By Morris Phillips
Marlins Park was a strange place on Monday night.
Filled with grieving fans, and two baseball teams with burdened minds, the park was the place for those trying to make sense of the sudden, tragic death of baseball star Jose Fernandez.
Fernandez was killed in a boating accident in Miami on Sunday morning that also claimed the lives of two of Fernandez’ friends. Sunday’s game, in which Fernandez was originally scheduled to pitch, was cancelled, and Monday became the occasion for Fernandez’ teammates to get back to work, far too soon for a group of individuals, most too young or too fortunate to have experienced something this sad and unsettling.
“It was not scripted, no one tells you how to handle it,” Marlins’ manager Don Mattingly said. “There’s nothing that tells you how to handle it. They just stuck together and went out and played. I think they really wanted to honor Jose the way he played and how he went about things—just that joy that he had when he played, that confidence and that energy. I really think that was the focus of these guys, honoring him.”
But as the game began, after several pre-game tributes and images of Fernandez shown on the stadium’s scoreboard, it quickly became apparent the grief didn’t begin and end with the Marlins. It also affected the Mets and their ability to focus on their position in a final week of the season battle for a wild-card playoff spot.
As Dee Gordon circled the bases after hitting a leadoff home run as the Marlins’ first batter of the evening, he couldn’t even round first base before tears were visible on his face. When Gordon crossed the plate, the second baseman tapped his chest and looked skyward, then ran toward the Marlins’ dugout where he collapsed into the arms of his teammates.
Gordon’s trip around the bases will rank as a powerful moment that will be etched into the history of the game. So powerful was the moment it affected the players on the field who watched Gordon.
“I saw him crying when he rounded first base. I was crying too,” Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud said.
The evening affected all those involved in different ways. Gordon somehow maintained enough composure to compile four of the Marlins’ 14 hits as they got past the Mets, 7-3. New York starter Bartolo Colon, a mentor to Fernandez, allowed Gordon’s home run, and lasted fewer than three innings, charged with all seven of Miami’s runs.
Mets’ manager Terry Collins admitted to being perturbed early on regarding his team’s play. But it wasn’t far into the game that the veteran manager knew he and his team were in extremely tough circumstances, far outweighing their precarious lead over the Giants and Cardinals.
“The whole atmosphere was not baseball,” Collins admitted.
“It was very difficult for everyone,” Colon said through his customary interpreter.
In St. Louis, the Cardinals may have also been affected by Fernandez’ death. Facing the Reds, after losing to the Cubs in Chicago on Sunday night baseball, the Cardinals also dealt with difficult scheduling in which they will play all seven days in the season’s final week. The Cardinals lost 15-2, falling a full game behind the Giants, and a 1 ½ behind the Mets.
While the Mets and Cardinals played and lost, the Giants returned to San Francisco in preparation for their final six games at home against the Rockies and the Dodgers. While their path to the playoffs may be clearer with their lead on the Cardinals and virtual tie with the Mets, the Giants also may have not noticed what transpired on the scoreboard Monday.
It was that type of night, one that the world of baseball collectively wishes wouldn’t have been necessary, and hardly a respite from the overwhelming grief or the demanding playoff chase.
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