Easter At loanDepot park

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

What were you doing for Easter?

This is one of the most interesting holidays since it floats every year so I never know what my agenda turns out to be.

I’ve had some interesting Easter Sports Adventures through the years.

I covered a Florida Panthers Hockey Game at the Fla Live Arena. 

When Easter occurred during Spring Training, I saw the Boston Red Sox host the Philadelphia Phillies at Jet Blue Park which is known as Fenway South. This was the last season for legendary for Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who was selected into this year’s Hall of Fame Class.

Since my family is dwindling and others are out of state, the timing worked out well to see another baseball game and this one is at loanDepot park in Miami.

Who were the Miami Marlins hosting? 

You guessed it. The Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies (4-5) lineup is stacked. The Marlins (3-5) sent Elieser Hernandez to the hill and he faced the likes of J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, Jean Segura and Didi Gregorius.

Phillies Manager Joe Girardi and Marlins Skipper had a chance to play Chess with one another.

Going into this game, when you look at the Marlins in 2022, the Fish opened the season on the West Coast by facing the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Angels. During this five-game stretch, the Marlins finished with a 1-4 record, and four of the contests were decided by one run.

When the Fish returned to South Florida, they faced the free-spending Phillies and went 3-1 during their opening weekend.

When the Phillies leave town, their Spring Training Neighbors come to town, The St. Louis Cardinals. 

To date, the Giants, Angels and Cardinals all have winning records.

The schedule makers didn’t do the Marlins any favors but this stretch has provided Mattingly with a good gauge about hits ball club.

During the pre-game Media Availability with the manager, I had the opportunity to ask the team’s pilot that the schedule makers didn’t do the team any favors, the addition of Hitting Coach Marcus Thames and whether there are too many division games.

My colleagues also asked some interesting questions as well and we hope you enjoy the context of the video which is on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

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The Marlins clubbed the Phillies 11-3 as Elieser Hernandez pitched six strong innings, yielding five hits and gave up just one run while throwing 91 pitches. The run Hernandez allowed was a solo blast from NL MVP Bryce Harper.

Jazz Chisholm Jr tripled, doubled and drove in three runs and the Marlins roughed up Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler who saw his record drop to 0-2. Wheeler, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award runner-up allowed seven runs and eight hits, struck out three, walked three and a hit batter.

Jesus Sanchez had three hits and two RBIs while Brian Anderson reached base four times on two walks, a single and hit by a pitch. Sanchez went 7 for 15 in the series with two triples, two doubles and five RBI.

The Marlins took control of the game with a four-run second inning as this frame was highlighted by run scoring triples from Chisholm and Miguel Rojas. Bryan De La Cruz and Sanchez hit RBI singles that scored Chisholm and Rojas.

For the contest, Marlins hitters pounded 13 hits and 12 men were left on base. The attendance for Easter Sunday was 11,476 in a contest that took 3:32 to complete. The Phillies left town with a 4-6 record.

A good first opening weekend for Miami (4-5) as St. Louis concludes the seven-game home stand that ends on Thursday. 

The World Champions Atlanta Braves await Miami in Georgia during the weekend.

As I said, the schedule makers didn’t do the Marlins any favors, but in the eyes of Mattingly, he doesn’t worry about the schedule, just getting his team ready to play these games one at a time. There is no doubt that you’re going to enjoy the video in this story.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth. 

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