Marlins mark somber day
Team remembers Jose Fernandez on 1-year anniversary of his death
DENVER — Two thousand and sixty-one miles from Marlins Park, where they gathered and sobbed and tried to understand a year ago, the Miami Marlins marked the first anniversary of Jose Fernandez’s death at Coors Field, where they began a series Monday night against the Colorado Rockies.
Their schedule, created and released before the tragedy, allowed them this small reprieve amid the endless reminders that come with the one-year mark.
“It would be even harder if we were in Miami,” Martin Prado said. “It doesn’t take all [the pain] away because we’re in Colorado, but when you get to the field in Miami, everything just reminds you of him.”
Inside the visitors’ clubhouse at Coors, it was largely a normal Monday.
Players sat in their large, cushioned chairs by lockers, the pitchers chit-chatting or looking at their phones after their early-afternoon stretch. At 4 p.m., the team had its first-day-of-the-series hitters and pitchers meetings. Then the position players stretched together and took batting practice.
Hovering, however, was the memory of Fernandez.
“It’s something that you’re remembering, but he doesn’t really go away, just because of the way he was,” Don Mattingly said. The manager cited all of the usual characteristics: his passion, his energy, his often childlike enthusiasm for everything, including baseball. It was infectious, Mattingly said.
At home, Mattingly has a photo hanging of him and Fernandez, hugging after Fernandez’s last game on Sept. 20, 2016.
“It’s hard for me to process right now,” Prado said. “After a year, it seems like yesterday.”
Said Kyle Barraclough: “He
seems like yesterday he was still here, and I think some of us are still kind of waiting for him to walk through the door.”
And Jose Urena: “For us, he’s still alive in our heart.”
Denver was cold and rainy, pushing first pitch back by about 30 minutes. That was OK, given the circumstances under which the Marlins didn’t play a year ago.
“It’s hard to replace a person that brings so much to the game. It’s so empty, knowing that it’s so hard to find another guy like him,” Prado said. “This is going to stay here for a long time. It’s not just the first year, second year. It’s going to be forever.”
The Rockies had a brief pregame tribute to Fernandez on their video board. Denver was cold and rainy, pushing first pitch back by about 30 minutes, but that was OK given the circumstances under which the Marlins didn’t play a year ago.
Stanton, Ozuna honored again
At the end of another lost season for the Marlins, they have continued to assert their dominance in at least one area: National League Player of the Week awards.
Right fielder Giancarlo Stanton and left fielder Marcell Ozuna were named co-NL Players of the Week on Monday, giving the Marlins a major league-best seven such awards on the year.
Stanton has won three times, all in the past two months. Ozuna has been honored one other time, in April.
J.T. Realmuto (April) and Edinson Volquez (June) have also repped the Marlins in winning the weekly award.
Last week, the Marlins’ pair of MVP candidates took to strengthening their bids with a productive stretch.
Ozuna hit .500 with a .615 OBP and a 1.000 slugging percentage — leading the NL in all three categories — homering three times and driving in seven runs. He also scored six times.
Stanton, meanwhile, continued his push for 60-plus homers, reaching 57 with three long balls in six games. He also slashed .348/.484/.783 and had 13 RBI. On the year, Stanton had 126 RBI entering play Monday, most in the majors and most by a Marlin in one season.
“Those guys are forming a dangerous combo,” Mattingly said. “Their numbers do all the talking. You don’t have to say too much about them.”
Among those who earned an honorable-mention shout out in MLB’s weekly announcement: Marlins first baseman Justin Bour, who homered in four consecutive games while posting a .346/.414/.846 slash line and driving in 11 runs.