Atlanta Braves @ Miami Marlins

My final game in Miami was the first game of a 4 game series between the visiting Atlanta Braves and the Marlins. Another disappointingly small crowd turned up to watch Kris Medlen who was starting for Atlanta beat Henderson Alvarez for Miami on the back of one inning of scoring apiece. The Braves put up all 5 of their runs in the 4th, whilst the Marlins put there 2 up in the 7th and that was all the scoring in the game.

I am now convinced that the Marlins are reporting something other than the number of people who turned up as the "attendance" figure, which was quoted in excess of 18,000 for today's game. The entire upper deck was sealed off, with nobody permitted up there at all. During the 4th inning, to catch late arrivers and before people had had a chance to get fed up and go home, I counted the entire crowd. I counted section by section, groups of ten people, with a lot of rounding up. I actually counted around 5,500 to 6,000 people. So with the best will in the world, allowing for 25% more being on the concourse at any given moment (which is vastly over the top), the actual attendance was way smaller than 8,000.

Tbe Marlins could be good next season. They need to hold on to their young stars and look after them, especially Jose Fernandez. Whether the Marlins' senior management is up to that task or not, we shall see.

The Marlins are very proud that they've never had a rain out in their new roofed stadium. It might seem obvious, but The Rogers Centre in Toronto, also with a roof, has had rain and fog delays from time to time ...

Billy the Marlin tries to fire a T-shirt to the upper deck with the T-shirt gun ... but doesn't quite get it over the safety netting ...