The last home game started an hour earlier at 12:05 pm today. We have been arriving at the games about an hour and a half before the start time when the gates open. There is a special entrance for disabled and suite section ticket holders (us). You go through the lower section under the stands near the umpire dressing room and the door to the visitors' club house. It is also adjacent to the loading dock area where vendor and park supplies are unloaded. The visiting players also enter and leave through this area to/from their buses that bring them to the park and back. There are also usually a fair number of fans of the visiting team waiting there behind a barrier, hoping to get autographs from their team players as they arrive/depart.
After entering, we travel to our seats on the third level by elevator. Judy is using her walker, so the elevator is a huge help. The park staff are friendly and have always helped. The same people have mostly been here at the same stations ever since we have been coming here.
After we arrive at our seating section, there is a complimentary mimosa stand (non-alcoholic) on the concourse. Each game, we have our morning mimosa then walk around the ballpark on the concourse on level two (field level). It is a nice walk, past all the concessions on the concourse and the open outfield area. Normally, the visiting team is doing batting practice during our walk and occasionally a ball lands over the fence on the berm seating area. There is a lot of eager fans, some with baseball gloves, waiting to catch/scramble after any ball hit that way. We have even gotten a few balls over the years (didn't even have to fight a kid to get one). The walk around the concourse is about a half-mile walk. After returning, we settle into our seats and normally share a great Cajun Bloody Mary with shrimp from the concession stand at our level.
The game today had a different feel to it. The attendance was only about 2,700 people, a lot of the concession stands were closed, and the visiting team (Pittsburgh Pirates) did not do batting practice. Many of the visitors/fans from the Philadelphia region down for a game or two have gone home as have a lot of the snowbirds down for the season. It seems just about everyone is ready for the regular season to start. The local team the Clearwater Threshers, the Phillies Class A affiliate will start their season her on Friday. Interestingly, then Threshers play all their games at night, except on Sundays, due to the summer heat and humidity.
After the game we travelled over to Dunedin for an early dinner at Bon Appetite, a favorite waterfront restaurant. We were too early to watch the sunset over the Gulf, but we have seen it many times before with fond memories. After Margaritas we had a light dinner, excellent as usual.
After dinner, we had a last ice cream dessert for this trip at the ice cream shop just down the street from the waterfront.
Pictures to Follow
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