A Night at the Trop

We have Dean's mom in town this weekend. I was able to get two precious days away from the Helium to spend some time with her. Getting Hindus and atheists to work on Easter weekend is actually quite easy. I'll be paying for it come tomorrow though.

Last night we went to see the Devil Rays take on the Royals at Tropicana field across the bay. Since the Rays have come under new ownership in the off season there have been $10 million dollars in renovations at the Trop with a promise of better fan relations and in time, better baseball. The Trop looked great. There was free parking in the huge lot. Before it was $10. And fans can now bring in outside food and beverages. This is all part of the owner's sympathizing that it is expensive to take your family to the baseball game.

Shortly after Dean and I moved down here, Dean got a job selling season tickets for the Rays and he hated it. On game days he worked 16 hour days and he had an hour long commute each way. With all that work we were still struggling to make ends meet. He stuck it out for a year before moving on. Since leaving he has seen the Rays front office undergo a complete change in the commission structure that would have almost doubled his salary and now the new owner overhauling the team again. He takes it all very well, but sometimes I think he wonders what it would have been like if he stayed.

When we walked through the gates, we were immediately spotted by one of Dean's old friends from when he worked there. Craig started at the same time as Dean and he has enjoyed enormous promotions along the way. Extremely, um, flamboyant and excitable he started working in the gift shop. Last night he informed us he was now Director of Fan Relations. As soon as he said that I was prepared to hear Dean's wrath about getting screwed over more after he left than while he was there. We congratulated him with genuine happiness. He deserves it.

What we didn't know about the position of Director of Fan Relations is that it also comes with the honorary title of "Mayor of Left Field Street". Our seats were in left field and as we were walking along the concourse loaded with Pepsis and hot dogs, we saw Craig again. This time he had on a tuxedo coat over his jersey and a top hat. He was at a podium addressing his masses. Which consisted of a boy and his dad.

Speaking of left field, our seats happened to be in the front row in left field. That was scary. At first we were excited to potentially catch a home run ball. The only ball that came close to us ended up bouncing off the fence only a foot or two away from us, leaving all three of us curled in a fetal position, screaming.

When we got home from the game we turned on our new beloved baseball package to catch the rest of the Twins vs. Yankees. The Twins had blown a four run lead and were trailing 5-4 in the 8th. In the bottom of the ninth, Miriano Rivera was pitching, the lead off hitter was walked. Joe Mauer, or Baby Jesus as Dean sarcastically calls him due to his savior image among Twins fans, hit a double. Second and third with nobody out. Rondell While and Torii Hunter both strike out. Then Justin Morneau hit a double scoring the tying and winning run. Suck it, Derek Cheater and PayRod and the rest of the Evil Empire!