Amid trying time, Marlins seeking to remain positive
MIAMI -- Miami Marlins right-hander Dan Haren, a veteran of 13 big-league seasons, fielded questions inside a silent clubhouse following Thursday night's 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
At 34, Haren has yet to win a World Series. Once a pitcher who threw a mid-90s fastball, he now relies on location and smarts to retire batters. When the Marlins acquired him over the offseason as a one-year rental, it was to provide proven consistency and a veteran presence to a young ballclub aiming to snap a long postseason drought.
After being swept by the Cardinals, baseball's best team, Miami has dropped seven of eight. It has fallen to 14 games below .500 for the first time and 10.5 back in the National League East.
Time is slipping away.
"It's hard, especially my age, this stage of my career," said Haren, who dropped to 6-5 with a 3.38 ERA . "It's hard to deal with. I feel for the other 24 guys in here. We're trying to push and win a game, but we can't. There's no way out except just digging ourselves out and trying to win the next game. Dodgers aren't going to care that we just got swept. They're going to come out here and want to win. Can't feel sorry for ourselves, that's for sure."
Despite allowing three earned runs or fewer in his last three outings entering Thursday, the Marlins had lost all three. Haren once again didn't get much help from his offense.
Production isn't coming outside of Giancarlo Stanton, who extended his career-best home hitting streak to 12 games. Adeiny Hechavarria blasted a solo shot in the ninth to avoid the shutout, setting a personal best with his fourth homer of the season. An eighth-inning single by Dee Gordon added to his major-league-leading hit total.
An offense that scored eight runs in 2/3 inning off former teammate Nathan Eovaldi on June 16 has just 17 runs over the last eight games. During the three-game set with St. Louis, the Marlins stranded 20 men on base and went 1 for 17 with runners in scoring position. It's starting to catch up with them.
"Overall, we're going to have to do a better job, have better focus and concentration in the batter's box when we have the opportunities that present itself, especially against the good teams," manager Dan Jennings said. "Again, I think it goes back to what I said last night. When a team's in a little bit of a funk, and we're in that, guys tend to press and do too much instead of slowing the game down, staying inside themselves, staying with their approach. We're trying to do a little more than we need to versus trusting our abilities. Hopefully we can get that back on track and have some productive at-bats, especially with runners in scoring position."
Before things went haywire in the seventh, Haren permitted a run on four hits. Afterwards, he admitted to being tired but wanted to give his team "a lift and get us through seven facing the bottom of the lineup."
Like the batters, Haren tried doing too much, and it backfired.
Jon Jay reached on a bloop single and Randal Grichuk followed with a hit. A usually sound defense -- with the best fielding percentage in the big leagues -- couldn't field consecutive sacrifice bunts in what would evolve into a three-run seventh. A 1-0 deficit quickly became insurmountable -- by Marlins offense standards.
"We have to stay positive," Jennings said about the mood. "We signed up for 162, so we're going to play them all. There's a level of frustration. No one likes to lose. These guys come out here every day, they put the same amount of work and effort in. You hate to waste quality starts, and Dan's been our most consistent guy, and he gave it to us tonight. He pitched a hell of a ballgame and then that seventh inning things unraveled."
You can follow Christina De Nicola on Twitter @CDeNicola13 or email her at cdenicola13@gmail.com.
