is even another crazy part he is a principal. Guess our kind love baseball. We will be at several more games at the same time. Now that is the second couple in two games we have met living their DREAM! The spirit in the ballpark was exhilarating with mascots, cheerleaders and happy fans. There were quite a few White Sox fans at the game. Some of the White Sox fans we spoke to gave us good tips for our visit to see the White Sox. The 50/50 raffle people hit us up again and per our agreement we purchase $10 at each park. We haven't won yet but boy have I spent the winnings in my head at each park. LOL. Now on to the game. All I can say is way to make the Rays fans sit on the edge of their seats. The Rays have had a historic opening to the season holding the best record in baseball 17-3. The Rays came out in the 1st inning with bats swinging. Josh Lowe doubled and drove in two runs. Then Harold Ramirez homers to make the score 4-0 in the 1st inning! The White Sox answer back in the 2nd inning scoring 3 runs which brought about a pitching change. Unfortunately for the home team, the White Sox would go on to score 3 more runs in the 3rd inning and one more in the 4th inning. At this point the White Sox were ahead 7-4. A spark of life was renewed for the Rays in the bottom of the 4th with a few singles and an RBI for Yandy Diaz making it 7-5 where it remained until the bottom of the 9th inning. The real action that turned the tide for the Rays happened in the 9th inning with Christian Bethancourt hitting a homer into the stands making it 7-6. Then the play of the game happened when Brandon Lowe homered and made the final score 7-8. GAME OVER! A huge celebration for the Rays and their fans. The Rays are perfect at home with an 11-0 record and extend their season-opening home run streak to a record tying 20 games, they are tied with the 2019 Mariners. Fun fact about the 5 games we have attended, the HOME team has been victorious EXCEPT when they played Jim's team the Dodgers or my team the Giants. Home team has 3 wins and visitors(Giants and Dodgers) 2 wins. We are off to Atlanta where we will see the Atlanta Braves take on th Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon. Until next time PLAY BALL!