Tropicana Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Rays

On to Tropicana Stadium. This is the first domed stadium we have been in on our trip. 

 We were happy to walk in to the comfortable air conditioned park. There are 4 catwalks tiered to hold the dome up. 

Catwalks at the Trop-  If you hit one, it is either a homerun or a dead ball

One of the coolest things about the Trop is the tank with the Rays in it that they let people in to touch the cownose rays before the game and into the second inning.

Ray petting tank

 The turf is a second generation Astroturf. It originally had the 1^st generation of astroturf, then went to field turf and now has the newer version of Astroturf.  It is the only MLB stadium with artificial turf and real dirt base paths.  The night we were there was Evan Longeria Bobblehead night.

 We watched batting practice and then went into the Ted Williams Hall of Fame and took it all in. Nice display. 

Ted Williams

Hank Aaron

 We talked to an usher for awhile about our trip and Unbound and settled into our seats along the third baseline. Evan Longoria hit a 3 run homer in the first inning, perfect for the Bobblehead night. The benches emptied over something seemingly stupid at second base.

Benches emptied over something

 We saw several mascots, Raymond, a black cat, (Disco Kitty, who comes on the big screen playing lp records in the 7^th inning) and some very strange blow up type figure. I am not sure if disco kitty is related to the catwalks or an invention of its own but the fans sure love him.

Disco kitty comes on in the 7th???

Jodi and Disco Kitty

Does Raymond look like a ray to you?  Just wondering

The music was loud, the cheerleaders were break dancing, the mascots different. I am not sure what the whole theme was. Because of the bobblehead giveaway, they had 22,000 fans. The night before, they hit a record low of 8000 fans. I think they must be trying to appeal to everyone but obviously it isn't working very well. We had a good time,it is always fun to see the home team win. They beat the Texas Rangers.