1 00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Big Fish Small Pod. I'm Andrew Riddall. 2 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: It is raining where I am today. It's June eighth. 3 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: I have for you today an impressionistic take on the 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 1: Miami Marlins of this moment. Yesterday, prior to the game, 5 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: Don Mattingly initiated a meeting with the Marlins players, a 6 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:37,520 Speaker 1: closed door meeting. Obviously, what was actually spoken about in 7 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: this meeting is not for our ears. It's an ironic 8 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: thing to say on a podcast, perhaps, but it remains 9 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: to be seen what exactly was said, and maybe it 10 00:00:54,120 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: won't ever be known to us as a spectator of 11 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: this Marlins team. Really, what we know is that Don 12 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: Mattingly initiated the meeting. That's about it. He basically has 13 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: framed it such that the pressure was on him on Monday, 14 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: the day off, and he had to get that tension cleared. 15 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: He was feeling it certainly coming from the team, and 16 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: he initiated a meeting to air it out. 17 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 2: Just a lot of little things that felt like the 18 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 2: group needed to get out in the open and talk about. 19 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 2: And yeah, so from my perspective, it was really more 20 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 2: about letting the group talk and discuss different subjects. 21 00:01:55,080 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: It's not necessarily something baseball. It's not necessarily something not baseball. 22 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: We've seen even this weekend how there can be great 23 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: divide within clubhouses, with the Tampa Bay Rays a few 24 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: of their players refusing to wear pride patches. That's not 25 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: to say anything like that was happening in the Marlins clubhouse. 26 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: Certainly there could have been some tension about literally just 27 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: the way someone acts in the clubhouse with regards to 28 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: being annoying. Maybe they listen to music too loud at 29 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 1: their locker. I don't think it's that, but I would 30 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: be a major stretch to say that any tension was 31 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: related to a Pride night of the Rays. But it 32 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: is a fact that these have been incredibly difficult a 33 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 1: few years, and a lot has been said in those 34 00:02:55,120 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: few years, So it wouldn't be a stretch to see 35 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: a group of people get off of the same page 36 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: with each other, even relating to baseball. The Marlins have 37 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: brought in numerous free agents that, like might not have 38 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: really known each other prior to this season. So Don Maddingly, 39 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: in his job as manager, saw a need to air 40 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: out a clubhouse and pressed that button. Now you could 41 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: maybe argue that him offering up this meeting isn't quite 42 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: the strongest thing you want to see as a manager, 43 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: Like maybe the argument that not everyone in the clubhouse 44 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: is on the same page could be something of a 45 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: demerit to the manager. Obviously, you want your team to 46 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: be winning, which the Marlins haven't been doing as much 47 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: as you want, and a good portion of doing that 48 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: is working easively as a unit, as like a team 49 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: on the field winning And if there's some tension or 50 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: something that's in there at like the core of any 51 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: interaction between players, like your batter going up to the 52 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,839 Speaker 1: plate and trying to get word from the previous batter 53 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: who like struck out, just like a little bit of 54 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: like a quick note about that weird break on their 55 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: fastball or whatever could be conveyed in an instant could 56 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:38,679 Speaker 1: be a real thing that gets ignored and not conveyed 57 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: because of some tension between people that ordinarily and a 58 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: really well functioning team wouldn't be a problem. It's actually 59 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,719 Speaker 1: entirely at the core of baseball as a team sport 60 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: to work together and go for the win. So what 61 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: we saw today with the Marlins winning twelve to two, 62 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: certainly with an expectation laid by Don maddenly that the 63 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 1: team might come out flat after a ninety minute meeting 64 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: that might have brought forth some real emotional exhaustion and 65 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: difficult conversation. As spoken by Don, many people spoke in 66 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 1: this meeting, and the expectation was to come out flat. 67 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: Maybe it's that the warm up isn't quite as thorough 68 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: as a warm up might be on a given Tuesday. 69 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: Do your batting practice on the field stretch for a 70 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: few hours or so. That might be an exaggeration, but 71 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:48,679 Speaker 1: it really probably isn't For some major league baseball players. 72 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: It's maybe a good thing to set that low expectation. 73 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:59,479 Speaker 1: This feels like it's like a like a dynamic spot, 74 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: like from like incisive point, we're either seeing a change 75 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: or we're seeing a glaring flaw or a who knows what, 76 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 1: or just like like a mediocre baseball team. Like it's 77 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:25,599 Speaker 1: tough to really calibrate an expectation at this point. Certainly 78 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:30,159 Speaker 1: that Marlins are not odds on favorites to get to 79 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: the postseason, and to get there would require something quite unexpected. 80 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: But today brought something quite unexpected. So there's a trajectory 81 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,840 Speaker 1: to see where the team might continue to follow on 82 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: that path, or something different might happen in the future. Really, 83 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: right now, though it's a moment with a lot of 84 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:03,919 Speaker 1: air to it. Having aired out the clubhouse, perhaps some 85 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: grievances along with it, the team at least did get 86 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: the win and put baseball forward, putting those grievances on 87 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: that back burner. Maybe they're still there, simmering, getting cooked out, 88 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: maybe just boiling down, reducing into something much more manageable 89 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: going forward without the added pressure of winning on top 90 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: of any possible strife. So now, at this moment, as 91 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: we look to today another game in the evening with 92 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: the Washington Nationals at Blown Depot Park, what we might 93 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: see something a little bit different than last night, but 94 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: maybe something not quite There might be some more clues 95 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: as to the nature of this closed door meeting, but 96 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: for now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Don Mattingly 97 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: made his play, so now we will see it out 98 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: and because of Don Manningly, today's game will look different 99 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: than the week before it. For the podcast, I've been 100 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: Andrew Ridal, thank you for listening. We'll be back with 101 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: you with more coverage here tomorrow on the Fish Stripes 102 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:37,319 Speaker 1: Podcast Network. Thank you for listening. Talk to you again 103 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: on Friday.