Our trip to St. Petersburg and beyond.

The group at the Trop.
Originally uploaded by LadyJ117

Yes, that was me at Tropicana Field.
If you were watching the Red Sox/Devil Rays game last Monday night, you may have seen a certain local sports editor beaming with overwhelming happiness after being asked to display her sign to the NESN audience at home. Within seconds of appearing on TV, my phone was flooded with calls and texts from friends and family back in Mass. telling me they just saw me on the old tube.
I’ve made several signs over this Sox season, but had little success getting NESN’s attention. Well that got considerably easier when my boyfriend Brian and I purchased seats directly to the right of the Sox dugout in Tampa Bay. The camera guys were next to the dugout and caught my sign. After being told I had to add Don Orsilo’s name to my poster (I guess he gets a little touchy about one’s that just mention the Rem Dawg), the camera guy—Rich—put me on just before the start of the sixth inning.
Unfortunately, Brian picked the wrong time to visit the loo.
For me, this was game number six in a visiting park. It was Brian’s first. We had been planning a trip to Florida to visit his sister, Julie, who lives in the Bradenton area with her husband Christian. We were considering two different weeks to stay on St. Pete’s Beach, one of which had the added incentive of the Red Sox being in town just over the bridge in Tampa.
Needless to say, our decision was an easy one.

Red Sox 6, Tampa Bay 0 – Monday, Aug. 20
While I had been no stranger to visiting parks, it was my first time seeing a game in a dome stadium. I had mixed feelings entering the complex but once inside and away from the 97-degree heat, I immediately saw the need for the dome.
After pre-gaming at Ferg’s, a great local sports pub that’s been in the area since the 1970s, we made our way to our seats. Ticketmaster’s seat maps gave me a rough idea of where I expect us to end up but five rows from the field with aisle seats that look directly into the Sox dugout were nothing I anticipated.
Next to us was a pair of Devil Rays fans (yes there were some). Jeff and Greg are season ticket holders who purchased a 20-game pack that guarantees them at least four “premium” games (i.e. Red Sox and Yankees). Great guys who put up very well with the throngs of Sox fans in attendance.
Old reliable Tim Wakefield was on the mound for Boston and in him was a pitcher who was 18-2 against the Rays and 8-0 at the Trop. He made it 9-0 with a dominant performance, allowing just five hits and one walk over seven innings of work in a 6-0 shutout.
The game was over in a cool two hours, 26 minutes and we were left hungry for more. So Brian and I ventured out to the ticket office to buy seats for Tuesday night so we could take Julie and Christian. What’d we get? Four seats together, four rows from the Sox bullpen for $152. “Is that for four?” Brian said in disbelief. “Yes,” the ticket agent replied. “We’re trying to keep it a secret down here,” he joked.
We made our way back to Ferg’s and ran into Rich and the rest of the cameramen who were on hand to shoot the game that night. Again, we thanked them profusely for giving me my 15 seconds of fame and then picked up their tab. The guys were delighted to hear we would be back in the Trop the next night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow: Details from our second game and some observations about the South.