Baseball on a Friday night

This has been an odd, yet enjoyable night to be a baseball fan. I couldn't watch the Marlins game 5 miles away (neither on TV or MLB.TV) but yet I could watch a Rays game that was being played in a different country! Basically, the only Marlins updates came via my phone in the form of notifications informing me whenever either team scored, and yet tonight, I really needed the alerts to notify me when runs and hits did not occur. After finding out that the Marlins lead 4-1 after six, it was quite the pleasant surprise an hour later when I saw the following strange box score:

Colorado 1 0 0
Florida 4 9 1

I probably set a record for shortest amount of time needed to change a channel because I was on MLB Network almost instantaneously. It's funny that on nights when the Marlins are not televised, a pitcher has to take a no-hitter into the eighth inning before I can actually watch some live action. Anyways, as soon as I was able to get excited about the prospect of Sanchez making history (as well as subsequently planning a celebratory night out on the town), Dexter Fowler's jam shot slowly and painfully scooted past Omar Infante into right field. Now, the passionate fan in me is screaming obscenities on how with a left handed hitter up, Infante is all the way up the middle but the rationale, calm fan in me understands that Fowler is not your prototypical lefty pull hitter and that he's more likely to go up the middle or to the opposite field. With that said, it does not take the sting out of it any less, and with that base hit, my Marlins TV coverage was gone again. It was back to the Rays game until the ESPN sound from my phone indicated that Anibal had closed it out.




Despite my frustration in not being able to witness a potential milestone, I must say that the Marlins are cruising! They're tied for first in the NL East and this season just feels different. Gone are the days (at least so far in the season's infant stages) where the Marlins follow short win streaks with slightly longer losing streaks as they try to keep their head above water with respect to the .500 mark. The fact that the Florida is taking two out of three or sweeping the basement dwellers like Houston and Pittsburgh, and also winning series against division rivals like the Braves and Phillies, is extremely promising. The pitching staff is dealing, despite some poor starts from Vasquez and Volstad. The offense is scoring enough to win, even though Hanley and Stanton are scuffling. All of these are great signs for a team that is six games above .500 and is not even playing to their full potential!




Now, on to the Rays. Currently, they stand 4-4 in the 11th with the Blue Jays as a Tampa game is uncharacteristically venturing past the three and half hour mark. Having the past four games start at 6:40 PM and usually wrapping up around 9, it feels surprisingly late in the Rays universe. Early on, it was great to see Sam Fuld and the Rays manufacture runs and for Jeremy Hellickson to battle through a few long innings and still give the team a lead after seven innings, but I was also reminded that the Rays are another team that is not at full strength quite yet. I'm very curious to know if there would have been only a one run lead for Peralta to blow in the eighth had Evan Longoria been in the lineup. Furthermore, would the lead have been blown if the Rays could have gone to the reliable J.P. Howell in that spot instead? Those players are two big pieces that the Rays are winning without right now, and could propel them to a 2010 type level when they return.



All in all, it was quite the night of baseball in Florida and it continues to go on into the night as I speak. Here's to the Rays pulling it out in extras north of the border. Goodnight Canada.

Update: On a down note, the Rays got walked off my the light hitting John McDonald as I proofread this post. Disappointing because they could have picked up a 1/2 game on the rained out Yanks.