Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Stanton, Ozuna, Yelich sit
Starting outfield appears to have run out of gas
PHILADELPHIA — The lineup card Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly authored Thursday looked more fitting for March 14 than Sept. 14.
Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich were on the bench. From left to right in the outfield were Derek Dietrich, Ichiro Suzuki and Tyler Moore. Other than that it looked normal — or at least the Marlins’ late-2017 version of normal — with J.T. Realmuto behind the plate, Dee Gordon at second and Justin Bour at first, plus Brian Anderson and Miguel Rojas on the left side of the infield.
The outfield switches were more of a rest, not a punishment, for a trio that has had few days off in the second half. But it was also spurred by a particularly bad performance, Mattingly said, Wednesday night in an 8-1 loss to the Phillies.
“My whole career — playing, coaching — that was the worst feeling I ever had after a game about the energy, the way we went about it,” Mattingly said. “I thought, it can’t be worse. So let’s get those guys reset.”
The Marlins are 2-14 since Aug. 28.
That date also marks the start of Stanton’s slump. Stanton, so good for so much of July and August, has a .136 average (8 for 59), .268 OBP and .356 slugging percentage in 16 games since then.
Ozuna has a .209/.227/.326 slash line over his past 10 games. Yelich hasn’t been in a slide, but also hadn’t had a start off since Aug. 9.
“O has been our most consistent guy,” Mattingly said, “and he looked lost [Wednesday] night.”
Mattingly has acknowledged that the daily presence of Stanton, Ozuna and Yelich in the lineup — with few off days — was partly out of need for their bats in the lineup as the Marlins tried to claw back into standings relevancy, which they briefly did. But now their outfielders are worn down.
“We really haven’t been able to get those guys out of the lineup,” Mattingly said. “They’ve stayed healthy, which is obviously a positive. But I think on the negative side of that, you end up knowing that these guys are on pace for a ton of games. Maybe that’s what’s showing right now.”