Feel Good Night, Kind of

    UPDATED ... SEE BELOW
    Last week, a Marlins rep called me up and noted that I had bought tickets online to a recent game. Marlins wanted to thank me by inviting me and up to three friends to be the team's guests at an upcoming game. "Just let me know," he said.  I said I had been pissed off at the ownership and he said he understood my feelings and the team really wanted our continued support.
    On Monday, with a matchup of ML Cuban super rookies, Fernandez versus Puig, I emailed him early in the morning and followed up with a phone call that I wanted tickets for Monday's game.  No response. Reminds me of how Bill Clinton described George W.'s attitude at one point: "I feel your pain, I'm just not going to do anything about it."
    UPDATE: Later on Tuesday, rep sent me an email saying he was off on Monday and apologized for not responding in timely fashion. He said the offer still stood for later games. And in fact, I can't bitch about paying money to see such a matchup.
    What happened was my buddy RF and I sprung for $11 seats in far right field. We slipped into much better seats in section 26 in left field.
    And what a game for a decent crowd of 27,000. Fernandez was terrific. Marlins bats got hot, with Stanton hitting one of his scorching line-drive homers. RF was buoyed to remark that this team could be a contender next year, but the elation of a 6-2 victory wasn't enough for me to agree with him.
    To be a contender, this team needs a catcher and third baseman definitely. The slick-fielding shortstop could be an 8 hitter on a strong team (Mark Belanger of the Orioles came to RF's mind), but do we really have a competitive players at first and second?  And what about centerfield? Ozuna, maybe? Lot of holes to fill.
    And the feel-good victory was dulled by a report in this morning's Herald that Loria petulantly refused to allow the promotion of a hot hitting AAA infielder because the kid had said something against Loria's hand-picked hitting coach.