Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Small steps in a lost season
MIAMI – The column today is about the Miami Marlins’ long walk from nowhere to somewhere. And, yes, I know. This isn’t what everyone is ready to broker with the Marlins just yet.
People still want to be mad. They want to ignore the Marlins. They want to vent about Derek Jeter. Some just just want to scoff at plays like that ridiculous pop-up in Sunday’s first inning off the bat of Atlanta’s Nick Markakis.
I get it. I saw the play. Marlins shortstop Yadiel Rivera backed into short left field and settled under it. Left fielder Cameron Maybin came in. As the ball came down, Rivera turned to Maybin. Maybin looked at Rivera. The ball dropped between them. A run scored. Rivera’s throw home ended at the backstop. Markakis ended up on second base.
Yes, I know: Your 2018 Marlins. They are exactly who you thought they are.
“Someone has to make the play,” manager Don Mattingly said after that run loomed large in a 4-3 loss to Atlanta.
Those muffed pop-ups, as comically bad as they are, won’t be the plays that matter when the dust settles this season. Which brings us back to the idea of going from nowhere to somewhere.
Two of Brian Anderson’s plays this weekend might be the ones that tell more. Yes, that’s right, folks, we have our first positional candidate to be somebody when this ugly season shakes out.
It’s still early. We’ll see. Anderson will
turn 25 years old next Saturday. That’s not young for a prospect. And there’s a reason baseball people say it takes six prospects to make one major-league player. Look how uncertain Lewis Brinson, the hope of spring, seems in batting .172.
But Anderson was the player league scouts were still talking about before Sunday’s game, after a throw he made from right field on Saturday night.
Anderson is really a third baseman. But veteran Martin Prado returned to third base, so Anderson went to right field just 16 games ago. He botched an early play Saturday. That cost a run. A rookie in a new position. It happens.
But the play to file away happened in the ninth inning. On a single to right field, Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman attempted to run from first to third base. Anderson put a laser throw that threw out Freeman easily.
A small thing in a big season. But that’s the kind of play in the discomfort of a new position, after already making one mistake, that makes you perk up when you’re looking for hope.
On Sunday, Anderson then came to bat in the second inning. He turned on a 94 mph fastball from Atlanta starter Sean Newcomb for a double against the left-field wall.
Again, it’s just one play. Again, Anderson is adjusting to bigleague pitching, as his .262 average and two home runs suggest. But again: These two plays are the types of small steps you’re looking for right now with the Marlins.
Of course, to keep with the steady stream of uncertainty Anderson came out of Sunday’s game after hurting his finger on a swing later in the game. Nothing was serious, x-rays showed. “Just a bruise,” he said. Of the loss to Atlanta, that didn’t just have the blown pop-up but a couple other mental errors, Anderson said, “Just one of those games you have to keep grinding through.”
This, of course, is exactly what’s so hard about rooting for a bad team. There are a lot of these games. Everything looks sketchy when you try to see tomorrow.
Will J.T. Realmuto be here? Will Tayron Guerrero’s 100-mph fastball endure? Will Caleb Smith and Jarlin Garcia keep developing?
The Marlins are such a question right now they had a closeddoor players meeting after the loss evidently to address a few mental blunders in the game. … except no one felt comfortable saying it was a meeting to discuss that. Or say it was only their business.
Veteran Miguel Rojas said it was to tell the young players how to dress on the road. Never mind this is Game 40, so they’ve been traveling a while. And their next four games are at home.
Whatever. This is where the Marlins are. You can vent about Jeter. You can shake your head at pop-up blunders. Or you can watch a guy like Anderson and wonder if his plays are part of the procession from their nowhere to somewhere.