Friday, April 21, 2023

The Weekend That Was

By SCOTT MORGANROTH

At 60-years old, the fire inside is burning!

That’s been the story for me in 2023.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Jacksonville for the Jaguars playoff run in January for the Jaguars playoff run.

Then, had to go to Wisconsin unexpectedly do to the untimely passing of my father in law.

In addition, there were three weeks spent at the Daytona International Speedway, where I had the opportunity to cover three races, including the Rolex 24 Hours and the Daytona 500.

But last week, Candy Ebling had to pinch-hit on my broadcasts on Wednesday and Thursday Nights.

When I mapped out what I had to do, I knew it was going to be a challenge, but it was necessary to get things accomplished with all the organizations I deal with.

I departed Deerfield Beach on Wednesday to take a two day trip to Tampa. 

On Thursday Night, the Detroit Red Wings came to town to face the Tampa Bay Lighting. 

I’ll be writing a separate story on this trip. 

But it was neat to see my Red Wings colleagues.

The Red Wings did lose the game 5-0 in their final regular season contest of the year.

On Friday, thankfully, I checked out of my hotel 90 minutes early because I needed every minute of that to return to Fort Lauderdale as the I-75 stretch on Alligator Alley had many delays due to road work,

Thankfully, My photographer Candy Ebling and I were able to make it to the Miami Hurricanes Spring Football Game at 6 PM and the game started at 7:30 PM DRV PNK Stadium.

We had lots of good interviews as you’re going to see in this story.

If you’re going to have a quick turnaround, then there is no better way to do it than Boca Raton, Florida as the FAU Owls had their Spring Football Game Saturday at Noon.

Another productive day as you’re going to see in the videos.

It only took me just a matter of minutes to realize that the Owls made a great hire landing Coach Tom Herman. 

He’s intelligent and candid. I’m definitely looking forward to working with him as we shook hands when he left the interview room. I had some questions for the coach and his answers were awesome!

I feel fortunate to be working with the Hurricanes and Owls.

I plan to cover all Hurricanes games as well as other media availability’s I can get to in Coral Gables, FL.

As for FAU, I’m looking forward to covering more practices and making games where there is no conflict with the Canes. In such a case, my writer David Volz will be there.

The weekend ended with the Miami Marlins hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday at 1:40 PM.

This was an opportunity to see the new look Marlins and have an opportunity to scrutinize MLB’s new rule changes.

Like the Red Wings and Lighting, the game ended 5-0, but it was the visiting Diamondbacks getting the win against reigning Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara.

In the end, these are the types of weekends that you need to continue to see your colleges and media distribution partners.

When you lose the desire to go to events to continue to cover them and network, then it’s time to retire.

As you can tell, I’m nowhere close to retiring!

The fire burns deep and it will until I eventually wind up in heaven!

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloiridatribune@gmail.com and you can see his broadcasts by Subscribing to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.


Pitch Clock, Marlins Vs Diamondbacks

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

On My Baseball Podcast, 108 Stitches, Baseball Talk, I refused to comment on Baseball’s new rule changes until I had the chance to see a game in person.

That day came on Sunday, April 6 at Loan Depot Park when the Marlins hosted the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The game was going to be a treat because reigning Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara was on the hill for Miami.

There was no Media Availability for new Manager Skip Schumaker since it was an early game, so that will wait for another game.

The Marlins had taken the first two games of the series and were looking for a three game sweep. 

That wouldn’t occur as Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallan pitched 6.2 innings, yielded two hits and struck out seven as he out dueled Alcantara for a 5-0 snakes triumph. 

Alcantara give up five runs, four that were earned and Miami’s offense could only muster up four hits.

Let’s talk about the rule changes.

I’ll begin with the band on shifts.

This was hardly noticeable to me as I grew up watching baseball with two infielders on each side so there was no adjustment. I enjoyed seeing this and I’m glad that they banned the shift with the infielders being stacked to one side. 

Good Move, MLB.

The larger bases. I know in recent years, I’ve had five eye operations.

But not because of this.

To me, especially sitting in the Press Box, I’ve played and covered baseball and no matter what you do to change the game, with the blind eye, they’re always going to be in the same place. If indeed this change was made to speed up the game and prevent injuries, I’m fine with this change. 

Good Move, MLB.

The pitch clock was the only change I had to adapt to and when I attend my next game, I’ll sit in a different spot so that I can actually see the clock.

Alcantara did have one pitch clock violation. 

But you can tell that all of the dead time in the batters box was removed, and the pitchers had to get in a rhythm to get the ball out faster.

Candidly speaking, I had to move faster to fill up my Diet Pepsi and get an occasional snack between innings.

Thankfully, I have an app from MLB which allows me to catch up on plays if I get behind.

As much as I’m a traditionalist, I’ll never be opposed to seeing changes if they improve the game.

Former Marlins Manager Don Mattingly once told me that people, players, etc… can complain all they want about rule changes, but in the end, you can’t do anything about them so just get used to them.

In the end, the game is scheduled for nine innings. 

We’ve already acclimated to the ghost runner on second base to eliminate extremely long games. 

That rule doesn’t apply in the post-season.

What was refreshing to see in this contest was the MLB debut of Marlins George Soriano, who pitched three clean innings for the fish.

A traditionalist can appreciate a game like this as the starter goes six and a reliever goes three, thus two hurlers finish the contest.

Once upon a time, there used to be two and three inning saves. We’ll see if that occurs again. 

Who knows, maybe the quicker pace of the game will lead to complete games. Perhaps, the complete games might be a stretch, but I’ll be monitoring that as the season progresses.

The game took 2:11 minutes so I’ll give the Pitch Clock a thumbs up!

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southflloridatribune@gmail.com and you can Subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel at no cost.


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