Canes Take Care Of Business

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

The Mario Cristobal era is off to a good start. 

The team is currently 2-0.

Then again, did I expect anything less from a coach that will turn 52 on September 24 and has returned home and has his dream job?

When you talk about Cristobal, let us not forget that he played for the Hurricanes from 1989-1992 and was an offensive tackle.

The guy has toughness built into his skin and it shows when his players take the field.

To date, let’s talk about what the Hurricanes have accomplished.

Miami opened its season with a 70-13 thrashing of Bethune Cookman on Saturday, September 3 in the home opener. The players were glad that they could finally hit someone that wore a jersey other than their own.

QB Tyler Van Dyke played into the third quarter and Cristobal had the luxury to use a lot of players and avoid any major injuries.

On September 10, Miami hosted Southern Mississippi and stepped up in class in terms of opposition. 

This is the alma-mater of former Green Bay Packer Brett Favre and he wasn’t throwing passes in this contest at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Golden Eagles played the Hurricanes tough through the first half as they trailed 10-7 at halftime.

Cristobal made the necessary adjustments at halftime and Miami scored 20 unanswered points to defeat Southern Mississippi 30-7.

Van Dyke was 20-29 for 249 yards with a touchdown and an interception. 

In this story, we have a video of his post-game thoughts.

The other main offensive weapon was Henry Parrish and he had a good afternoon. The running back had 22 carries for 134 yards and one touchdown. He also had two receptions for 16 yards.

The Hurricanes leading receiver was Xavier Restrepo with seven receptions for 99 yards.

Michael Redding had three receptions for 40 yards.

Unfortunately, during the week, he suffered a foot injury and won’t be available to play tonight vs Texas A&M at 9 ET on ESPN.

The Hurricanes gained 463 total yards and limited their opponent to 231 yards. Miami also registered three sacks.

The Canes were balanced and there is no doubt that Offensive Coordinator Josh Gattis has incorporated his philosophy brilliantly.

The Hurricanes rushed for 198 yards and amassed 265 in the air.

After the game, Cristobal, Leonard Taylor, Jacob Lichtenstein, Van Dyke, Michael Redding III and Parrish Jr met us afterwards and I hope you enjoy these videos.

What was interesting about this press conference was since the Hurricanes played the early game, there were no results of the Appalachian State at Texas A&M Aggies Game. 

Going into the contest, the Aggies were ranked sixth.

As a result, all the questions presented to these people looked like the Hurricanes were going on the road to face a top 10 opponent.

But by the end of the night, things would drastically change as the Mountaineers stormed out of Kyle Field and stunned the crowd of 92,664 with a 17-14 win. 

They also collected $1.5 Million for their efforts and ESPN decided to do College Game Day from Boone, NC., today. 

The previous week Appalachian State lost a home game to North Carolina 63-61. This is a score that you would see in College Basketball.

How far did Texas A&M tumble in the standings? 

The Aggies dropped to 24th.

Will they be an angry team and will Coach Jimbo Fisher have to motivate his troops?

They’ll definitely be angry and Fisher will not need to motivate his group.

But the question is, can the Hurricanes prove to the nation that the team is ready to be considered elite or will Miami judged by its soft early season schedule?

We’ll have those answers in no time.

But if there is a good gauge to see the direction of the Miami Hurricanes, and this tough road test will be a huge early season indicator on the National Stage. Allen Field will be buzzing tonight.

Thus far, the Canes have Taken Care Of Business!

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and he can be followed on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

To see his broadcasts, you can find them on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel and Subscribe to see the shows along with other videos.

Will The Owls Offense Soar Vs UCF?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

After three weeks, the FAU Owls have proven one thing.

They can score points.

On August 27, the Owls hammered the Charlotte 49’ers at FAU Stadium 43-13 in a matchup of teams that will be changing conferences in 2023 moving to the American Athletic (AAC).

FAU traveled to Ohio and faced the Bobcats and lost a hard fought 41-38 contest on September 3

The Owls returned home on September 10 and pounded SE Louisiana 42-9 in a game that was delayed by inclement weather.

Here are some key statistics which stand out in these three contests as FAU prepares to host the University of Central Florida (UCF) Saturday Night at 7:30 PM in a nationally televised game on the CBS Sports Network. 

FAU is going into the game as eight point underdogs, though I did pick them as an upset pick on the Sideline Sports Network show, Coffee and Sports, that is part of the Empire Sports Network. My co-hosts Key Williams and Coach Donte were a bit surprised by the pick and I’m waiting to hear back from Empire Sports Network Owner Freddie Henderson to get his reaction.

I decided to pick FAU because UCF showed me nothing on Friday, September 9 in a home 20-14 loss to Louisville.

The stats which standout for FAU are on the offensive side of the ball.

*FAU has outscored its opponents 123-63 averaging 41 points-per-game while holding their opponent to 21 PPG.

*FAU has amassed 715 yards rushing while holding its opponents to 315 yards. The Owls are averaging 232.7 per game while the opponents are averaging 79 yards.

*FAU’s passing numbers are impressive. The Owls are throwing for 297.67 per-game and their total is 893. Meanwhile, the opponents stand at 254.87 and 767 yards.

*The final team statistic we’ll address is total offense. FAU has racked up 1,591 yards, are averaging 533.7 per-game and has scored 16 touchdowns. The opponents have amassed 1,001 yards, are averaging 337.7 yards with eight touchdowns.

Who are the players compiling the numbers?

We’ll start with the QB as N’Kosi Perry is 58-93-879 with nine touchdowns and two interceptions.

The first time that I saw Perry play was on September 8, 2018 when he was the Miami Hurricanes backup QB and came off the bench in a 77-0 rout over Savannah State University and tossed three touchdown passes. To date, this is the largest margin of victory in Hurricanes history

FAU’s leading rushers are Larry McCammon III who is 43-306 and two touchdowns. Zuberi Mobley has 37 carries for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Perry is proving he can use his legs to the tune of 17-58 and two touchdowns.

Perry is proving to be a a duel threat signal caller and the way the NFL is trending you could see him play in the NFL, USFL or XFL in the coming year.

FAU’s leading receivers are: LaJohntay Wester, 15-222 and three touchdowns. Jahmal Edrine 12-159 and two touchdowns. JeQuan Burton 7-151 and a pair of touchdowns. Tony Johnson rounds out the group with 7-126 and a touchdown.

Can FAU continue to pile on the points?

We’ll know how well they fare against and angry UCF Knights team that’s looking to bounce back from the Louisville loss. There is no doubt that National Championship winning coach Gus Malzahn will have his team ready to play.

On September 24, the Owls travel for a 7:30 contest against the Purdue Boilermakers which will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

These back-to-back nationally televised games against strong competition will either give the Owls some great exposure for the right reasons and put the program on the map. 

If FAU struggles vs these teams, it will be hard for the rest of the college football world to take the Owls and Coach Willie Taggart seriously knowing they defeated inferior competition.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

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

Also check out his broadcasts on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel and there is no cost to subscribe.

Hurricanes Official Game Scrimmage

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

Before I entered Hard Rock (Joe Robbie Stadium) on Saturday, I did my Sports Talk Saturday Radio Show in Oakland, California from inside my Jeep and told Co-Hosts, Mark Mancini and Bruce Kessinger that I never expected the Miami Hurricanes game vs Bethune Cookman to be competitive.

The Hurricanes were facing a school from the Football Championship Series (FCS) which is a level beneath the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

In their history, going into the game, the Hurricanes led the series 6-0.

There was no point spread for this contest which was no surprise.

But the game is on the schedule and there was excitement to the tune of 56,795 fans there to watch the debut of former Canes assistant, FIU and Oregon Head Coach Mario Cristobal.

If there was ever a mismatch, this was it! 

But then again during the opening week of college football, there are always lopsided scores around the country with smaller schools scheduling larger institutions to get guaranteed money in an effort to finance there athletic department.

This is the cruel business of David’s facing Goliath’s. 

Welcome to big-time college sports.

Before we get into the Bethune Cookman contest, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

On September 8, 2018, the Miami Hurricanes slaughtered Savannah State 77-0 and current Florida Atlantic University QB N’Kosi Perry came off the bench to throw the first three touchdown passes of his collegiate career. He was 9-14, 93 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

Current Miami wide receiver Will Mallory caught one pass for two yards that resulted in a touchdown from Malik Rosier.

The Hurricanes were ranked No.22 going into the game and set a school record for margin of victory in this thrashing of their Georgia counterpart by scoring 77 points.

What would we see during this Labor Day Weekend Saturday Clash?

For starters, Bethune Cookman won the coin toss and elected to receive. 

The Wildcats put together an opening drive that was 10 plays for 63 yards and utilized 6:06 and resulted in a 29 yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. 

One thing was guaranteed, the visitors from Daytona Beach, FL wouldn’t get shutout.

The Hurricanes were scoring in all ways, offensively, defensively and on special teams and led 42-10 at halftime.

The only thing that entered my mind was how long would starting QB Tyler Van Dyke would stay in the game? 

He departed in the third quarter and was replaced by Jake Garcia.

When a team scores 70 points, you know the numbers are going to look impressive so we’ll go over the key ones which includes the individual statistics.

*Miami gained 605 yards in total offense.

*RB Henry Parrish Jr. had 14 carries for 108 yards and three touchdowns.

*RB Thad Franklin Jr amassed nine carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

*WR Xavier Restrepo led all receivers with five catches for 100 yards and had a touchdown.

*QB Van Dyke was 13-16, 193 yards and two touchdowns. His backup Garcia was 8-8 for 107 yards and one touchdown.

When the game was over, Coach Cristobal, linebacker Gilbert Frierson, Parrish Jr, Restrepo and Van Dyke addressed us as you’re going to see in the videos inserted in this story

Also included in this story is a video of Mallory who talked about the expectations for the 2022 season.

A couple key questions that were asked were, the energy bottled up inside during training camp practicing and now facing a live opponent and hitting someone else, the adaption to Coach Josh Gattis offense and preparing a more competitive opponent as Southern Mississippi comes to town for a Noon kickoff.

Coach Cristobal was asked about finally coaching his first game as Canes Coach.

The videos tell you the story. 

The facts give you an indication why the Miami Hurricanes are 1-0 as a result of the Bethune Cookman beat down.

But it’s safe to say that when I do my radio show on Saturday that I’m not bragging about being a top-notch prognosticator for a game that didn’t have a point spread.

You can rest assure that Southern Mississippi will have a point spread and alumnus Bret Favre isn’t walking through that door gunslinging the football all over the gridiron.

Nevertheless, the beat goes on and I won’t wonder how long Van Dyke will play in this next game.

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

Also, there is no cost to Subscribe to his broadcasts on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

A Tough Luck Franchise

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

The South Florida fan base can criticize Marlins Manager Don Mattingly for the team’s 55-78 record, but before they go too deep with this, the club has been decimated by injuries.

As it stands, Jon Berti: day-to-day (hip), Anthony Bender: 60-Day IL (elbow), Braxton Garrett: 15-Day IL (oblique), Avisail Garcia: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Jordan Holloway: 60-Day IL (elbow), Daniel Castano: 7-Day IL (concussion, Max Meyer: 60-Day IL (elbow), Jazz Chisholm: 60 Day IL (back), Cody Poteet: 60-Day (elbow), Jorge Soler: 10-Day IL (back), Paul Campbell: 60-Day IL (elbow), Sean Guenther: 60 Day IL (arm). 

Tonight, they take on the Philadelphia Phillies tonight riding a seven-game losing streak and are 29-40 on the road. 

I’m not in the business to make excuses for a team that is struggling. 

But as I listed above, the facts speak for themselves and it’s my responsibility to share them with you.

On August 31, 2022, I covered the Marlins vs Tampa Bay Rays contest.

The Sunshine State matchup has always been interesting on many fronts.

First, these are two small market franchises, that have low payrolls and rank near the bottom in MLB in attendance.

Second, both have been to a pair of World Series. 

The Rays are 0-2 in the Fall Classic.  

The Marlins are 2-0 and have two championship banners at LoanDepot Park.

Third, the Rays have dominated Miami over the past 21 games, going 19-2 winning this game 2-1 in 10 innings.

Before the game, Mattingly addressed us on the return of All-Star Trevor Rogers.

He would get a no-decision by hurling six innings, giving up five hits, yielding just one run, walked only one and recorded five strikeouts.

Berti hit a home run in the sixth inning for Miami’s lone run.

During the Media Availability, I had the opportunity to ask Mattingly a pair of questions which you’re going to hear in the video in this story.

First, I asked him if he thought that the Tampa Bay Rays were good enough to make a deep run in the playoffs.

Second, in 2023, MLB will have a balanced schedule and as usual, Mattingly addressed that in an insightful manner.

The Rays swept the Marlins 2-0 in their midweek matchup and then won a three-game weekend series in St. Petersburg against the New York Yankees.

In the opening game of the series, Tampa Bay defeated the Yankees on Friday Night 9-0 in front of 17,886 at Tropicana Field.

Saturday Night saw the Rays defeat New York 2-1 in front of 21,754 and Aaron Judge hit his 52nd HR of the season.

Sunday afternoon, the Yankees defeated the Rays 2-1 and Judge smacked his 53rd homer of the year in front of 25,025.

Amazingly enough from the Rays standpoint, the balanced schedule could cost them at the gate with fewer Yankee visits. The Yankees train in Tampa and play their games at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Mattingly has always said that the Rays are the model for which the Marlins want to follow as the focus is on player development and adding free agents as missing pieces.

As things stand now, the Rays are 75-58 and would make the playoffs as a wild-card entry. They are currently five games back behind the Yankees in American League East.

Meanwhile, the Marlins are in fourth place with a 55-78 mark and for the last month of the season just need to find players that will be a part of the 2023 squad while monitoring what injured players will be contributors.

It will be interesting to see which Marlins players step up and whether Sandy Alcantara has earned enough national respect to win the Cy Young Award. 

He’s certainly been a bright in a year that has seen all kinds of twists and turns, knowing the Marlins have good pitching, but the offense which was the question going into 2022, failed to deliver.

The Marlins have played 51 games this season decided by one run, most such games in the Majors, and surpasses their total from all of last year. Miami has a Major-League-most 30 losses in such games.

I can only imagine where the Marlins would be in the standings had the Marlins won at least 15 of those one-run games. This is something that management will undoubtedly look at during the off-season.

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

You can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

To see his broadcasts, there is no charge to Subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

Back Home Again With The Miami Hurricanes

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

Before I went to Cooperstown on Tuesday Night, August 2nd, I had the most overwhelming schedule before we made the 23 hour trek to New York.

It began in Coral Gables at the Miami Hurricanes indoor facility, where Media day took place.

Then I had two broadcasts of my own in the evening and was packing during the day before leaving home at 12:30 AM.

In a sense, this was very nostalgic for me. 

The last time that I went to the University of Miami campus was in 1983 when Howard Schnellenberger was the coach.

To say the campus has changed would be mildly stating the obvious. 

Since I began the South Florida Tribune in 2018, I had a lot of priorities about the teams that were going to get the most coverage. A few that standout are the FAU Owls, Miami Marlins and Inter-Miami in the MLS. 

I also covered Jacksonville Jaguars contests, plus got on the Media Distribution List for the Miami Dolphins.

When Schnellenberger passed away a year ago, FAU held a celebration for the iconic coach that I covered for the Tribune and Palm Beach Post. 

There were a lot of former Hurricanes players including National Championship winning QB Bernie Kosar. 

I felt like I was back in the 1980’s reminiscing with these players.

After going to this event, my motor was racing and I found out who is the Hurricanes head of Communication, Camron Ghorbi, and then I got the process started.

The Tribune proceeded to get on the Media Distribution List and then we attended the Hurricanes Spring Game in Fort Lauderdale.

From that point on, I felt like I was back home again with the first major college football team that I covered in the early 1980’s.

We accomplished a little bit from the Spring Game and my main objective was to learn things about the team.

Our real impact was on Media Day and to say that I accomplished a lot would be a major understatement!

In this story, we’re including seven videos that we encourage you to watch on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

Please subscribe at no cost.

Here are the following videos:

*Offensive Coordinator, Josh Gattis.

*Head Coach Mario Cristobal.

We included players Will Mallory, Jacob Lichtenstein, Jordan Miller, John Campbell Jr and Kahlil Brantley.

If you’re looking for what to expect from this team, these videos will easily get the job done.

The one thing that stood out about the Cristobal Press Conference was he told a reporter that I told a reporter that what I have to say “might not get you many clicks,” but I’m here to answer your question.

When a coach answers a question in this manner, that’s impressive!

But Cristobal has been a winner everywhere. He had success at FIU and Oregon plus worked under Nick Saban at Alabama. 

When the Hurricanes added Cristobal from Oregon to turn the Hurricanes program around, this was all about the coach coming home and working at a place where he served as an assistant coach. 

There is no doubt that he can recruit South Florida and did it effectively as the head coach at FIU from 2007-2012.

His overall record as a head coach is 63-60 and is 3-3 in Bowl Games.

With Cristobal returning home and myself covering the team again, this is a great homecoming for both of us!

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

He can be found on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

Also, his broadcasts can be found on the company You Tube Channel, South Florida Tribune.

Dose Of Reality

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

On Saturday Night, Sandy Alcantara made a great case to win the National League Cy Young Award as he recorded his fourth complete game of the season leading the Marlins to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Alcantara struck out 10 and only walked two as he bounced back from his shortest out of the season against the Dodgers by allowing a season-high six runs in 3 2/3 innings on August 21 in LA. The Dodgers won this game 10-3.

On Saturday, he threw this masterpiece in front of the Marlins third-largest home crowd of the season (23,543).

Sunday’s contest was streamed on Peacock Network and Alcantara was interviewed during the game.

Sunday’s matchup vs the Dodgers saw Julio Urias, 13-7 with a 2.36 take the hill as he opposed Miami’s Edward Cabrera, who was 4-1 with a 1.41 ERA.

On paper, this was an intriguing matchup until the Dodgers jumped on Cabrera early.

Mookie Betts led off the game with a solo homer, his 31st of the campaign to give LA a 1-0 lead. 

The Dodgers scored two runs in the inning but Cabrera amassed three strikeouts. 

Miami trailed 2-0.

This would turn out to be a challenging afternoon for Cabrera as he hurled 5.2 innings, yielding five hits, six runs and he struck out five while throwing 102 pitches.

Meanwhile, Urias tamed the Marlins by throwing six innings and giving up one run, striking out seven, walking four and throwing 101 pitches.

Three relievers would hold the Marlins scoreless as Los Angeles defeated Miami 8-1 in front of 13,617 in a contest that took 3:14 minutes to complete.

Miami’s only offense came from a solo home run by Brian Anderson in the fourth inning.

The Dodgers showed why they are the best team in Baseball as they got offensive production all over their  line-up. 

On this day, their entire line-up got on base at least once.

Los Angeles touched up Marlins pitching for 14 hits leading to its 88th win of the season. Urias saw his record improve to 14-7.

Meanwhile, Cabrera’s record dropped to 4-2 and this supposed pitchers dual wouldn’t transpire and the Marlins lost for the 72nd time and only had two hits in this game.

Sandy Alcantara’s don’t grow on trees and in a span in less than 24 hours, the Marlins got a “Dose Of Reality” for all the wrong reasons.

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

Also, to see his broadcasts, Subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel at no cost.

New York To Miami Baseball Marathon

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind.

But not a bad whirlwind as my most recent trip was in the making since My wife and I returned from the Field of Dreams after visiting this attraction located in Dyersville, Iowa during the World Series on October 31, 2021.

I told my wife since we took the Field of Dreams off the bucket list, I will take her to Baseball Heaven in Cooperstown, New York. I mentioned to her that this is a very alluring place and she would never see anything like it.

Many years ago, I told my grandmother that I would remove the words “I can’t wait until” because I knew that the calendar moves forward and that day would come.

That day to go to Cooperstown did come on the night of August 2, 2022.

The weeks leading up to this featured Miami Marlins games along with Inter-Miam Soccer Matches. There were lots of podcasts as well. 

The day of the trip took me to Coral Gables, Florida where I attended a Miami Hurricanes Media Day which was extremely productive.

That night, I did an episode of 108 Stitches, Baseball Talk with Lou Landers and Rick Curti.

At 12:30 AM, My wife and I took off on our journey. I had lots of things I wanted to accomplish when we hit Upstate, NY. 

Before the trip, I told My Miami Marlins colleague Craig Minervini and another analyst that I was going to take out this trip in one day driving through the night. 

Craig didn’t doubt that I could do it since I told him a I have an outrageous mentality when I take road trips that I’ve been doing for years. 

He did tell me to download a hotel application in case I needed to stop, which I gladly accepted his advice.

I did make the drive in 23 hours and this averted having to rent an additional hotel room on the road. We arrived at 11:30 PM.

We stayed at the Red Carpet Inn in Cooperstown from August 3-12th. This was a great hotel and just a few miles from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

What we accomplished during this time was unbelievable. 

On the Cooperstown portion of the trip, I did 10 videos, and two podcasts in the room.

There were eight short videos and two Sports Exchanges that ran 30 minutes.

One Sports Exchange was done at My hotel with a person that I met on Twitter and another one was at Doubleday Field in downtown Cooperstown with a guy that I met from Pittsburgh.

We did a short video with a youngster that we met outside of the Baseball Hall of Fame before the museum opened at 10 AM, who was sporting a Miami Marlins jersey because he liked it and him and his father were from Canada.

You talk about situations that fall into your lap. 

The Pittsburgh situation and youngster worked out well.

The one addition of the Sports Exchange was recorded on Saturday, August 6 and then My wife and I took a 20 minute trip to Oneonta, NY and did a video at the stadium which used to have a team in the New York Penn League, which was unfortunately contracted by MLB when it scaled down Minor League Baseball. 

This video, which is in this story, was the home of the Oneonta, Yankees and Tigers. 

Check out this video because Miami Marlins Manager Don Mattingly played in the stadium for the Yankees.

What made this Oneonta trip possible was I told my wife, who wanted to go the Niagara Falls in a day trip that we could go here, but we wouldn’t return at a later date. Or she could pass on Niagara Falls, which is a four hour drive each way, at another time and we could combine it with a Detroit, Toronto, CA and we would spend a a few days at the Falls.

I told her if she made this decision, our last day in the state that we could go to New York City and she could experience the Big Apple, plus we could take I-95 South Home.

I’ve told her many times this was a brilliant move!

Our weekend in Cooperstown saw a lot of sight seeing in the area and then we would do more baseball activities on Monday August 8th. We did a lot of videos in the Hall of Fame and throughout the trip had a Restaurant Tour.

The majority of these videos were under 10 minutes. 

You can access them by Subscribing to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel at no cost.

When we got to New York City, we did two videos outside the New Yankees Stadium and across the street at Old Yankee Stadium. 

We were fortunate to have close friends in the area that took us to the Bronx.

There is a video planned in the future that will involve a New York City Tour Guide so stay tuned.

Outside of our Hampton Inn Hotel in East Rutherford, New Jersey, I did my weekly radio show in Oakland, CA.

At this point, lets go to the scoreboard.

In the State of New York, there were 12 videos, two podcasts and a radio show. I was on the air 15 times with another show on the way.

When we left the Metropolitan New York Area, I drove 19 hours down I-95 South and arrived home at 3:30 PM on Sunday, August 14, 2022.

But my real Baseball Journey for Myself concluded on Wednesday, August 17 when I covered the Miami Marlins vs the San Diego Padres.

To go along with the three videos included in this story, I was involved in the Marlins pre-game Availability with Mattingly. I certainly asked my fair share of questions. 

I talked to Mattingly about my trip to New York, Upstate and the City after the Media Availability.

And I had to see Minervini and my other friend Jessica Blaylock that were concerned about my head injuries all year that I made it back home with no shortage of stories.

The Marlins lost to the Padres 10-3, but in this case, the score didn’t matter.

The stories I told to my friends did matter!

The Final Driving numbers on the road were 42 hours on the interstates and the odometer on my job added 3,159 miles. There were two hours of sightseeing. My wife did the majority of the driving in town beginning Sunday, August 7.

One other thing worth mentioning was the Field of Dreams Game featuring the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds took place on Thursday, August 11 and we watched a lot of it at a Sports Bar in Cooperstown. 

You talk about coming full circle, this was incredible.

The Cooperstown idea started from the Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville, Iowa and here we were watching the game in Baseball Heaven. 

It doesn’t get better than this!

The New York to Miami Baseball Marathon was completed!

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

There is no cost to Subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel and you can get the latest notifications on the shows when they’re released.