Tampa traffic can be a real pain!
Tropicana Field is actually in St. Petersburg so while it might be 70 minutes to Tampa, the Trop is a bit farthur.
Basic directions:
I-4 west to I-275 South and follow the signs to Exit 22.
There will be plenty of officers to direct you to parking.
Best to leave a few hours before the game.
Parking is generally not a problem...park right @ the stadium..easy in and easy out.
I would wait to buy tickets until you get to the game, unless you really want something specific. Red Sox and Yankee game are the biggest draw for the D-Rays, but even still..you might only have 20,000 there.
I've been to a couple Sox games down there and hopefully get to go again in 2005.