Moving to Miami

They’re counting down in Miami.

At the end of the Florida Marlin’s ninth-inning 7-6 home victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 9, 2010, the stadium announcer told everyone there were only 160 more baseball games in what is now called Sun Life Stadium.

Sun Life, which opened in 1987 as Joe Robbie Stadium, will cease to be a baseball park in 2012 when the Marlins get a new $515 million stadium with a retractable roof. The park, with seating for 37,000, is going up now on the old Orange Bowl site in the Little Havana area of Miami and is scheduled to see its first game on opening day of the 2012 season.

We were pleasantly surprised when we saw the Marlins beat the Dodgers, partly because Florida came back from a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to win with a bases-loaded double by Ronny Paulino and a walk-off sacrifice fly by Jorge Cantu. But also because we had heard so many negative things about seeing baseball in Sun Life Stadium and we actually enjoyed the field despite its problems.

There was a story in the local media before the game about the demise of the large “Teal Monster” scoreboard in left field. The scoreboard, which kept track of scores of other games, suffered an equipment malfunction and no one wanted to pay to get it fixed, so there was a large ad for Major League Baseball in its place. We didn’t miss it, though, because we’d never seen it.

Sun Life is obviously a football stadium that the Miami Dolphins let the Marlins use on occasion (it’s located on Dan Marino Boulevard and the names of former Dolphins stars line the stadium). That doesn’t normally work very well, as other MLB teams can attest (the early Colorado Rockies for one). But Sun Life felt … well, full of life the night we were there. There were 25,308 fans for the game, about 10,000 more than we’d seen earlier in the week at Tropicana Field, and they were a noisy lot.

Part of the noise level came from the fans but the loudspeakers also boomed. It quickly became obvious the Marlins want to give their fans more than baseball entertainment. It started before we got into the stands. Near the entrance there were a half-dozen, scantily-clad young ladies “dancing” to bump-and-grind music. We found out later inside the park that these were the Marlins cheerleaders, called the Mermaids (photo).

There was a delightful saxophone rendition of the National Anthem before the game by the South Florida jazz saxophonist Billy Bones. And Scott Stapp, lead singer of the rock band Creed, sang in a video what may be the club’s fight song, “Marlins Will Soar,” to kick off the game. There were long breaks each half-inning, with the time filled with all manner of contests like “name the Marlin Morph” and dancing by a bunch of overweight dudes called the “Marlin Manatees.” There also were fireworks (try that indoors) and a rock concert after the game.

One of the highlights of the game was an eight-minute delay in the fourth inning when a section of the padding fell off the right field wall. Several members of the field crew rushed out to fix it, amid shouts from the fans to “use duct tape.” Another highlight was the sixth-inning appearance of Marlins relief pitcher Burke Badenhop, who had three straight hits pounded back to him. He fielded each one cleanly, turned and fired to second base, but missed the first two throws. The crowd erupted in applause when he made the third throw to start a double play.

And, by the way, Sun Life was the 31st MLB park Alta and I have seen a game in, all of the current major league teams plus the old Montreal Expos' dungeon. Now we have to start over with the new parks in Washington, D.C., New York City and Minneapolis. And we’ll be back to Miami sometime after their new field opens.

Take Me Outdoors

Baseball is an outdoor game. Something happens to baseball when it goes indoors. Maybe it’s the sound; the noise indoors sounds canned.

We’ve been to all the indoor baseball parks now, hitting Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., April 7, 2010 for the Tampa Bay Rays’ second home game of the season. Tropicana’s not a bad stadium, certainly not like where the Montreal Expos or Minnesota Twins used to play. Tropicana also isn’t the best indoor park, but the two on top of my list – Miller Field in Milwaukee and Chase Field in Phoenix – both have retractable roofs. Tropicana is the last indoor baseball park without a retractable roof.

The only excuse to have an indoor baseball field is to protect the players and the fans from weather. But I’m not convinced indoor baseball draws more fans. The night we saw the Rays beat Baltimore 4-3 there were only 15,220 fans. That was about one-third of the crowd on opening night. And the Rays started the 2010 season as one of the hottest teams in baseball, even sweeping the Red Sox in Boston. In 2009, Tampa Bay was 23rd out of 30 teams in attendance, drawing an average of 23,147.

I don’t think Tampa’s fans are staying away because the team isn’t any good. I’m blaming the stadium. The location in St. Petersburg could be part of the problem because it’s away from the population base in Tampa. But I think ballgames indoors also leave something to be desired. Weather is part of baseball, whether it’s the wind coming in from centerfield or rain that interrupts the 4th inning. There are even times games are postponed.

There’s a Tampa Bay civic group that wants to build a new stadium for the Rays, who are locked by contract with St. Petersburg into using Tropicana until 2027. The civic group wants a stadium closer to Tampa. I haven’t seen anything about having a new park with either a retractable roof or no roof at all.

Farther south, in Miami, the Florida Marlins have been playing in a football stadium (now called Sun Life Stadium) with a layout that’s much worse for baseball than Tropicana. But the Marlins park, even though it is falling apart, is still a better place to watch baseball than Tropicana. Part of the reason is that it is not covered (sure, we haven’t been to a Marlins home game in August). We saw the Marlins game April 10, also their second home game of the season, and they drew 25,308, albeit against the Dodgers.

Tropicana Field almost feels deserted it is so quiet, despite 15,000 fans. The biggest noise comes from the incessant clanging of blue cowbells which I guess are supposed to be a rally signal. They made me feel like I’d gotten lost in a Swiss cow barn.

The best thing about Tropicana is the Rays Touch Tank, a large fish tank in centerfield where kids and adults line up before and during the game for a chance to “pet” and feed a flock (herd?) of Cownose Rays. The rays, gray and about two feet across, swim circles around the tank, bumping into hands stuck in the water. The rays feel smooth, but like hard rubber.

I’ve been keeping score at all the ballparks. At all the previous parks we’ve been to, a scorecard costs $1 or $2. Not so at Tropicana. The scorecard is included in a free issue of the Rays’ magazine, “Inside Pitch.”