Fort Lauderdale and Miami Florida (car rental/activites/hotel questions)

[BigZfan]

My husband and I are going on a 6 day Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Freedom and will be back in Fort Lauderdale on Sat. July 14, 2012.

 

However, we don't want to go straight to the airport after the cruise, since we are huge baseball fans, and my favorite player, Big Z, has just been traded to the Miami Marlins, we want to go to Miami and catch three games before heading back to Chicago. (I actually cancelled our Alaskan cruise that we had planned for this week and booked this cruise instead, after Big Z was traded, because it allowed us to see the new stadium and see Big Z. Plus we would have missed the Seattle Mariners if we would have gone on the Alaska cruise this year. We can plan it better so we can see Alaska and the Seattle Mariners another year.)

 

Therefore I have a few questions. First, does anyone know of the best place or places to rent a car that are close to the port in Fort Lauderdale? Also, besides the 3 night baseball games at the new Marlins baseball park, what else would you suggest we do while in the Fort Lauderdale / Miami area? Finally, what area of Miami would you suggest getting a hotel room? We would like to be in a safe area, that also doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and it would be great if it was walking distance to the ballpark.