I stood in line for about 20 minutes last night to get my ticket for the Marlins game. The combination of watching Jose Fernandez pitch at home, seeing Dee Gordon return to the team, and, ideally, witnessing Ichiro Suzuki get his 3,000th hit brought out the home crowd. I was not used to waiting to get into Marlins Park but it was a good thing, I told myself, that people were coming out to support the team.
Fernandez was gone after the fifth inning (and giving up five runs). Gordon started, but went 0 for 4. Ichiro came in to pinch hit and smacked a double down the first base line, for hit 2,998, but most of his teammates couldn't get the ball out of the infield.
It occurred to me that perhaps the Marlins play better when not so many people are watching. It took me forever to exit the stadium.
