Before heading back to Chicago after spending one week in Florida I caught a Grapefruit League preseason baseball game between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays vs the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, FL. I was staying without a car about 1/2 an hour north of the ballpark at the Tahitian Resort in Holiday, FL. So I made arrangements with Danny’s Limo to have him drive me to Casa Del Tina’s for a nice Mexican meal, then to the ballpark, and on to Tampa International for my flight home. I couldn’t believe the awesome seat I had down the RF line, but in the front row. All the photographers were stationed right by where I was sitting. They were all very friendly, especially a guy named Dave from Baseball America who’d tried to take some pictures of the Yankees in Tampa, but found it too crowded and came over to Dunedin.
Roy Halladay allowed four unearned runs in the first inning as the Jays were sloppy to say the least. Toronto made four errors on the day. You might say, “get it out of your system”, but I’d say, “money doesn’t solve your problems”. The Blue Jays went heavily into the free agent market in the off season bringing in A.J. Burnett, B.J. Ryan, Benjie Molina, & Troy Glaus. On this day it was the lowly D*Rays who dominated play winning the game 9-5.