About the Miami Marlins bench clearing brouhaha

Late in Friday’s game, the Miami Marlins frustrations came to a head. A poor record, coupled with poor play culminated in a bench-clearing altercation.

It wasn’t a brawl, and there was little fear of it becoming one. But on a night where the Miami Marlins were handled easily from start to finish, frustration continued to mount. Both teams claim that the ball got away from them. They’re both probably lying.

Near the end of the game, once the result was nearly in hand, Marlins closer A.J. Ramos plunked Dodgers outfielder Brett Eibner. It appears the Dodgers didn’t take too kindly to that, and they threw behind Giancarlo Stanton in the Marlins ensuing at bat.

Both sides cleared their bench. There was some shoving, a lot of yelling, and a few ejections. When all was through, Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly was ejected, and Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling, and manager Bob Geren were sent home early as well.

Mattingly and Geren were ejected for yelling at each other. Apparently Mattingly didn’t take kindly to the fact that the Dodgers were swinging at 3-0 pitches while holding a sizable lead. This heralds back to the unwritten rules of baseball. As old school as they come, Don Mattingly is well versed in the unwritten rule book.

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ESPN’s Jon Kurkjian discussed the issue at relative length earlier today.

What does this mean for a struggling Miami Marlins team?

In short: opportunity.

At this point in the season, the Marlins are doing everything they can to manufacture some momentum. The team is playing badly, and it appears they are headed towards a rebuild. At 13 games under .500, all is not lost, but things need to be turned around immediately.

If the Fish manage to win tonight, the dust-up would have been well worth it. If they lose, it will be another ejection in a growing list for Mattingly that was wasted.

The complexity of the issues plaguing the Marlins is so complex, that it couldn’t be more simple: play better. The whole team just needs to play better. From top to bottom, the Miami Marlins are in need a complete reversal. The bullpen, the starting pitching, the hitting, the defense: play better.

The Fish have two games remaining against the Dodgers in this series. They’ll take on the Oakland Athletics for a two game series before returning home. Having lost five in a row, the Marlins can still close out the month of May with optimistically with a few wins.

Next: Miguel Rojas making progress from injury for Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins will enter round three of this series with their most effective pitcher to this point in the season: Dan Straily.