Talk about setting the bar low, the Palm Beach Post’s Mike Bernadino attended the Marlins’ home opener loss to the Padres yesterday, and credits the home team with….uh….not errecting a giant sign reading “FUCK YOU, WE’RE LEAVING”?
San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger was nowhere to be found. Same for Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and any other Texans with designs on stealing our two-time World Series champions.
After parading those two around like a couple of trophy babes last week, Marlins officials struck the proper tone at the home opener.
They didn’t just stop pointing that loaded gun at South Florida. They darn near put the weapon back in its holster. At the very least, they stopped ranting and waving the gun around.
Owner Jeffrey Loria, while admitting last week’s dalliance hadn’t really moved the meter much in terms of South Florida politicians, spoke in optimistic terms about making some sort of stadium deal happen here.
“I’m kind of reenergized,” Loria said during a pregame chat with reporters in the home clubhouse, “and I’m hoping to reenergize the mayor[s] and city managers because we’ve all got to get together and make this thing happen.”
Team President David Samson, while sharing Loria’s assessment that San Antonio is a viable relocation option, also spent a significant amount of time heaping praise on everyone from Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess to his public rival Joe Arriola.
While Arriola, Miami’s city manager, has mused in recent days about his eventual retirement, Samson said the two aren’t sworn enemies as widely assumed. In fact, Samson said if they ran into each other today, he would expect Arriola to give him “one of his bear hugs.”
Wow. You think they’ve been privately meeting with Dr. Phil or what?
Now you can read what you choose into all those no-shows among the many South Florida politicians the Marlins invited to Tuesday’s game. But top club officials did spend the last couple innings up in the team suite with Burgess and the county tax collector.
“George,” Samson said, “is a deal maker.”
He said this without wearing the 10-gallon hat he was sporting in Texas. Another smart move.
In an unfortunate coincidence, the AP quotes Loria repeating his intent to move the Marlins, words he apparently spoke on the same afternoon Bernadino praised the owner for being such a stand-up guy.
The Marlins are on the brink of losing their 6th game out of 7, as they trail the Padres, 7-2 in the 9th inning. San Diego’s Chris Young allowed just one hit in 6 innings of shutout pitching; Vinny “I-can’t-believe-he’s-still-playing-either” Castilla has hit a 2 run HR for the Padres.