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The Florida Marlins were eliminated from playoff contention tonight after losing to Cincinnati 5-3.
Florida Marlins 2006 Playoff Hopes
Born: April 3, 2006
Died: September 26, 2006
The Marlins started the season like a house afire. That is they were in the house that was on fire and they were trying to get out. The Marlins started the season 11-31 with a lineup that consisted mainly of rookies or second year players making the major league minimum.
Then as the season progressed, the young pitchers, such as Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez, and Scott Olsen started to get things together. And young players like Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, and Josh Willingham started to hit. Combine that with the good hitting of Miguel Cabrera and the Marlins got over .500 for a few days and toyed with the wild card.
But the Marlins didn't have quite enough to fend off the Phillies who started to win enough games to make the Marlin fan say, "Wait till some indeterminate time in the future...."
Complicating matters was a poisonous relationship that apparently developed between the Marlins front office, in particular owner Jeffery Loria and GM Larry Beinfest, and manager Joe Girardi. Loria didn't like Girardi after the manager told him to stop berating an umpire from the stands and Beinfest reportedly didn't like the way Girardi handled the pitching staff, which ran into injury problems. The Marlins good starting pitchers obscured the fact that the team has a mediocre bullpen and relied on Joe Borowski to be the closer.
Visitation will be at Dolphin Stadium from September 26-October 1. In lieu of flowers, the Marlins ask that you donate money to the Jeffrey Loria Foundation, which helps support people named Jeffrey Loria.
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