Travel Blog

Sunday morning Hania asked a question that one rarely hears in South Florida in May: "Is it too cool to have breakfast on the balcony?"

It wasn't. It was perfect. I saw in the paper that the Marlins were playing at 1 o'clock. "I'm going to the game," I told her. "They have to have the roof open today."

"Do they close it because of the sun?" Hania asked. I smiled. Having grown up in Poland, she knows nothing about baseball.

About two hours later I parked illegaly next to a closed-roof stadium.

"Do you work for the Marlins?" I asked a young man wearing credentials.

"Yes," he said.

"Why on earth is the roof closed today?"

"I don't know. You'd have to ask baseball operations. It's an ownership decision."

"Loria has ruined - among many other things - outdoor baseball in Miami!" I fumed.

Then I got in the car and drove away, thinking maybe Hania knows more about baseball - at least Marlins baseball - than I give her credit for. Before getting on I-95, I picked up two arepas at Doggi's on Coral Way. 

Monday was a similarly idyllic day. Around 4 o'clock I called the stadium, and eventually talked to a pleasant woman who told me that the roof would be open for the 7 o'clock game.

"Why did they close it yesterday?" I asked.

She told me that the decision to close the roof is based on a set of variables: rain probability, temperature, and wind speed. So that's it, I thought, they don't want anything affecting Stanton's home runs. How else to explain - other than a surfeit of sun - indoor games on beautiful afternoons?

I drove down to Little Havana for the second straight day, saw that the roof was indeed open, and bought a ticket. The Marlins, despite unseemly exposure to fresh air, won 4-1. Stanton, far from being affected by the wind, actually contributed to it, striking out three times.