It was Emilio Bonafacio Day in Miami yesterday.
An unheralded utility player with no power electrified a crowd of 35,000 from his first swing in his first at bat on the first pitch of the game with a line drive single in right center field. Before you could blink your eyes, he had stole second and scored, sliding into home as Adam Dunn misplayed a John Baker line drive. By the fifth inning, he had an inside the park homer and another stolen base to add to his debut resume.
Just like that, a new era began for the Marlins, one without Willingham and Jacobs, power hitters they relied on. The kid that everyone on the Marlins had been talking about for years, Cameron Maybin, the one that came over in the Miguel Cabrera deal batted 8th and had a quiet day. In fantasy circles, Maybin is owned in 98% of mixed leagues with 15 teams and had been protected everywhere as a star prospect. Emilio Bonafacio was Robert Andino lite, and no one knew of him, had heard of him, or protected him, until Manager Fredi Gonzalez said a week or two ago he would start at third, Cantu would move to first, and Gaby Sanchez would go to the minors.
In leagues everywhere, in the offseason, when Mike Jacobs got dealt from Florida to Kansas City, fantasy sleuths grabbed up Gaby Sanchez as the new Marlins’ first sacker. He was so hot a team dealt me Dan Haren in a package for him. So it goes with prospects in the offseason. Everyone wants to be the guy who finds the next Evan Longoria.
In Florida yesterday, the sun was shining, and it was close to 93 degrees. Meanwhile, the White Sox opener was snowed out. The second game for the Marlins might as well have been. Same team. Same production. Power and speed and an 8 zip lead against the Nationals by the third inning, off their old teammate Scott Olsen, never the same since his DUI arrest in North Miami in 2007. People forget how personal lives affect a player's performance. Scott has had some problems.
An unheralded utility player with no power electrified a crowd of 35,000 from his first swing in his first at bat on the first pitch of the game with a line drive single in right center field. Before you could blink your eyes, he had stole second and scored, sliding into home as Adam Dunn misplayed a John Baker line drive. By the fifth inning, he had an inside the park homer and another stolen base to add to his debut resume.
Just like that, a new era began for the Marlins, one without Willingham and Jacobs, power hitters they relied on. The kid that everyone on the Marlins had been talking about for years, Cameron Maybin, the one that came over in the Miguel Cabrera deal batted 8th and had a quiet day. In fantasy circles, Maybin is owned in 98% of mixed leagues with 15 teams and had been protected everywhere as a star prospect. Emilio Bonafacio was Robert Andino lite, and no one knew of him, had heard of him, or protected him, until Manager Fredi Gonzalez said a week or two ago he would start at third, Cantu would move to first, and Gaby Sanchez would go to the minors.
In leagues everywhere, in the offseason, when Mike Jacobs got dealt from Florida to Kansas City, fantasy sleuths grabbed up Gaby Sanchez as the new Marlins’ first sacker. He was so hot a team dealt me Dan Haren in a package for him. So it goes with prospects in the offseason. Everyone wants to be the guy who finds the next Evan Longoria.
In Florida yesterday, the sun was shining, and it was close to 93 degrees. Meanwhile, the White Sox opener was snowed out. The second game for the Marlins might as well have been. Same team. Same production. Power and speed and an 8 zip lead against the Nationals by the third inning, off their old teammate Scott Olsen, never the same since his DUI arrest in North Miami in 2007. People forget how personal lives affect a player's performance. Scott has had some problems.
The fans and the feel of the game was different by Tuesday nite. The sun was gone. A cold front moved in. The electricity of Monday’s sold out opener faded to the reality of a sparse crowd on a frigid Tuesday, maybe 8,000 fans spread across a stadium that seats 60,000. It was like being in a minor league park, where the angry fan on the third base line could shout out to the umpire in the box, who would wince at the words he would hear like it or not. I sat in my new seats on the first base line Box 145, Row 30, Seats 1 and 2 in a 24 seat row. I was the only person in the entire row. None in the row behind me. None in the row in front of me. Surrounded by a sea of lonely orange seats. Just the way I like it. Alone to enjoy the game. I get my wish to often in Marlinville.
I won’t be at the game tomorrow. To compensate for the Jewish Holiday Passover, the game is at noon. I suspect less than 6,000 will show up on a sunny day to watch a major league team play to minor league crowds. Have a special noon game at Wrigley and 50,000 people would try to figure out a way to get off work and squeeze into the stands. Not in Miami. The picture you see above is of a real Marlins/Nationals game on the afternoon of September 13, 2007. The smallest crowd in the history of the game: 913 fans. Won't be that many more paying fans tomorrow, though if past practice is an indicator, there could be lots of freebies for school kids and the girl scouts. But you get the idea. It is not the way it should be at a major league ballyard.
I won’t be at the game tomorrow. To compensate for the Jewish Holiday Passover, the game is at noon. I suspect less than 6,000 will show up on a sunny day to watch a major league team play to minor league crowds. Have a special noon game at Wrigley and 50,000 people would try to figure out a way to get off work and squeeze into the stands. Not in Miami. The picture you see above is of a real Marlins/Nationals game on the afternoon of September 13, 2007. The smallest crowd in the history of the game: 913 fans. Won't be that many more paying fans tomorrow, though if past practice is an indicator, there could be lots of freebies for school kids and the girl scouts. But you get the idea. It is not the way it should be at a major league ballyard.
In Left Field, the team's new banner celebrates their founding year, and two world series championships in 1997 and 2003. The Cubbies have not had such a banner since 1908, 101 years ago. They came close in '03, but the Marlins and some kid in their left field stands did them in.
The flashy Marlins' banner also notes the year 2012, when their new stadium on the old Orange Bowl site will be ready. I think the difference is it will not only be packed on Opening Day, but early into the season, mid week crowds of excited Latinos filling the ballpark with an energy and enthusiasm you do not capture in the suburban air of Northern Miami, where no buses, trains, tri rails, trams, or downtown thrives. I think the Miami Marlins will be successful in selling seats.
But will Hanley still be there? Will Maybin? Or will the Marlins again sell their soul for the promise of tomorrow’s youth? They have not done bad with the process, but a lot of the guys they dealt wound up in the playoffs and on championship teams. In the meantime, everyone is buying up a guy named Emilio Bonafacio, a light hitting utility player no one had ever heard of, who was supposed to be a back up, who was not supposed to start. And Hanley, with a grand slam homer is already paying dividends. In one 5 by 5 league I play in, with a $260 cap, an owner paid more for him than any player ever bought in that 16 year old league, an astounding $58. One fourth of your 23 person team on one player. Wow.
Can’t wait til Friday. Mets will be in town. Lots of fans in the stands, too. Unfortunately, though it is likely there will be more Mets fans than Marlins fans, and that is not the way a hometown ballpark is supposed to play out. In 2012, that will change.
As for the team, they won again large on Tuesday. Once again, they open the season with a solid team. Once again, management produces. If only the fans would respond. If they don't know what they have been missing, let me tell them. It's major league baseball in a minor league town.
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