Marlins93

Please everyone that reads this message, take 3-5 minutes around 7:30PM tonight and say a little prayer. No matter what your religious beliefs are, a little prayer won't hurt the fish. - I'll be praying tonight and giving thanks to God for this marvelous season. - I'll be praying tonight for the safety and well being of that unfortunate Cubs Fan that caught the ball - I'll be giving thanks for America - I'll be giving thanks for being part of this great ride - I'll be praying for everyone on the Marlins organization, and for every player - I'll be praying for Jack McKeon We never give up! Here comes the fighting fish! Amen.

It's not the fan's fault...Moises (I should have been World Series MVP) Alou didn't jump high enough!! :lol

The forecast for tomorrow also calls for northwest 20-30 mph winds, which I believe means the wind will be blowing in, not out as in the first 2 games. Someone from Chicago correct me if I'm wrong. This can't be anything but favorable to the Marlins who don't depend solely on the long ball to score runs. Cold weather means pitchers can't get a good grip on the ball, and I've seen some pretty HIGH scoring games in cold weather. Remember Game 3 of the 1997 WS in Cleveland? Wind chills were in the 20s and the final score was 14-11 Marlins!

Upper Deck seats are $60.

i am sure some of you are about to jump off a bridge but come on.... it was just 1 game, we did not lose the series tonight.... if we win tomorrow, the MO is back on our side.... we gotta beat Clement tomorrow..... first things first That's how you have to look at it. I thought this series would go 6 or 7 games before it started, meaning the Marlins would have to win it in Chicago. This series is FAR from over. I'm proud of the way our team played last night. I'm sure a lot of Cubs fans expected us to roll over and die in front of the almighty Wood, but we proved that he is human and can be beat. We didn't get the big hit in the end, and the Cubs did. The Marlins have bounced back many times this season, and now with the stakes higher, I expect them to rise to the occasion. Win today and tomorrow, and the pressure is on Prior and Wood once again. I BELIEVE...more than ever.

Let me ask you this, though; where were the fans before the Marlins started threatening to become a playoff team? Even *this* year, attendance has been garbage up until September. They were wearing Yankees caps and t-shirts, that's what the fans were doing before the Marlins got into the race! Here in S FL, there are no worse fans than Yankee fans (OK...NY Jets fans are downright disgusting), they are the epitome of "front-runners"! Most of them have lived here 20,30, 40 years, they have no reason being Yankees fans except that they are cool and hip. Get it? It's hard being a true loyal fan of the hometown teams here. I hope that the success of the Marlins will bring in a whole new generation of fans.

[ "Questionable allegiances? After greeting friends behind the Cubs dugout before the national anthem, former Florida Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga was asked who he was cheering for Tuesday night. "Are you kidding me?" said Huizenga, who is originally from Chicago. "You have to root for the Cubs, you absolutely have to." But what about his old team, the one that won the World Series. "No, I'm from here. I don't care who they're playing. It could be the Joliet Schmucks, and I'd still root for the Cubs." " -------------------------- And here's today's Herald CHOOSING SIDES Huizenga a Cubbie? The former Marlins owner shows up behind the Chicago dugout before Game 1 and professes lifelong admiration for the 'other' team. By KEVIN BAXTER kbaxter@herald.com CHICAGO - Perhaps we have discovered the real reason former Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga was so eager to dismantle the club after it won the 1997 World Series. Turns out he's a turncoat. Huizenga surfaced behind the Cubs dugout just moments before the start of Tuesday's opening game in the National League Championship Series and, according to The Chicago Tribune, professed his lifelong allegiance to the Cubs. ''You have to root for the Cubs, you absolutely have to,'' he said. ``I don't care who they're playing. . . . I'd still root for the Cubs.'' Huizenga, whose grandfather founded Chicago's first garbage-hauling company in 1894, developed his Cubs loyalty while growing up the suburban Chicago community of Evergreen Park. But he moved with his family to Broward County in the early 1950s and now owns Pro Player Stadium, meaning he stands to make a tidy sum if the Marlins reach the World Series. Huizenga was not available for comment Wednesday. And current Marlins executives -- including owner Jeffrey Loria, president David Samson and general manager Admin Beinfest -- would not comment on Huizenga's comments. But New York native Samson was asked whom he would root if the Huizenga-owned Dolphins were to make it to the Super Bowl against the New York Giants. ''I would be pulling for the Dolphins,'' he said. ``I always pull for the local teams.'' Loria was slightly less diplomatic. ''I'm not much of a football fan,'' he said. While management was doing its best to ignore Huizenga, several Marlins players were more than willing to talk about South Florida icon Jimmy Buffett. The singer also copped to being a Cubs fan after leading the Wrigley Field crowd in a seventh-inning rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame while wearing a white Cubs home jersey. Shocked, but not really THAT shocked. He says he's from Chicago originally, but he's been living in South Florida since the early 1950s (that's 50 years!). He showed no loyalty in tearing up the 1997 team, why should he show any kind of civic loyalty now? Just another reason to go all the way (like if we needed another reason) and shove it up H's rectum.

You usually don't hear much talk about the coaches, but I think we need to recognize the great job the Marlins' coaching staff has done all year. I think they're responsible for keeping the players on a pretty even keel all season, not letting them get too far down when things got kind of rough, and keeping them focused when things went well. In particular, Wayne Rosenthal and Bill Robinson deserve special praise. Example: Cabrera goes 0-8 in the first 2 games of the series, then comes back in game 4 with 4 huge hits. I think Bill Robinson got in Cabs' ear and made him understand the adjustments he needed to make. He's been doing that all season, notice how many times someone went into a slump only to see someone else pick it up at the same time? That's coaching right there. Rosenthal has been masterful handling the pitchers as well. It can't be an easy task handling such a diverse group, from hard-throwing guys like Beckett and Penny to location guys like Redman. The starters' consistency this season is a tribute to Rosenthal, and so is the emergence of Chad Fox as an excellent setup man.

I think Cubs fans are the reason they sold out so quick. I don't there'll be as many Cubs fans at PPS as some people think. When we played Atlanta in the NLCS in 1997, I don't recall there being THAT many Braves fans, and there are definitely more Braves fans than Cubs fans in So FLA. Sure, there may be 5,000-7,000 Cubs fans per game at PPS, but they'll be easily overmatched by the other 60,000 Marlins fans!

how much higher Based on the tickets from the playoff strips, upper deck tickets are $25 and infield box are $60 each. I would think the prices will be the same for individual tickets.

There is no fan support for this team. Come to think of it, it's not just people going to the games. The Marlins don't even show up on most people's radar. Give a listen to sportsradio, and a spattering of calls about the Marlins are interspersed between callers arguing over who will be the Dolphin's 3rd string long-snapper. Miami just ain't a sports town. Dolphins' playoff games don't sell out, Marlins' games don't sell at all, the best college football program in the last two decades can't fill anything bigger than the OB. I have to disagree that the Marlins aren't on most people's radar. I think there is a lot of latent interest in the Marlins and baseball in general in South Florida. It just needs to be tapped and translated into people going to games. How? By winning games and establishing a relationship with the fans, something this franchise hasn't done until maybe now. A new stadium further south would help, IMHO. You can't judge interest in baseball based solely on what you hear on sports radio, it only represents a sample of the actual and potential sports market. I stopped listening to sports radio 2 years ago because it's always the same people calling about the same stupid things. I will agree that Miami isn't a big sports town. There's too much to do and too many people who come from other places and who don't really care much about sports in general (this is not entirely a bad thing, by the way). The Dolphins did end up selling out those playoff games, just not in time for the blackout to be lifted. If I recall, they weren't the only team to have that happen to them. I think they'll either get a new stadium or move somewhere else. One is dependent on the other.

I don't think they would draw better if weekday games started at 7:35 PM instead of 7:05. Most of the fans don't show up until 2nd or 3rd inning anyway, which usually ends up being close to 7:35. I like the changes the team made to the start times this season, especially the 7:35 Friday starts, and the 6:05 PM Saturday starts.

I say the Marlins go 9-7. That might be good enough, especially if most of the 9 wins are against the Phillies. 9 wins gives them 90 for the season, which is the average # of wins for NL wild card teams since 1995.

Games 3 and 4 would be at PPS, Friday Oct 3 and Saturday Oct 4.

Samson was quoted in the Miami Herald that he expected 60,000 for this weekend's series. I think we'll have closer to 75,000-80.000. If they were able to get 80,000 for a 3 game series with the Cubs back in July, there should be no problem equalling that this weekend. South Florida baseball fans may not go to games on a regular basis, but they do show up for the big games, and this weekend qualifies as that. And they'll be mostly Marlins fans. I don't think you'll see more than 5,000 Braves per game. Samson also said that playoff ticket sales from season ticket holders were going very well. I'm sending my ticket invoice today with 2 extra seats per game.