Miami Marlins make history allowing four walks as they crumble in 2012 regular season - MLB Feature
Plan destroyed as the manager Ozzie Guillen reacts to pinch-hitters in an uncanny fashion in a game against the New York Mets. The sequence with which rotation was to pan-out on his books all of a sudden turned into something that led to a history-making
game for the Marlins. That record however is a one that no team will like to attach their name to.
Never before in a Major League game a team saw four of their pitchers allowing four walks as soon as they are replaced one after another. As per the Elias Sports Bureau, this is an unprecedented happening in Major-League history.
Against the backdrop of this event is the confusion the manager Guillen was fighting with while game was on. As a torrent of thoughts hit his mind, he did not hold them back and instead allow them to have influence on his actions.
So what happened there was a repetition of the same mistake by every pitcher he sent to the mound to avoid it.
Troubled by the walk the starter gave, he turned to the bullpen. Failed in the motive in first attempt, he nearly exhausted bullpen one by one to eschew walks, but much to his frustration, result did not change.
Marlins stand at lowest on table with no hope of an immediate fate-changing forthcoming. In light of this, the kind of impatience the manager exhibited should not be a surprise. After all, with a little support from the pitchers during that juncture of the
game, they may well have recorded a much needed victory.
The master-stroke the Marlins enjoyed in the signing of catcher Ivan ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez way back in 2003 was tried this season as well. Back then a $10 million one year contract was inked with Pudge and the decision was an instant success as the catcher helped
them immensely in their World Championship win that year.
However, looking at performance of three all-stars they added to their roster during an off-season spending spree, it seems things are going to pan out vastly different from that of 2003.
Jose Reyes bogging down on the plate, making errors on the field and Mark Buehrle going 1-3 in the season with Heath Bell experiencing a 7.20 ERA, all this points to a single reality that the Marlins have not fetched from their players what $191 million
worth of deals with all three of them put together demands.
What can be demoralising for the Marlins is the fact that these players hold tremendous career records. One can put this as players at the end of saturation stage of their careers have been bought and their ability to stand out the way they did all through
their career was lost just when the Marlins had added them to their roster.
It is too early to believe the fact that they have been looking not far from this in the season will keep this contention alive for as long as they put up some blinders in the upcoming games.
A complete change-up in mindset is needed desperately by the Marlins. Instead of growing extra-conscious of their failures, someone who can remind them of their strength and infuse confidence of their abilities can do wonders at this time of their campaign.
One will hope that Guillen realises this fact more than anyone else.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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