FanPost

Believe in Miracles



If I had to guess, most fans of the team will pick between Game 162, ALCS Game 7, and Game 2 of the World Series. Other candidates for me would be the vuvuzela night in Miami, the Renato Nunez HR last year, or the Ron Karkovice HR in my first ever MLB game (Orioles at White Sox) as a kid. All of it has been pretty amazing, but Game 162 has a special connection.

There's a video here with some game clips. You can see me at 42:22 finding out that Boston had lost. I had been using my dry erase board, which used to be more of a fixture until last year, to update fans on the Boston score in real time. You see me again with a banner that was given to me by another fan at 42:49. I'm proud to say I stayed until the end.

My full story of Game 162 starts in April. The bullpen used to warm up in front of right field before the game. My seats are in the first row and Joel Peralta and Juan Cruz warmed up there routinely. From time to time, we'd talk. The team starts with six losses, but by the end of the month are just behind the Yankees for the division lead. Juan asks me if I believe in the team yet.

I was aghast. Do *I* believe?

So every single time I saw Juan after that, I yelled at him that I still believe. This includes finding out where the team hotel was in Baltimore on one of my stadium trips just so I could yell at him off the bus. It became a reoccurring joke. But then, the end of August rolls around and we're pretty far back. Juan comes over and asks if I still believe. Of course I do. "Then let me tell you something. We're not going to make the playoffs."

I proceeded to tell him why I thought he was wrong. We have a lot of games left against the Red Sox where we'll make up a bunch of ground. There was even a sort of a deal with he and Peralta and the following year I got to watch BP on the field as a result of us making it in. The magic of it all was really special, but it was cool that there was a personal connection to it as well.

I have a baseball room in my house. One of my favorite pieces on display in there is the Game 162 ticket signed by Evan Longoria and Dan Johnson. Hopefully we win a World Series, but until we do that night will be entrenched as my favorite memory with the Tampa Bay Rays.

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.