Jeter era dawns, plummets to reality
There’s something about Opening Day, something about wild faith and rich hope and that heartfelt American belief in the regeneration of the baseball soul that suggests anything is possible in this great country of… Oh, come on. Who am I kidding? This Opening Day came without romance or regeneration of anything beyond Marlins fans’ fears of being humiliated again. And those fears were confirmed on the very first pitch of the season in Chicago’s 8-4 win.
Still, on the deep list of Opening Day Marlins humiliations, that opening pitch Thursday still only ranked third at Marlins Park:
1. Poor, propped-up Muhammad Ali rolled out in a golf cart at the ballpark’s inaugural game in 2012, a picture that still makes you wince.
2.The domed stadium built to prevent rain delays … had a rain delay in 2015.
3. This first pitch of the New Marlins, the Derek Jeter Marlins, was smacked high into the right-field seats off the bat of Chicago’s Ian Happ and replayed for hours across America, since it also was the first pitch of the entire major league season.
And then the Marlins starter, Jose Urena, followed by hitting three Cubs batters in that first inning. And he walked two batters.
And the Cubs led after a half-inning 3-0.
And so the Marlins officially took up residence from the start as a punchline, which is pretty much where most expect them to finish the season. Oh, they battled resolutely back in the opener. Give them that. They tied it up 4-4.
“I hope it is an indication [of this team],” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I feel it will be. We’ll come to play, I know that. I feel like we’re going to be all right.”
You see, there is something about Opening Day, something about wild faith and rich hope and heartfelt American belief in the regeneration of the COMMENTARY baseball soul that suggests anything is possible in this … OK, I’ll stop. Romance? Poetry? There was no optimism in this Opening Day, which is like saying there’s no sunshine in summer or green in St. Patrick’s Day. That’s just how it is after another Marlins offseason of bloodless business that left them with seven new starters Thursday. And could you name any?
This may be a child’s game and bring enjoyment to people at times, but most everyone understands the Marlins are passing time until tomorrow’s blueprint takes hold, just as they’ve done several other times.
You can understand why Jeter’s Marlins made the moves like dumping Giancarlo Stanton. You can also agree attachment to the Marlins at this point is for diehards. Or suckers.
“It’s on us to change that,” Mattingly said.
He gets it. He’s a pro’s pro. Thursday’s crowd of 32,151 left one-third of the park empty on the first day of baseball. It was also decidedly pro-Cubs, with several chants of “Let’s go Cubbies.”
Once the Marlins get through drawing Chicago and Boston fans in this opening week, they’ll be down to their fanbase. It will be about as pretty as that first pitch of the season.
“I’m glad I put a good swing on it,” Happ said in Chicago’s clubhouse.
Anthony Rizzo, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas graduate who gave a heartfelt talk of gun control before Thursday’s game, had a better thought after hitting a home run in the fourth inning.
“An out-of-body experience,” he said of the emotion while wearing a Douglas T-shirt beneath his jersey.
That was the emotional experience of Opening Day, the one of wild faith and rich hope. Stanton, too, hit a home run Thursday in his first atbat as a New York Yankee. More romance. More poetry.
The Marlins had a different day without experience, as everyone knows. Rapper DJ Khaled headlined the pregame entertainment, coming onto the field while singing, “All I Do is Win.”
It would have felt timely at 29 other ballparks on Opening Day. It felt uncomfortably out of place at this one. This wasn’t a first day to celebrate. Like this full season, it was one to survive.