It's finally here!
It was so exciting to watch the Marlins out on the field playing meaningful baseball again after an offseason that seemed like it would never end.
For me expectations were high after the offensive onslaught the Fish put on in Grapefruit League play, but they didn't show it for six innings. Instead, they more or less left Sandy Alcantara out to dry over his five innings of work.
The offence did come alive and oh boy was it fun to watch. Jacob Stallings with a two-run homer to get the Fish in the game. Then Stallings drives in Miggy. Then. Oh boy. Jazz comes to play and drives one to left (a two-run blast) and Miami was ahead going into the bottom of the ninth.
Then..well..we all know in the end the Giants came away with a 6-5 win.
The BIGGEST take-away for me is that Miami now has a catcher who is not only one of the best defensively in baseball, but can also drive in runs when they're needed. When was the last time the Marlins have been able to rely on their catcher on both sides of the ball? Probably 2018.
Another takeaway: Brian Anderson came in to pinch-hit for Joey Wendle late and honestly it was the worst at-bat I've seen in a long time. All three pitches were nowhere near the zone, yet BA swung wildly at all three. I know it's easy for me to type and be harsh, but Anderson is being paid well over $4 million to play baseball professionally. That AB didn't look professional.
I wasn't overly impressed by the bullpen, but I'm not going to go into that right now since it was just one game. As much as I want to just go off on everything it was just 1 of 162.
They go again tomorrow, so we'll all have to settle for the Fish going 161-1, right?