Miami Marlins: First Game in Marlins Park a Success

The first of two exhibitions against the New York Yankees took place Sunday afternoon. The Miami Marlins took the field as a complete team for just the second time and for the first time in their new stadium, Marlins Park. The roof was closed at the Marlins’ sparkling retractable-roof building on Sunday. The Yankees won the game 10-8, but the outcome of the game was far from the most important matter.

When comparing Marlins Park to Sun Life Stadium, this is what Miami pitcher Ricky Nolasco had to say:

“It’s night and day. It’s funny, with a dome, you don’t realize it’s 1 o’clock. The atmosphere was a lot of fun, and exciting.”

Nolasco got off to a rough start in the first inning, and then appeared to settle down, before the Yankees exploded on him in the 5th inning. Nolasco’s overall line was 5 and 2/3 innings, allowing 8 hits, and 7 earned runs. This was in front of a sold out crowd of 25,000 fans.

The game took place in front of a sold out crowd of 25,000 fans.On Monday night, the maximium will be bumped up to 30,000 tickets.

Once the Marlins pass that final test, the regular season begins. Marlins Park has a seating capacity of 37,000 and the team fully expects that every seat will be taken

The most exciting part of the game had to be when Miami-native Gaby Sanchez blasted a home run to right field.

“It’s always nice to hit a home run,” Sanchez said. “It doesn’t matter when it is. Being in the new stadium, playing against a major league team and doing it definitely felt good, but it’s still spring training.”

Although Sanchez was not the first Marlin to hit a homer in the new ballpark, he was the first do so off a major league team.

Hanley Ramirez went deep against the University of Miami, and Emilio Bonifacio did as well the following night against Florida International University.

The great news for the Marlins was that their bats came alive in this loss. The Marlins, averaged just 2.8 runs per game in Grapefruit League. The team was in last in scoring by a long distance. The Marlins scored just 75 runs in their first 28 Grapefruit League games.

Every Marlins hitter had at least one hit, except for Hanley. He though did have a walk and drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. Giancarlo Stanton, Logan Morrison, Austin Kearns, and John Buck each contributed a pair of hits.

Stanton did not provide the power that Marlins fans were hoping to see, but he did have two run scoring hits. Stanton also struck out twice on nasty breaking pitches.

Even in defeat, this was a great game for the Marlins. It was enjoyable to watch. The new stadium looked absolutely gorgeous and we did not have to see the Monstrosity in center go off, even though a Marlin did homer.

Only complaint would be that I was not impressed with Nolasco’s start, but it is still spring training. Starting Wednesday, neither of these games count.

Alex Rodriguez was very excited for the Marlins new stadium and threw in some kind words for the Marlins organization.

“For me this is a very special day. I never imagined as a child that such a beautiful stadium would be built in the middle of Miami, so I’m very proud of the city of Miami and the Marlins to be able to achieve this in my hometown. This is kind of like, ‘Hello, Major League Baseball. We’re here.'”

The Marlins will take on the Yankees again tomorrow at 7 PM EDT. Be sure to watch the game and check out the review following the game.