Day 21: Florida

Today we saw the Florida Marlins host the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the massive Dolphin Stadium, which was filled to about 10% capacity. The "Fish," fueled by a 5-run, 2-out rally in the 5th inning, kept my D-Rays down by a final score of 8-5. It was Ben's turn to pick tonight, and he had the Marlins. Both teams are so bad that we each wanted to give the other a 1.5 run spread, but decided that straight up was the proper spread. The comeback is officially on now, as Ben has won 2 straight and is only down 11-5 in picking games on the trip.

The attendance, or lack thereof, was really quite sad, considering that this organization has won 2 World Series in the last 10 years. There were quite literally ZERO people in the upper deck, and no more than 3,000 people in the stadium as a whole. The vendors at Dolphin Stadium were very entertaining however, as they could be heard throughout the stadium. At times, it seemed as though they were trying to entertain more than they were trying to sell their product.



Also, a quick word to Josh Johnson, Marlins pitcher from tonight. Make sure you know how many outs there are before you pitch the ball. In the 3rd inning, a ball was hit sharply back to him with 1 out and a man on 1st. Johnson calmly tossed the ball to 1st and began to walk off the field, as if that was the 3rd out of the inning. Come on man, get your head in the game.

During our recent days on the road, the check engine light came on again, despite the car continuing to run smoothly. Ben woke up early this morning to take it into the local Mazda dealer, where it was determined that the car had a "faulty gas cap" that needed to be replaced under warranty. All was not lost though, as the shop had free "Pac-Man" for Ben to take part in while he waited. Hopefully the car won't have any more problems that require Ben waking up early and visiting the nearest dealership.

After he returned, we spent some time in the pool with Christopher and Emily, who are both becoming quite excellent swimmers. Then, Ben and I went to a local park and hit for about an hour in the humid summer heat. Before leaving, Tammy cooked an excellent feast, including marinated steak, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and assorted fruits. It was absolutely delicious.




Special thanks to Barbara Messana for getting us 4 tickets to the game tonight. They were great seats, 16 rows back right at 1st base. My brother Al joined us for the game, along with my nephew Christopher, who was taking in his 1st Major League game. Welcome to the show kid!

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 24,009
2-miles traveled today: 82
3-miles traveled total: 7,366
4-states traveled in today: Florida
bonus stat: teams are 5-0 on the trip when their no. 3 hitter walks or gets hit by a pitch in the 1st inning