– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — More times than not in the Don Mattingly era, the Miami Marlins have been relegated to playing the role of spoiler when summer officially turns to fall, one too many to allow the Marlins brass to keep Mattingly on as manager at the end of the season. The efficient pitching from Pablo López and undeniable intensity shown by Mattingly on Tuesday night belied Miami’s position of playing out the string as it took one step towards making a division rival’s arrival to postseason play as unpleasant as possible.
López produced a quality start by going six innings and allowing just three runs while rookie outfielder JJ Bleday cracked a two-run homer in the third innings as the Marlins defeated the New York Mets 6-4 in the first game of a two-game series at Citi Field on Tuesday.
Though the Marlins were not really threatened after taking a 4-0 lead after three innings, Mattingly and reliever Richard Bleier were incensed when first base umpire John Tumpane called three balks on the latter during an at-bat to Pete Alonso, allowing Jeff McNeil to score all the way from first. Bleier, after being dismissive toward Tumpane after the first balk call, was visibly frustrated after the next two calls, which then prompted Mattingly to come out of the dugout and argue, leading to his ejection. Before leaving the field, Mattingly vociferously went after Tumpane and had to be restrained by crew chief Marvin Hudson.
Given another chance to get fat on sub-.500 teams at home to keep hold of first place in the National League East, the Mets have again stumbled in September. Earlier in the month, they lost two of three at home to the Washington Nationals before being swept by the Chicago Cubs in a three-game set.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s contest, and after clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 19 pictures in total.
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