|
|
Stadium by the bay
After our wild adventure in Braves Country, our journey took us into the Sunshine State en route to see the Tampa Bay Rays. But first, we decided to make a pit stop and stay the night in Orlando.
We battled some fierce rain storms upon entering Florida, but the torrential downpour was no match for our powerful minivan.
After arriving in Orlando a little after 7 p.m., we booked a hotel near the place Where Dreams Come True, Disney World. Stomaches growling, us journeymen set out for Miller’s Ale House — a huge restaurant with just about every kind of food available for order. We started the meal off with an order of Potstickers — pork dumplings and cabbage — before digging into Cajun Chicken Pasta, Jambalaya, Flatbread BBQ Chicken and Shrimp Scampi.
The opening round of the College World Series was on TV while we were there, and LSU was playing Florida State. We were a little surprised eat how many LSU fans were in the restaurant cheering on their team, until we realized we were fairly close to Gainesville, and all of these people were Florida Gators fans rooting for any team playing against their rival, FSU. It was a fun scene.
The plan was to go ahead and get some rest and get ready to head to Tampa in the morning.
The crew got to meet Nick B’s buddy, Andrew, who is a designer at the EA Sports video game company. Andrew took us on a tour of the facility, which seemed like a dream job for pretty much all of us.
The building was very modern, and each floor had a theme dedicated to one of the video games EA makes — like Madden NFL football, NBA Live, etc. The offices dedicated for team meetings are also themed. One has turf for the floor to represent a putting green for the company’s golf game, and one even has a big ball pit in the middle of the conference table.
We had lunch with Andrew, who graciously foot the bill and gave us some tips of things to do in Tampa.
Road to Tampa
The drive from Orlando to Tampa was only a couple hours — a breeze compared some of our previous trips. One of the first things we wanted to do when we got there was see an alligator, so we went to a protective swamp land in search of the ornery beasts. But they were hard to come by. We did find one young gator, and as we were leaving we came across one that was a little bit bigger. And closer.
The hard work from our gator search left us parched, so we went to the Cigar City Brewery to quench our thirst. We just missed the final scheduled tour, so we decided to just get a few sample flights of the beer.
The beer menu was quite impressive and had many different styles of beer. It was a little pricy, but we kind of expected that.
Inside the bar in the brewery, there is also a women that hand rolls cigars to be sold. It was an intriguing process, and she has apparently perfected it.
For dinner, we found a fun pizza place which reminded us of the place we went to in Wrigleyville in Chicago. It serves New York Style pizza and features a ton of delicious options. Three of the four of us thought the Buffalo Chicken pizza sounded too good to pass up, while Chicken Parmesan was another popular choice.
As you can see from the size of the slices, we were beyond full after scarfing down the delicious, monstrous slices of goodness. The food babies growing inside of us made it slightly more difficult to make it through our walk along the river. A lot of people used the river walk to exercise or just to enjoy some time near the water. There were even boat tours available and an outdoor bar with a large seating area.
The fact that we struggled to make room in our stomach for a bucket of beers to go with the pizza assured us we were making the right decision to just go home and go to sleep before a big day at the beach. We had checked the weather which predicted rain beginning at 1 p.m. and lasting the rest of the day, so we had planned to get up early and go to the beach before the storm came.
Clear water at Clearwater
We woke up the next day and made our way to Clearwater beach. With the weather pretty overcast, and the fact that it was a Monday morning, the beach wasn’t too populated. We had room to spread out and throw the football and play a game of ultimate frisbee — Nick B. and Nate won.
The water felt great, but we became a little leery when we spotted a dead sting ray near the shore. To our surprise, it quickly swam off when we got closer to it. We still entered the water, but we did so with that sting ray, and its friends, in the back of our minds. The lifeguards patrolling the beach taught us the Sting Ray Shuffle — every three steps, twist your body side to side and let your feet dig into the sand — as a way to keep the rays away.
After playing in the ocean for a bit, we walked around the Clearwater area. We decided to eat at a seafood place called Cooters. The inside was decorated with license plates from all over the country and tons of goofy signs. The Nicks got a pair of jumbo margaritas (Tipsy Turtle flavors), while Ben and Nate both ordered Bloody Marys. Oh, and we got to keep the margarita glasses (for the price of 22 bucks, we better have).
As for food, the limitless snow crab was a temptation for Nate, but the 38 dollar charge nixed that idea. The Nicks and Nate did share some alligator bites, both fried and blackened, and they tasted just like chicken.
We went back to the hotel after lunch and washed off in the pool and relaxed a little longer in the sun. We went back to the room just in time as the storm the experts predicted finally arrived, and in full force too. We were glad we got to enjoy our time in the sand while we had it.
The game
After showering and getting a little rest at the hotel, it was finally time to head to Tropicana Field for the Rays game. Tampa Bay was hosting the Cincinnati Reds in an interleague battle. Walking up to the stadium — which is a domed venue — it largely resembled a parking garage. It was not very scenic. The inside was more like a concert arena with the indoor atmosphere and the climate controlled environment.
The food selection was very good. Tropicana offered just about anything you could think of, including a Cuban selection and even a gluten-free stand. Ben, Nate, and Nick B. each got the Cuban Burger, while Nick L. got some pizza. It was a very intriguing burger, piling deli meat on top of the burger. And it came with a ton of fries. It really was a great deal for 13 bucks.
The game was tight for most of the contest, with both pitchers throwing well early on. But the Reds got home runs from Scott Schebler and Scooter Gennett in the fifth and sixth innings. In the bottom of the sixth, Steven Souza Jr. hit a home run that never left the playing field. His deep fly ball, which was without a doubt going to be a home run anyway, hit a speaker on the catwalk inside the domed stadium. By rule, if the ball hits one of the two outside rings of catwalks, the play is a home run. It was a confusing and ultimately informative play. We had not seen anything like it.
Daniel Robertson tied the game for the Rays with a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh, but the Reds answered with a three-run eighth and added another in the ninth to take the game 7-3.
Nick L. was our Reds fan for the game, mostly because he was wearing a red shirt. But he quickly made friends with the Reds fans sitting next to us, and created a friendly rivalry with the Tampa Bay spirit squad, who ended up throwing him a Rays shirt during the seventh inning. He put the shirt on and, we believe, that’s what prompted the Rays’ rally. He immediately took it off after Robertson’s homer, and we all know how the rest of the game went for the home team.
Our seats were good, first row of the section behind the suite seats. The seats themselves were kind of weird because they seemed to face center field, which forced us to turn our bodies to the right to see the action in the infield.
In the stands out near center field, Tropicana has a pool filled with rays. People can go up to the pool and check out the aquatic creatures, but, as we found out the hard way, you have to visit them before the seventh inning.
Postgame
The Tampa Bay spirit squad told us about a bar near the stadium to go to, and it was a great suggestion. The bar was called Park and Rec, and it was great for the inner child in any bargoer. The outside area featured a life-size beer pong court, which consisted of five 50-gallon trash cans and soccer balls. There was also a billiards table outside. Inside, there were several arcade games, ski ball, and air hockey. It was a lot of fun.
Park and Rec closed at 1 a.m., so we decided to go to the Galley afterwards. It was a nice looking bar and had good beer and a late night menu that hit the spot just right. We were the only three in there by the time we left. We finished our beers, left some of the fries, and made our way back to the hotel to get ready for the road to Miami.
Rating
We gave Tropicana a rating of a 6.1, which, unfortunately, makes it our lowest rated stadium. The appearance of the stadium, the seating, and the half-empty atmosphere depleted the score quite a bit. The food of the stadium helped as we all liked our choices and, for the most part, enjoyed our meals.
The nightlife, and the beach, was another saving factor for the rating. The bars we visited were fun and unique.
| Rank | Stadium | Rating |
| 1. | Petco Park (Padres) | 8.9 |
| 2. | Sun Trust Park (Braves) | 8.4 |
| 3. | Kauffman Stadium (Royals) | 8.4 |
| 4. | Target Field (Twins) | 8.3 |
| 5. | Angels Stadium (Angels) | 8.3 |
| 6. | U.S. Cellular (White Sox) | 8.3 |
| 7. | Wrigley Field (Cubs) | 8.3 |
| 8. | Busch Stadium (Cardinals) | 8.3 |
| 9. | Chase Field (Diamondbacks) | 8.2 |
| 10. | Miller Park (Brewers) | 7.2 |
| 11. | Coors Field (Rockies) | 7.1 |
| 12. | Dodger Stadium (Dodgers) | 6.2 |
| 13. | Tropicana Field (Rays) | 6.1 |
On deck
Be sure to look out for our final post from this year’s trip, as we visit Marlins Park in Miami. The game is June 21st, so the post should be up very soon! Thanks for following us so far; it’s been a great trip thus far and we’re anxious to end it with another fun post. Also like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, @MLBjourneymen, and check out our Instagram account, mlbjourneymen.
No comments:
Post a Comment