More than perhaps any other Marlins opponent, the New York Mets have a way of turning visits to Dolphin Stadium into de facto home games. You wonder why people refer to Boca Raton as the sixth borough of New York, until you see the line of guys with double chins, perpetual 5 oclock shadows, and spanking-new Mets jerseys pile out of silver Beemers. Hell, not that you can really blame em the seats are orange.
If anyone on the Marlins is still suffering a New York hangover, it may be Cro-Magnon slugger supreme Dan Uggla, who in the All-Star game at Yankee Stadium last week committed not one, not two, but three errors, none of which managed to affect the final score of National League 3, American League 4. He was lucky enough to dodge goat status, but no one watches one line drive graze his glove and a groundball turn his legs into a croquet wicket in the bottom of the 10th inning without suffering any residual effects. No one, that is, except maybe Uggla, who makes your average box of rocks look like Deep Blue. Why overthink anything in baseball? Ball, bat, bases. Its simple enough for a Mets fan to grasp. View about 10,000 of them yourself on Monday at 7:10 p.m. at Dolphin Stadium (2269 NW 199th St., Miami). Tickets run as little as $9. Call 954-523-3309, or visit florida.marlins.mlb.com.
Mon., July 28, 2008