"A first time for everything"

While I was away from the blog back in July, I took a trip to Florida to see relatives as well as to catch a game at Tropicana Field. On the vacation, I also got a digital camera to take the sights back home. Of course, I did not master the camera in the time I was there, but I was able to do some "semi-photography"... (CAUTION: Large Photos)



This is the old Devil Rays uniform; the 98 denotes the first year of their existence. The uniform used to contain "Devil Rays" but because the word "Devil" is somewhat of a cuss word in the South, they are referred to as the "Rays" but they still keep their official name as "Devil Rays." Whatever.



This is the view from the section I was sitting at, 126. Although many feel that the "Egg" is a decrepit stadium, I thought it was very nice and actually enjoyed the sitelines.



Here are O's starter Bruce Chen and former A Sal Fasano doing warm-up tosses.



This is what I now affectionately call the 'Roid Crew. There is no way Javy Lopez's 2003 season was not "aided."



Devil Rays Starter Seth McClung; apparently this game was his first win since August of '03. He was hitting 93 on occasion but he allowed at least a baserunner each of his 5+ innings.



Go get him Billy!

I had a blast going to the game as I was rooting for the D'Rays to win the game as the A's were climbing atop the Wild Card Standings at the time. It was funny to see their advertising Mini-Blimp that would drop a certain number of coupons based on how much the coupon was worth. There was one drop where there were only 5 coupons; it was for a tune-up...

I would highly recommend going to the Egg if only to say you have been there. The atmosphere is great and there are some nice seats to be had for decent prices. I hope that for the good of Baseball in Central Florida, Vince Naimoli AND Chuck LaMar both lose their positions with the team; that Dannys Baez is still pitching with them is a dis-credit to LaMar's "genius."