Fish Out Of Water

By: Corey Donetz

The 2-1 loss handed to the Marlins by in-state rival Tampa Bay extended the struggling Fish’s losing streak to 10 straight losses. Florida has only one win in June, posting an abysmal 1-18 record this month. The team has had losses off the field as well with the departures of hitting coach John Mallee and manager Edwin Rodriguez. The executives of the Marlins decided to hire former ESPN analyst and former big leaguer Eduardo Perez as new hitting coach, and to re-hire 80-year old Jack McKeon. For those who are unaware, McKeon was the manager of the 2003 Marlins team that won the World Series; he was named Manager of the Year for his efforts.

The exodus of Edwin Rodriguez wasn’t taken well in the Marlin’s clubhouse as shortstop and one of the faces of franchise, Hanley Ramirez, was not happy to say the least. Ramirez wasn’t shy about standing up for his now ex-manager, but even he wasn’t enough to keep Rodriguez around. The Chicago Tribune caught up with Ramirez to speak on the matter, "When we do good, people look at us,'' Ramirez said. "It's like Ozzie [Guillen] says, 'Yeah, when the team is winning you have to give credit to the players and when they're losing they want to fire me.' No, that's not how it [should be].”

Although they are over 12 games out of 1^st place behind the Phillies in the N.L. East, playoff hopes remain alive, as they are only 7 ½ games behind in the Wild Card race despite the team’s dreadful June. With playoff hopes still in reach, a change was definitely needed, regardless as to who is at fault for the bad play. The injury bug has obviously affected the team’s play, but injuries affect every team’s play so that can never be used as an excuse. To put it simply, a baseball executive cannot sit back and watch their team win one game in a month, lose 10 straight (It wasn’t at 10 when Rodriguez was let go, but just for the sake of being current), and not do anything about it; especially when said team is already a bottom dweller as far as game attendance goes.

However, what’s done is done, so Ramirez and the rest of his teammates will have to move on and play under the helm of McKeon. McKeon is not your typical 80 year old, he is said to have the energy of a 25 year old and the heavily respected two-time NL Manager of the Year will bring that energy back to Florida along with his 1011 career wins and his ’03 World Series ring as he hopes to bring the Fish back to their winning ways. He has a ton of young talent to work with, and although it doesn’t seem likely that his team will contend this season, there is still hope in sunshine state.

The Fightin’ Fish will have to finish the season strong, and once ace Josh Johnson comes off of the disabled list we can get a feel of what McKeon’s Marlins can do. If there is one thing that baseball has taught us (especially as far as standings in the N.L. East are concerned), anything is possible. Just ask the Mets.