Miami Palms Blog

  CINCINNATI — Maybe it’s the humidity rolling off the Ohio River or the way Great American Ball Park keeps baseballs feeling just a little lighter, but the Miami Palms sure seem comfortable playing from behind. On Tuesday night, they did it again—spotting the Reds an early lead, absorbing every punch, and then answering with a flurry of their own in a 7–6 comeback win to open their series in Cincinnati. “We’re getting pretty good at not panicking,” Matt Wieters said afterward with a laugh. “Not that we want this to be our style, but if that’s how it has to be? Fine. We’ll take it.” The Reds threw haymakers early, pushing across six runs in the first four innings against Manny Parra. Miami trailed 6–2 by the time the dust settled, and with Tyler Mahle pounding the zone, the Palms’ chances looked steeper than the Taft Road incline outside the ballpark. But Wieters, in what’s becoming a quietly steady May surge, had other plans. The veteran catcher led off the fifth with a tower...

 ATLANTA — Memorial Day baseball is supposed to be leisurely, but the Miami Palms spent their afternoon working. They didn’t just close out a four-game set in Atlanta—they tightened up the fundamentals, leaned on their pitching depth, and walked out of Truist Park with a tidy 4–2 win to take three of four from the Braves. It wasn’t flashy. In fact, the first four innings were downright sleepy. But once again, the Palms showed the kind of mid-May identity that’s forming around them: grind their way on base, string competitive at-bats, and wait for someone in the middle of the order to crack things open. On Monday, that spark came courtesy of Pat Grant, who punched a two-run double down the line in the fifth, breaking open what had been a shutout by Brave Mike Soroka. “Those are the kinds of rallies we haven’t always finished off,” Grant said. “We’re getting better at it—passing the baton, doing the small stuff. Even the foul balls feel more purposeful right now.” Kragh Battles, ...

ATLANTA — The Miami Palms didn’t wrap the series on Sunday, but they did take control of it. Behind eight strong innings from Blake Johnston and a multi-homer afternoon from the middle of the order, Miami beat the Atlanta Braves 8–2 in Game 3 of their four-game set at Truist Park. The victory pushes the Palms to 30–25 and gives them a 2–1 series edge heading into Sunday’s finale. “Today was about execution,” Johnston said. “We came in wanting to swing first, and we did.” THE GAME After spotting Atlanta two early runs, the Palms answered quickly and convincingly: Matt Koch jump-started the comeback with a three-run homer in the second inning. Pat Grant delivered three hits, including a laser home run in the sixth that blew the game open. Matt Wieters added his tenth long ball of the season, a solo shot in the seventh. Frank Sohn chipped in three hits, continuing his steady run of form. Nick Markakis posted another three-hit day, including a double. Chris Ko...

 There’s a strange thing happening at Coca-Cola Palms Park this year, and I don’t just mean the teal-tan jerseys, though those remain an ongoing dialogue between fashion and fugitive lighting. I’m talking about the team itself — a club that, if you squint, looks like it should be good, and if you don’t squint, looks like something else entirely depending on the inning, the week, or the mood of the bullpen. The 2020 Miami Palms are an identity crisis wrapped in an explosion of exit velocity. Take the offense. On their good days, this might be the most cohesive lineup the organization has fielded in years. The top of the order puts the ball in play; the middle is loud; the bottom has enough professionals to keep an inning alive. Nick Markakis continues to age in reverse, as though the humid Miami air functions as a rejuvenation chamber. The man has become a dependable metronome — steady, unfussy, and oddly indispensable. But the real story — the one quietly defining the first two...

 ATLANTA — Baseball has a way of putting its thumb on the bruise. The Miami Palms arrived at Truist Park on Saturday carrying a three-game winning streak, a little swagger, and the sense that maybe—finally—the turbulence of early May was beginning to fade behind them. For all of one inning, that narrative held up. Then came the second. Seventeen Atlanta batters. Eleven runs. One long, slow-motion unraveling. By the time the inning was over—and by the time the smoke cleared on what became an 11–6 loss—the Palms weren’t licking a single wound. They were trying to account for all of them. “Baseball doesn’t care how good you felt when you woke up,” manager Scott Hatteberg said afterward, tugging at the bill of his cap. “Some nights it just punches back.” A Night That Turned in a Flash The box score will show Erick Fedde charged with 11 earned runs in 1 2/3 innings, and it will show you nothing of how quickly things went sideways. A harmless walk. A soft single. A flare. A bord...

  By Vin Castillo, Palms Beat ATLANTA — The Miami Palms opened their nine-game road trip the way a road trip ought to begin: with a little grit, a little late-inning opportunism, and a whole lot of Chris Korb . Korb — who has been the club’s steadiest bat throughout a turbulent, injury-patched May — homered, doubled, and drove in two of Miami’s four runs in a tight 4–3 win over the Braves at Truist Park on Friday night. His two run shot in the fourth got the Palms on the board, and his ninth inning double led to scoring the go ahead run. The Braves had knotted things up in the fifth, taking advantage of a weary Dylan Bundy and an ineffective Adam Conley, but Miami’s bullpen once again held the line. Cody Allen, Jeremy Jeffress, and closer Chris Martin combined for four shutout innings , allowing just one hit and, crucially, no walks. Jeffress earned the win; Martin earned his 17th save , good for one of the highest totals in the league. Fourth Inning Spark Down 1–0, Korb ambu...

 The Miami Palms boarded a plane for Atlanta this afternoon with something they haven’t carried much this year: momentum. And yet, buried somewhere beneath Edwin Encarnacion’s orbit-defying moonshots and the 18-hit parade that drowned the White Sox, there’s a little tremor in the floorboards of this team—one that deserves a closer look before this nine-game road gauntlet really starts shaking. So today’s column isn’t about the homers (though Encarnacion’s grand slam may still be visible from space). It’s about something far more fragile: the Palms’ identity . What Are the 2020 Palms, Actually? Are they the free-wheeling, line-drive machine that just put up 13 runs without breaking a sweat? Or are they the team that can look listless for entire series, propped up only by the occasional Korb rope double or Holt surprise rally? Manager Scott Hatteberg has offered half-answers all year about “letting the roster breathe,” but after 52 games, the room is getting humid. When I aske...

  By Vin Castillo, Miami Sun-Sentinel MIAMI — If the Miami Palms have been looking for a spark to take with them on their season-defining nine-game road trip, they may have just found it in the form of Edwin Encarnación’s bat — or possibly, whatever cosmic fireball he’s currently swinging in its place. Encarnación crushed two home runs , including a towering grand slam in the second inning, driving in six as the Palms hammered the White Sox 13–7 on Thursday afternoon at Coca-Cola Palms Park. That slam — a no-doubt rocket to deep left — turned a 2–1 lead into a 6–1 cushion and sent the dugout into full party mode. “I’ve seen Eddie get hot, but this is something different,” Nick Markakis said afterward. “He’s guessing right, he’s getting pitches to hit… the man’s a bonfire.” Markakis, not to be overshadowed, went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a double. Chris Korb chipped in three hits as well, including one of Miami’s seven extra-base hits on the day. Matt Koch added a pair of ...

 By Vin Castillo, Miami Sun-Sentinel MIAMI — For the first time in a week, Coca-Cola Palms Park was loud for the right reasons. The Miami Palms shook off their recent funk Wednesday night, riding home runs from Edwin Encarnación, Matt Wieters, and Matt Koch to an 8–6 victory over the Chicago White Sox. “We needed this one,” manager Scott Hatteberg said with a relieved grin afterward. “It’s not about any single play — it’s about getting that feeling back, where every guy in the lineup thinks we’re going to get the next big hit.” The offense answered the call early and often. After falling behind 2–0, Miami erupted for three runs in the third, capped by Encarnación’s booming two-run triple to right-center — his fourth of the year after hitting his ninth homer on the season in the 2nd. Koch followed in the sixth with a solo homer, and Wieters crushed a two-run shot to put the Palms up 8–6, giving the bullpen just enough breathing room to hang on. “It felt like every time they pun...