Wow that Miami fanbase is truly terrible. I guess we always knew that, but already non sellouts.... really. A hyped team, 2nd game in a brand new stadium, and they only sold 30,000 tickets. They made the stadium really small, and still couldn't sell it out. They didn't even sellout the first game.
No doubt. Its just too damn loud. What the hell is up with that hideous looking sculpture? It looks like something an old lady has in her front yard.
Funny enough, they said the same thing about MMP when it first opened... with the hill, the train, and the crawford boxes, it was the "laughing stock" of baseball. Now it looks downright historic and classy compared to this monstrosity. If I was from Miami, I'd be pretty upset at the effort and decision making that went into building this controversial tax-payer funded stadium: 1.) Location -- Basically trying to revive the Orange Bowl area/Little Havana... but with virtually no proximity to Downtown Miami or South Beach. Why couldn't they have found land on the water similiar to where the arena is? That's an IDEAL location for ballparks. Proximity to water makes all ballparks better, hands down. Its the only thing that makes Cincinatti's park palatable... and it totally accentuates AT&T as well as PNC. 2.) Exterior Design -- apparently the owner demanded a non-retro/non-art-deco/modern design. Instead he got something that while it appears "modern" now, likely looks outdated in 10 years. In an area that thrived on older buildings being retrofitted into art-deco, how they refused to go a similiar route is beyond me. The stadium is totally blah -- glass on the outside, roof support that looks like the monorail track at disney. Absolutely no charm or uniqueness. 3.) The inside -- probably been covered enough so far. Tacky lime green. Awful HR gimmick. No other defining features or uniqueness other than the Clevelander pool bar (which has already been done in Phoenix). But hey... at least they'll get more than 2000 fans per game and no more rainouts.
I was disappointed with J.D.'s play on that game winning hit. I think he could have caught that ball. Seemed like he got caught in between deciding whether to go for the catch or playing it off the wall, and he waited to long to make the decision. Of course, brand new ballpark, players aren't going to have the same comfort level with the wall.
That ball was smoked though... and gone in most ballparks. Would have needed a "spectacular" catch to make the play. Not going to fault a player for not making the spectacular play on a ball that was crushed. Lyon is close to losing a role on this team... especially with the emergence of Cruz and Rodriguez. Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing both Lyon AND Myers find work elsewhere.
I'm not trying to blame him (without his HR, we wouldn't even been in extras), just disappointed that we lost. If Lyon can't string some good outings together by the end of the month, we might as well DFA him and make room for somebody on the right side of 30.
I understand giving Lyon another chance given were paying him regardless. But if his upcoming outings resemble this most current one, I am hoping that we give up on him for good. Eat his salary, and let someone else with youth and potential take his place. Lyon at 33 is well past the point of getting better from a development point of view. The only possible reason to keep throwing him out there is the hope he can recapture his form of 2-3 years ago, which wasnt spectacular either, but would give us a few quality innings. At some point, his roster spot becomes more valuable than trying to get any return on his salary. Or any hope that he might become trade-able through some sort of resurgence in his game.
The train and the hill may be gimmicky, but seeing the Miami ballpark makes me appreciate just how great of a stadium we got. Lime green...really?!
I'm guessing no one is surprised about this. There was an article in ESPN Magazine last month about that stadium. The writer appropriately called it, and I'm paraphrasing, an attraction where baseball is simply a sideshow. If the Marlins were going to have a die-hard fan base and sell out games, they would have done it already. Even in their best of years, they have struggled to get fans to games. Their old stadium took a ton of heat, and I'll agree that it was a dump, but in most places, good baseball brings people out no matter what the stadium looks like.
Wish Milo would tell us what the F was going on rather than hemming and hawing for 5 minutes over a play.
It's strange to me that Altuve is now one of the few on the team that won't automatically swing at the first pitch. I'm not sure what Lowrie was thinking there. ****** Z has walked 6. Lowrie has 2 on with 2 out and he swings at the first pitch...out of the zone? I don't get it.