Play Ball! Fish Open Spring With ‘Canes

Ricky Nolasco will start today for the Marlins, who begin Grapefruit League play tomorrow

Spring is sprung, the grass is mowed, and someone knows where Renyel Pinto is.

Oh, baseball, how we've missed you.

But now you're back, and this afternoon the tarps shall be rolled back like a scroll and spring ball officially underway for the Marlins, who take on someone almost their own size: a college team from across town.

This is not -- this time -- an Onion article. After skipping last year thanks to the World Baseball Classic, the Marlins will resume their annual exhibition rivalry with the University of Miami today at 3:30 at their training grounds in Jupiter. The 10th-ranked, four-time College World Series-winning Hurricanes aren't just any old college program, and actually beat the Fish in '05 with a few scares since, but the game isn't really about that.

The game is about the Marlins, and spring, and the annual shedding of disappointment and bitterness automatically triggered by the thwack of a pitch hitting a glove and seeing the boys swing bats on deck. It's about the start of a new season, and the promise of a better fall to come. Sometimes that promise is fulfilled, and 15 other times it hasn't been, but the promise is always there in spring -- and we always believe it, before a long season's struggle forces otherwise.

Baseball's just nice like that, and especially so for long-suffering Marlins fans. Whatever thoughts we have about ownership or management or payroll, or however hard it has been to care, that's all overshadowed for a time by a single, thrilling thought: it's back! We'll have summer and fall to dissect Fredi's every move and Loria's every failing and a lifetime for that whole Emilio Bonifacio thing. This time, this springtime, is for hope, and baseball, and joy, and renewal.

Unless the 'Canes win, in which case we take it all back.
 

Janie Campbell is a Florida native who believes in the pro-set and ballpark hot dogs. Her work has appeared in irreverent sports sites around the internet.

Contact Us