The Miami Marlins They lost their first six games of the newly inaugurated Major League Baseball tournament, in what was the worst start in franchise history. However, far from feeling pressured, manager Skip Schumaker takes the challenge as a personal test.
“The challenge is for me,” said the helmsman before the press. “It's trying to put our guys in the right position to win. Obviously I'm not doing a good job with that right now.
After being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates in four games in the opening series of the season, the Fish also fell in the two subsequent games against the Los Angeles Angels.
Due to the current construction of the Marlins roster, the team appears to have a very small margin for error if it wants to repeat as one of the National League's representatives in the playoffs. Schumaker's lineup has several players of collective value, but lacks an individual impact player.
Meanwhile, the pitching staff is plagued by injuries, none as painful as that of “ace” Sandy Alcantara, who will miss the entire tournament after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The bullpen, in particular, does not have fully defined roles and raises questions in pressing situations.
These deficiencies have been evident during the first week of activities for the team. Miami has also shown some of its positive sides, but they haven't been able to “click” at the same time so far.
“It's not about a lack of effort,” Schumaker said. “It's just lack of execution.”
No alarms in Miami:
Despite remaining positive, Schumaker does not try to hide the flaws that the team under his command has had so far. It is true that some of the defeats have been in disputed matches, in which the path could have been very different; But it is also a reality that the Marlins have looked fragile at times, like a squad that is far from fighting for the division title.
“You're going to have games like that throughout the season. It's unfortunate that they've been one after another after another. We've played a couple of games where we've performed well and delivered. And then there are others where we've been defeated. We have had both,” the boss concluded.
