Game 162 Is the Reason I’m Particularly Romantic About Baseball
By Elizabeth Anderson
Tampa, FL
Tropicana Field will always have a special place in my heart because it’s where I’ve had some of my best memories. From spending countless nights under the dome with my best friend, to solo trips at America’s Ballpark, to taking my niece and nephews to their first MLB game and then turning it into an annual tradition—the Trop has become woven into the fiber of my being.
The one memory that will always stand out was September 28, 2011. The Rays spent September climbing back from a 9 ½-game deficit to tie with the Red Sox for a Wild Card spot, and after spending weeks sweating bullets, it all came down to Game 162. We had to either win or hope the Red Sox lost. I was in section 301 back when they still sold tickets in the upper level. To my dismay, we quickly went down by seven runs to the Yankees behind a Mark Teixeira grand slam, and the Rays only had two hits in seven innings. I was sure that our season was over, and the vibes inside the Trop were atrocious when Dustin Pedroia put the Sox ahead of the Orioles in the fifth inning.
In a series of events that still feels like a fever dream, the Red Sox went into a rain delay while leading 3-2 in the seventh inning, and the Rays scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth. Suddenly, we had a chance. The electricity inside the Trop was undeniable: We had a packed house, and everyone knew what was on the line. Every pitch felt like a heart attack as the ninth inning commenced. I know that Evan Longoria gets all the glory for Game 162, but I always say that none of it would have mattered if it weren’t for Dan Johnson’s pinch-hit home run that tied the game and sent us into extra innings.
The Sox’s rain delay eventually ended, and they maintained their lead until the bottom of the ninth inning—when the Orioles’ Nolan Reimold doubled in the tying run, and then Robert Andino brought Reimold home on a walk-off double that Rays legend Carl Crawford failed to catch. The crowd at Tropicana Field was on fire, and within minutes, at 12:05 a.m., Evan Longoria sent us to the playoffs with that infamous home run in the 12th inning.
Game 162 is the reason I’m particularly romantic about baseball, and I will be able to say for the rest of my life that I was there. I will never be able to put into words what it felt like to be under that dome on September 28, 2011 with 29,518 of my closest friends, but I’ll continue telling the story for as long as I live because, to this day, I still can’t believe it happened.
About Elizabeth Anderson
I was born and raised in Tampa, and while my dad was always a huge sports fan, he never thought any of his daughters would care to partake. It wasn’t until the Rays’ Cinderella 2008 season that I was introduced to sports, so if that makes me a bandwagon fan, I’ll be that. All I know is I never fell off! The Rays were my introduction to sports, and I will forever be thankful because sports have become such a big part of my life. I went back to school for Sports Marketing because I was inspired by the Rays’ attendance issues to be a part of the solution, and it would be a dream to work for the Rays someday. My end goal, though, is to open a Rays bar in Tampa, where Rays fans can get together and celebrate our boys.