It’s that time of year when baseball is in a flurry scrambling around trying to decide who will be in the playoffs and who will be a spoiler or perhaps just totally forgotten. Last night I attended the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Boston Red Sox baseball game at Tropicana Field in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The Sox of course are in first place chasing the American League Pennant and hoping for a spot in the World Series. The Devil Rays could just as easily been forgotten this year but they are very much involved in the “spoiler” role.
But so far they have lost two straight to Boston and have a final game here on Sunday. Next week the Yankees, who as of last night, remain 2 and a half games behind Boston in the American League East race.
The photos below aren’t of the best quality because of the lighting and distance away but nonetheless, I thought you might enjoy.
Tom Remington photo – Inside Tropicana Field and a view of the brand new large screen scoreboard in right field. A good crowd was on hand.
Tom Remington photo – Raymond, the Devil Rays mascot, works the crowd helping to keep fans into the game and cheering for the home team. When the Sox are in town, it’s hard to tell who is the home team.
Tom Remington photo – Carlos Pena is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays rookie first baseman. He is a contender for Rookie of the Year honors along with Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Last night Pena hit his 41st and 42nd home runs of the season. Pena already holds the home run record for any Tampa Bay Devil Ray.
Tom Remington photo – Red Sox rookie, Jakoby(sp) Ellsberry, heads back to first base as Devil Rays pitcher Sunnanstine tries to pick him off.
Tom Remington photo – The Sox jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but the Rays kept fighting back and eventually took a 6-5 lead into the seventh inning. The Sox tied it at 6 in the eighth. In the ninth, a home run by Valentin put the Sox up for good and that brought in ace reliever Jonathan Papelbon to shut down the Rays and that he did.
Final score?
Tom Remington photo
Tom Remington
