Miami Palms Blog

 By Rhys Thomason The timing is almost too convenient. As the Miami Palms grind through a stretch that feels heavier than the standings suggest, help is on the horizon. By the end of the month, center fielder Brett Gardner, second baseman Jaspero Gonzalez, and starters Dylan Bundy and Erick Fedde are all expected back in some form. On paper, that sounds like oxygen. In reality, it raises a more interesting question: What exactly needs saving? The Palms aren’t broken. They’re 39–38, not 29–48. The rotation has largely done its job. Tony Rico’s innings-first philosophy has protected the bullpen from collapse. The clubhouse, by all accounts, remains steady — no splintering, no visible panic. But there’s a difference between stability and momentum. Right now, Miami feels like a team treading water. Competitive most nights. Capable in stretches. Rarely overwhelmed. Yet rarely overwhelming. That’s where the returning pieces matter. Brett Gardner doesn’t just play center field....

  Friday, June 19, 2020 – Guaranteed Rate Field By Vin Castillo The Miami Palms finally put runs on the board Friday night. Unfortunately, so did Chicago. In bunches. After being shut out in back-to-back games in Toronto, the Palms broke through in the fifth and sixth innings — but the White Sox answered with a relentless middle-inning surge, handing Miami a 9–2 loss to open the weekend series. For a brief stretch, it felt competitive. Frank Sohn provided the spark with his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot that trimmed the deficit and injected some life into the dugout. Chris Korb, newly returned to the lineup, looked sharp in his first game back, collecting three hits and driving in a run. Edwin Encarnación added a double as the Palms showed more offensive pulse than they had all week. But the game turned quickly — and decisively. After Chicago scratched across a run in the third, they broke things open between the fifth and seventh innings, plating eight runs ove...

  Thursday, June 18, 2020 – Coca-Cola Palms Park By Vin Castillo Two nights. Eighteen innings. Zero runs. The Miami Palms dropped their second straight 2–0 decision to Toronto on Thursday, wasting another strong starting performance and sending a quiet clubhouse into an off-day flight west. If Wednesday felt frustrating, Thursday felt eerily familiar. Toronto scratched across a run in the second inning when Travis Shaw delivered an RBI single, then added another in the seventh on Cavan Biggio’s sacrifice fly. That was it. Six hits. One walk. Two runs. And somehow, it was enough again. Jarod Lantz gave Miami exactly what they needed — eight innings, two runs, five strikeouts, just one walk. He pitched ahead in counts, limited traffic, and kept Toronto from landing anything resembling a knockout blow. But Hyun-Jin Ryu was sharper. Ryu carved through the Palms for eight shutout innings, scattering eight hits while walking no one. Miami put runners aboard in five different inni...

 By Rhys Thomason There’s a particular danger zone in a baseball season that doesn’t show up in the standings. It’s not a freefall. It’s not a collapse. It’s the part where everything still looks fine. That’s where the Miami Palms are right now. A four-game slide sounds manageable. The record is still north of .500. The rotation hasn’t imploded. No one’s lighting jerseys on fire in the parking lot. If you squint, this looks like a normal June lull — the kind every team swears they’ll laugh about in August. But the warning signs aren’t about wins and losses. They’re about feel . The Palms have gone quiet in a way that doesn’t scream crisis, but does whisper concern. Not sloppy. Not reckless. Just… muted. At-bats that end without resistance. Games that drift instead of swing. Losses where the postgame quotes are polite and reasonable and entirely correct — which is often when teams are least dangerous. You can see it most clearly on offense. This lineup, on paper, should gr...

  June 17, 2020 — Coca-Cola Palms Park By Vin Castillo There are nights when you tip your cap, and nights when you just shake your head. Wednesday was both. The Miami Palms wasted a complete-game gem from Blake Johnston and still walked off the field scoreless, blanked 2–0 by Toronto right-hander Shun Yamaguchi as the Blue Jays continued to have Miami’s number in this series. Johnston was excellent—efficient, poised, and unlucky. The left-hander scattered seven hits across nine innings, allowing just two runs and never issuing a walk. He needed only 94 pitches to get through the night, inducing weak contact and keeping Toronto from mounting any extended rallies. Unfortunately, Yamaguchi was better. Toronto’s starter matched Johnston pitch for pitch and then some, striking out nine Palms hitters while allowing seven singles and not a single free pass. Miami put the ball in play, but almost never with authority, and never with timing. Toronto struck first in the opening inning...

  By Vin Castillo For eight innings Tuesday night, it looked like the Toronto Blue Jays were going to find yet another way to torment the Miami Palms. Instead, Pat Grant made sure the story finally flipped. Grant launched a walk-off, two-run home run into the warm Miami night in the bottom of the ninth, lifting the Palms to a cathartic 7–5 win at Coca-Cola Palms Park and snapping their long, frustrating run of near-misses against Toronto. And it came after the kind of ninth inning that felt cursed—right up until it wasn’t. After Toronto tied the game in the top of the eighth on a Travis Shaw RBI single off Wandy Peralta, Miami looked briefly rattled. But Jason Roeder opened the bottom of the ninth with a single, and Yairo Muñoz followed with another knock to put the winning run on base with nobody out. The momentum screeched to a halt when Matt Koch bounced into a brutal 1-5-3 double play, erasing both runners and quieting the crowd in an instant. Four pitches later, Grant end...