Mattingly wants story to be of resolve— not virus
Donnie Baseball is Donnie America. He’s Everyman in this pandemic. The coronavirus worked through his Miami Marlins roster, ravaged their season, shoved them to the forefront of baseball’s attempt to play without the protective bubble and offered a direct view of the virus.
“I’m not afraid of it, but I don’t want to get it,’’ Marlins manager Don Mattingly said.
Isn’t that it? Isn’t that most of us? The odds are with us living through it. The anecdotal stories of friends who had it say we’ll be OK after diverging levels of trouble — even hospitalization. But who wants to suffer from it at all, much less become a victim?
“Our players that have had it, pretty mild symptoms for a day and then they pop out of it,’’ he said. “We also know in this country it can be a very dangerous thing. So not afraid of it, but I want to respect it.
“And I want our players to respect it for a lot of reasons. Going forward, I’m comfortable, but I just want to respect the virus and do what we need to
prevent getting it.”
The Marlins attempted to carry on Tuesday with replacements for the 18 players who tested positive for the virus (all are fine, never showing more than “mild” symptoms,” according to Mattingly and Marlins CEO Derek Jeter).
Mattingly hadn’t met some of his new players as of Monday afternoon.
“Texted with,’’ he said. “But not met.”
And so they’re Team America in some fashion. Hurt, but carrying on. Scarred, but thankfully not in a fatal manner. Smarter because mistakes were made and masks weren’t worn in public areas by some players in a manner they think put the whole team at risk.
The Marlins too were victims of a Major League Baseball plan that hadn’t been thought through very well. Bad leadership is another American theme. This isn’t placing some blame game with the Marlins. This is central to the game itself while playing during a pandemic.
One player, catcher Jorge Alfaro, tested positive July 24. Two days later — baseball only was testing every other day — more players tested positive. The game in Philadelphia went on. By Monday, 11 Marlins were positive.
What were Commissioner Rob Manfred and players union head Tony Clark thinking? Tests every two days? No threshold for positive tests stopping a game? With months to put a plan in place, this is the best they did?
The aftermath was chaos too. There was no plan on how to get players who tested positive back home or where to put players who tested negative. So the Marlins sat in a hotel in Philadelphia for what Mattingly called, “a frustrating week.”
The good news: The Marlins changed the sport’s protocol. When St. Louis had a player test positive a few days later, its game was canceled.
Live and learn — emphasis on live in these odd times.
Jeter and Mattingly too were uniformly upset with a supposed “narrative” of players going to bars or social places while playing in Atlanta. There were two national reports of that, one in passing in a radio interview. That’s not a narrative.
There were questions of this, sure. That’s the nature of a pandemic. It also was because no one from the Marlins or baseball talked for eight days about this — no statement, not a simple denial, nothing.
Maybe that’s another thing learned here.
Here’s the thing: The Marlins get to write their own narrative from here. They lost much of their team. Admittedly gone to the virus are their top pitcher (Sandy Alcantara), team leader (Miguel Rojas), third hitter (Corey Dickerson) and closer (Brandon Knitzler).
This abbreviated season, already a troubling one with no minor leagues for a franchise built on development, seems a mess now.
Eighteen Men Out is the storyline. Mattingly hopes to rewrite another one.
“We’d like our story to be we persevered through this,’’ Mattingly said.
Play Ball. Again. Safely this time.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra would not mind Jae Crowder leaning into some lengthier
home team Monday, they were charged with a home loss … even though they were 230 miles from AmericanAirlines Arena.
Franchise and NBA home and road records will be recorded similarly.
The Heat’s designated road games at Disney were Saturday’s win against the Nuggets, as well as Thursday against Milwaukee, Aug. 12 against Oklahoma City and Aug. 14 against Indiana.
The Heat’s designated home schedule at Disney included the Monday and Tuesday back-toback set against Toronto and Boston, as well as Saturday against Phoenix and Aug. 10 against Indiana.
A big fan: Count Spoelstra as a big fan of the coaching casual look in the NBA bubble.
“I love it, I do,” he said. “It’s a lot less to think about. You just have to grab black shirt, black pants, and you’re ready to go.
“Not that I was that great with my suits. But it takes a little bit more thought when you have to wear suits.”
He said he wouldn’t mind it continuing when game play eventually returns to team arenas.
“Yeah, I do,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. I have no idea where this discussion will go, but
I can speak for our coaching staff. We’ve enjoyed it.”
Go time: Heat guard Goran Dragic said he is particularly proud of his “Ready for Change” sneakers.
“I love those shoes,” he said. “We all know what is going on around the world and I think that’s a great statement. The time is now to make a change.”
Secondary residence: Wednesday will mark four weeks in the Disney bubble for the Heat.
That has reduced much of the team’s face time with those beyond the bubble to FaceTime.
“I’m on phone calls, Zoom calls, FaceTime, whatever it may be, just to let people know just because I’m here it doesn’t change who I am or what I will be doing for everybody,” Jimmy Butler said. “I love my people. Obviously, I miss my daughter, but this is just a little bit of a sacrifice.
“But I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to be competing and be around this family of mine. But I can’t wait to get back to everybody else.”
The Heat will be in the Disney bubble for at least eight total weeks, having already clinched a playoff berth, with the NBA postseason to open Aug. 17.