Marlins Park is built on the site of the Miami Orange Bowl: the former home stadium of the University of Miami and the Orange Bowl game. Although not a major feature of the ballpark, there is a column on the main concourse that shows the history of the Miami Orange Bowl. As I approached the stadium from the east through a neighborhood of older houses and condo/apartments, the area reminded me more of the surroundings of college football stadium than an MLB ballpark. This feeling shifted as I reached the ballpark itself. Four parking garages flanked the north and south sides of the stadium. The base of the ballpark's exterior was lined with palm gardens, ticket kiosks, and a large plaza on the west side of the stadium (more on this plaza later). I entered the gate on the north-west side of the stadium and took an escalator up to the main concourse (similar to US Cellular Field but at "The Cell" there were ramps instead of escalators).
The concourse of Marlins Park is large, open, accented in lime green, and more stadium like than other ballparks. The upperdeck wraps around foul pole to foul pole with a few other sections of upperdeck seating from right field to below the massive scoreboard in centerfield . I quickly found of that the upperdeck in right field is close to the playing surface as any well-hit batting practice homerun ball would end up in the upperdeck. There are relatively few seats in left field. At field level were the Clevelander seats and club/bar area. Apparently, the Clevelander is one of the more well-known hotels/bars on South Beach and this seating section brings a taste of South Beach to Marlins Park. Well above the field is the main concourse and Budweiser Bar: more of a bar you expected to see at a cool college bar than a ballpark. Above the Budweiser Bar and spanning from the left field foul pole to centerfield was a wall of windows. These windows (similar to Minute Maid Park) gave the stadium an openness and view of downtown Miami in the distance. Just left to dead centerfield is the signature feature of Marlins Park: a home run sculpture. The sculpture contains several fish and other marine wildlife that rotate around the center of the sculpture if the Marlins hit a homerun. It bares more of a resemblance to sculptures outside children's museums that anything else I have seen on my journey to the ballparks. Another cool feature of Marlins Park is that there are aquariums directly behind home plate where there are normally advertisements at other ballparks. Unfortunately, this aspect is only visible and accessible to those people at the best seats or watching on television. My personal favorite part of the ballpark was the bobble-head museum. This glass cabinet on the main concourse behind home plate was simple but embraces a often overlooked ballpark collectible.
The food selection at Marlins Park was pretty impressive. After figuring out the menu board on the screens behind the concession stands were switching between English and Spanish, I settled for the medianoche (or "midnight") sandwich, very similar to a Cuban sandwich but with softer bread. Even though I had a Cuban sandwich at Tropicana Field the night before, the case full of homemade sandwiches had a strong allure. The taste match the sight as this sandwich blew the other Cuban sandwiches I have had at ballparks out of the water! It was obvious that the Marlins tried to make going to a game a fun atmosphere. They had (male and female) cheerleaders who would dance on dugouts in between innings and tried to start the wave in the bottom of the first. There were several giveaways and a wide variety of between inning entertainment including a race between marine life mascots (the shark barely beat out the sea dragon). Additionally, after the game they had a concert in the plaza on the west side of the stadium. The plaza was about 100 yards long with a large stage and video screen at one end. The performing artist were Sensato and DJ Laz, neither of whom I had ever heard of before. I didn't think there Latin dance music quite fit the crowd as there were many more families or older baseball fans at the game than young party goers. I think the Marlins marketing department has their work cut out for them in trying to convince the young adult crowd that Marlins games are fun.
Indians leadoff man Michael Bourn was a thorn in the side of the Marlins early in the game. He stole a couple of bases and scored two runs to take the early lead. The Marlins woke up from a quiet first few innings to get their first hit and tie the game at 2 in the bottom of the sixth. The top of the seventh inning was wild. After benefiting from three close calls on the bases including a play at the plate where Bourn scored his third run of the game, the Indians took at 4-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth. The Marlins Logan Morrison started the bottom of the ninth off with a double of Indians closer Chris Perez. After a Greg Dobbs single to score Morrison, Perez didn't help his cause by botching a sacrifice attempt by the Marlins to put the tying run on second the winning run on first. After a successful sacrifice to move the runners over, Perez managed to get the final two outs and secure an Indians victory.
My take-away from Marlins Park is that utilizes many effective features to make it as baseball friendly as a retractable roof ballpark can be. Other features, such as the bobble-head museum and the homerun sculpture distinguish Marlins Park from other (roofed and open air) ballparks. Despite the attempt of the marketing department, the atmosphere at the game was lacking. For a franchise that is know for its low payroll, what come first: the chicken (a winning team) or the egg (great fans and a great atmosphere)?
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