tim_in_tampa

Last home game for the Rays...meaningless in the standings as Tampa Bay nearing the worst record in MLB and Yankees already clinching a playoff spot. So why show up? Why go and watch your team get beat 16-1? For me, there's more to the team than it's wins. While a wild card spot wouldn't be so bad, there's more to the game than balls and strikes, and hits and runs, double plays and walk-off homers. It's something the box score in the paper doesn't give you, and even the most articulate columnist can't convey. It's the experience of being at the game. It's the hotdogs in the nosebleeds watching Wigginton knock one out of the park. It's hearing cowbells from the green shirts when Kazmir needs a strike to close the inning. It's getting to know the fellow season ticket holders in the 304 section and wondering where they are when the miss a game.

While this is the last home game of the season, and the players give their obligatory goodbyes to the fans on the jumbotron, you can't help but anticipate the next time you get to walk into Tropicana Field and feeling that all come back to you. The smell of pizza, popcorn and beer. The bright lights, the cheers from the fans (home and away), the close games and the blowouts (by the home and away teams). And getting to see our hometown heroes, anticipating how Carl Crawford will do next season, and if Young will mature. To know that sooner or later, we're gonna see a post-season game in "The Pit."

Til next season, we'll be waiting. See you in March.