Arrived early to loanDepot Park yesterday – my first Marlins game of the season – and received a bobblehead of Dontrelle Willis. Taking my seat in section 26, I watched as the former All-Star stood at second base and was inducted into the Marlins Legends Hall of Fame.
The Dodgers went ahead 3-0. The Marlins scored two in the bottom of the eighth, on a single by Lopez, but the Dodgers scored one in the top of the ninth.
There didn’t seem much hope for the Fish. But they started the bottom of the ninth with two infield hits, one a beautiful bunt laid down by Marsee. A double by Sanoja – just inside the third-base line, not far from my seat – brought both runners home. Now the score was tied, with a man on second and no outs. But everyone knows how hard it can be to bring a man home from second, especially for a team whose record is under 500. The next batter, pinch hitter Agustin Ramirez, sent a ball into the left field stands and thousands of Marlins fans into a frenzy. All game they had been outnumbered, and drowned out, by Dodger fans, and now there was joyous pandemonium for the home team - the overlooked, unappreciated, feisty underdogs.
