Marlins Limped Into All-Star Break

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

Lets make no bones about it, this years All-Star Break has a much different felling than last years.

Former GM Kim Ng did a masterful job assembling a team that enabled first year manager Skip Schumaker a team that he was able to pilot into the 2023 Playoffs.

But now as we look at the clock a year later, the 2024 Season has turned out to be very forgettable.

The Marlins reside in the NL East Basement with a 33-63 record.

During the All-Star Break, the fish added more players from the MLB Draft.

The trade deadline is upon us and expect Miami to be sellers. 

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Schumaker will have something in common with former Marlins Manager Joe Girardi as both will have won the Manager of the Year, then lose their jobs.

But if I were Schumaker, I’d get the moving van ready as it won’t take long for him to find employment.

The last game we attended was the Marlins contest vs the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, July 7. This was the final game of a three game series at LoanDepot Park.

During the first game of the Series on July 5, the White Sox pulled out a 3-2 win.

Game two saw Miami defeat Chicago 4-3.

The finale which we attended turned out to be an entertaining contest between these cellar dwellers.

The White Sox got a solid outing from starting pitcher Jonathon Cannon, who pitched six frames and allowed just one run.

Chicago held a 4-1 lead through six innings.

To Schumaker’s credit, his team doesn’t quit. Miami added a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to close the gap to 4-3.

The Marlins bullpen held steady as it limited the White Sox to a pair of runs and all five pitchers used gave Miami a chance to win the contest going into the bottom of the ninth inning.

Second baseman Vidal led off the ninth inning with a walk, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a double Josh Bell. The game was tied at 4-4.

But the fun was just getting started.

Bell was replaced for a pinch runner by Emmanuel Rivera. 

White Sox Manager Pedro Grifol decided to intentional walk Jesus Sanchez to face struggling third baseman Jake Burger. On July 4 vs the Boston Red Sox, Burger struck out five teams on five plate appearances.

On the surface, this seemed like the correct move. But I re-emphasize the word “Seemed” since Burger was hitless in four at bats. He had two groundouts and a pair of strikeouts. But to Schumaker’s credit, Burger was hitting in the fourth, cleanup spot and had faith in his veteran player.

When someone shows faith in you, it’s important to prove them right which is what Burger did to award his manager.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Burger hit a three-run walk-off homer off loser Michael Kopech, who got the loss and dropped to 2-8. When you walk off a home-run, it’s a jubilant feeling especially when you’re struggling. I’m sure Burger didn’t mind having his favorite beverage thrown on top of him and getting interviewed after the 7-4 win.

The victory enabled the Marlins to win the series 2-1 as South Beach defeated The South Siders in a battle for the top pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.

How would the Marlins fare after the White Sox Series?

Miami was swept 3-0 in their next series on the road to Houston Astros. Miami lost by successive scores of 4-3, 9-1 and 6-3 margins.

The final series before the All-Star Break occurred in Cincinnati as Miami lost this series 2-1. In game one, the Reds won 7-4. The Marlins pitching didn’t do them any favors as the Fish were on the losing end of a 10-6 margin. The finale saw Miami earn a 3-2 win going into the break.

When they return from the break, the New York Mets await them at LoanDepot Park for a four-game series. Following the Mets, the Baltimore Orioles come to town before the team goes back on the road to face the Milwaukee Brewers.

When Baltimore comes to town, the Orioles used to conduct Spring Training at Miami Stadium in the 1970’s and 1980’s and had a farm team in the Florida State League which produced Hall of Fame Shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. among others.

These are the dog days of summer and at this time of the year, Schumaker is going to try to win as many games as possible. By the same token, I-95 will be busy as the Jacksonville to Miami trail will be filled with lots of roster moves.

When the team returns, it will be interesting to see how Miami comes out of the gate against their New York rivals, which is also another battle of I-95.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com. You can also reach him on Twitter/X @TribuneSouth.

To see his broadcast, there is no cost to subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

Finally, check out Scott’s book, “Lessons From the Microphone” which can be purchased on Amazon-Kindle and Barnes & Noble. 

July 4th With The Marlins and Red Sox

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

The schedule makers have been great to me the past two years as the Miami Marlins have been home for July 4th.

In 2023, the Marlins crushed the St. Louis Cardinals 15-2 at LoanDepot Park to improve to 50-37, while the Cardinals dropped to 35-50. The line score was indicative of what July 4 fireworks should consist of. Miami scored 15 runs and had 19 hits, while the Cardinals had two runs and nine hits.

The Marlins proceeded to make the playoffs.

As we move the clock forward to 2024, the Marlins hosted the Boston Red Sox. 

Miami was 30-56 entering the game while Boston was 46-39. Boston won the first two games of this three game series by 8-3 and 7-2 scores.

What would occur in the final game of the series?

You couldn’t ask for a better media meal as there were hamburgers and hot dogs.

Boston starter Nick Pivetta pitched a sensational game by throwing no-hit baseball into the seventh inning. The right-handed hurler saw his no-hitter broken up as Jesus Sanchez tripled in the seventh inning, Pivetta went on to amass 10 strike outs of shutout baseball.

Meanwhile, for Miami, right-hander Kyle Tyler had a solid outing of his own by going 5.1 innings and gave up two runs. The Marlins trailed Boston 2-0 when Tyler departed the game.

Once both starters exited the game, the bullpens took over in a game that lasted 12 innings and Boston won 6-5.

What stood out in this game?

For Boston, David Hamilton and Tyler O’Neill had double steals on two occasions. They pulled the trick in the first inning and again in the sixth, Hamilton scored runs in those innings. By the end of the day, Hamilton’s stolen base total for the season hit 23.

The Red Sox led 2-0 until Miami erased the deficit in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the contest at 2-2. The Marlins runs came via the walk.

The teams remained tied at 2-2 until the 11th inning when they would be tied at 4-4.

The Red Sox would score a pair in the 12th, while Miami countered with one run for what turned into an eventful 6-5 triumph for the Red Sox.

The major bright spot for Miami was the bat of Sanchez, who had a double, triple and home run, but needed a single to get the cycle. The Marlins amassed eight hits and Sanchez was responsible for three of them.

Both teams had eight hits apiece.

Marlins DH Jake Burger had a day that he would like to forget as he had five at bats, all were strikeouts.

Zack Kelly pitched two innings for Boston and improved his record to 3-1, while John Andriese was the losing hurler and saw his record drop to 0-1.

A crowd of 20,539 saw this game. Boston improved to 47-39, while Miami dropped to 30-57. The game took 3:36 to complete.

The Red Sox earned a three-game sweep.

At the gate, in the first game, 14,676, in the second, 20,285 and in the finale, 20,539 gave the Marlins decent numbers for the series.

A tale of two July 4th contests that took different twists and turns.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com. 

You can see his broadcasts by subscribing at no charge to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

In addition, Scott’s Book, “Lessons From The Microphone” can be purchased through Amazon-Kindle and Barnes & Noble.