Tampa: Tigers 4, Rays 3

What a great day. Yesterday was the polar opposite of the day that I had had in Miami, and I'm now as motivated as ever about my trip and the time I might have while I'm here. And on top of that, Tropicana Field far and above exceeded my preconceptions about the place.

The ride to Tampa was great for me, aside from the small inconvenience of getting a sunburned scalp from having my convertible top down. A throwaway hat at a rest stop took care of that and the rest of the drive was exactly what I was hoping for - me, my thoughts, and the open road.

The first thing I did when I arrived at the stadium was to check out the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame, which was exceptional and a must-see for any baseball fan that makes it to the Tampa area. There is a large collection of Ted Williams photos and memorabilia, as well as memorabilia for the great hitters of all-time. There are several places in the museum where you could watch documentaries or listen to audio of Williams talking about the game, and it was amazing to be there.

While I was in the museum I ran into a group of Rays fans that were discussing some of the older teams in baseball like the Senators and Browns, and I managed to contribute to the conversation with my own knowledge of the game. Apparently I made some kind of impression because they asked me to spend the rest of the evening with them. One of the women is a researcher for one of the major newspaper publications in Tampa, and she insisted on introducing me to Todd Kalas, father of longtime Phillies broadcaster and the host of the Rays pre- and post-game shows. He was a very nice guy and took interest in my trip and experience, but my time with him was cut short because he also seems to be a pretty popular guy. I was also introduced to Rich Herrara, who does the radio pre- and post-game shows for the Rays. He also was a really nice guy and we spent a few minutes discussing my trip as well.

After all that pregame excitement, the game itself didn't fail to provide an enjoyable end to the evening. It was an amazing pitchers duel until the 9th inning when the Tigers posted just enough runs to stay out of reach of a Rays comeback attempt in the bottom of the inning. I spent the last 3 innings of the game in the lower deck walkway getting some decent photos with my 200mm lens with 2x extender.

I've got my photo of Tropicana Field above, but you can see some of my other photos from the game here. Now off to Atlanta!