Celebrating the 2003 World Series Championship: Marlins vs Indians 8/4/13

Aug 4, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Former Marlins mangerJack McKeon and current manager Mike Redmond react during the tenth anniversary of the 2003 World Championship before a game against the Cleveland Indian sat Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

It’s Sunday and you know what that means? Today is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Marlins recap! Well…  normally we would be doing The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but today was a very special day at Marlins Park. Today was not only Mike Lowell Bobble Head Day, it was also the day celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of the 2003 World Series! Next week I promise to go back to normal, but today we will recap the game and talk about great celebration of 2003.

The day started off with a great introduction of Jack McKeon, the greatest Skipper the Marlins have ever had (as the announcer put it). He said a few words about how this team never gave up and that this was the greatest team he has ever coached. Then they went on to introduce the past players; it was nice to see Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Mordecai, Carl Pavano, Mark Redman, Mike Lowell, Lenny Harris, Nate Bump, Andy Fox, and Jeff Conine. They even had a video from Miguel Cabrera! The players all came out and gave Jack a big hug. Juan Pierre and Mike Redmond also joined the group. After they all came out to a standing ovation, they showed a recap video of 2003. Between the Pudge play at home against the Giants, Mike’s double against Chicago, Alex Gonzalez’s game winning home run against the Yankees, and Josh Beckett’s tag to win the Series it brought a tear to my eye. All this and we still have a game to get too.

So how did the game open? With a Lowell to Pudge first pitch! That was awesome. So we play ball! While the game was going on we got to meet the players of the 2003 team and take picture and get there signatures. It was all a very cool experience, but this is a game recap so let’s jump into it!

The game itself was a great pitching duel between Scott Kazmir and Nathan Eovaldi. The Marlins lost 2-0 and tis lost gave the Indians the series 2-1. Despite the loss, Nathan had a great outing with 7 IP, 2 SO, 1 R, 1ER, and 1 BB, giving up his only run in the 2^ND to Yan Gomes off a Lonnie Chisenhall base hit. The second run was off Chad Qualls in the 8^th scoring Mike Aviles off a Michael Brantley single. The lack of run support didn’t help the great pitching by Eovaldi leaving 6 runners on base and going 0-4 with runners in scoring position. Even though the Marlins lost it was still a great day!

Yes the Marlins lost, but who cares! Look, the Marlins are a young hungry team, and this day was a great day to show these young players that you too can get here some day! It was also great for the fans to relive that great year we had! I’m glad I drove down from Orlando to be there for this day. Until next time as always… Let’s Go Marlins!