MIAMI — After hitting just .239 with 10 home runs and 58 RBI in what amounted to his worst season in a Mariners uniform, Jose Lopez knew last season was going to be his final year in Seattle.
So before the 27-year-old third baseman left town, hit the free agent market and eventually found his way to the Marlins after being released by the Rockies earlier this month, Lopez and his family spent about five weeks toward the end of last season and into October living with close friend Felix Hernandez.
“My wife was pregnant (due on Oct. 22). So instead of leaving, we stayed with Felix,” said Lopez, who also played with the 2010 American League Cy Young Award winner on the Venezuelan national team.
“We spent a lot of time together, my wife, kids, Felix’s wife and kids. Now, we text seven days a week. I talk to him maybe five times a week. I’ve never faced him before, but everybody said his ball moves way big, he doesn’t throw too straight. It’s going to be interesting.”
Facing Hernandez (7-6, 3.34 ERA) on Friday night is one reason the Marlins’ three-game series at Safeco Field will be interesting. There are plenty of other reasons, starting with the fact that the last-place Marlins (33-42) and not the second-place Mariners (37-37) will bat last and play as the home team during the series, which was originally scheduled to take place at Sun Life Stadium.
“It’s definitely going to be weird to play a home game in front of 30,000 Seattle fans,” said Wes Helms, who along with Hanley Ramirez are the only remaining position players who made the Marlins’ last trip to Seattle in 2008.
“The positive is we’re going to have more people there, and we know we’re not going to have any delays. The weather up there is awesome. It’s not going to be 100 degrees with humidity.”
If not for U2 having booked its make-up concert Wednesday (and needing sufficient time to build the stage for it), the series would have taken place in South Florida. Major League Baseball explored other options ” including having the series played in Puerto Rico ” before deciding to move it to Seattle.
The Marlins will stay in the visitors’ clubhouse, wear their alternate black jerseys with their home white pants and split the money earned at the gate with the Mariners.
This isn’t the first time the Marlins or another major-league team has played a home series away from home.
In September 2004, because of the threat of Hurricane Ivan, the Marlins moved two home games against the Montreal Expos to U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, home of the White Sox.
Last June 25-27, with the G20 Summit in Toronto, the Blue Jays moved their series with the Phillies to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
“It felt pretty normal until we closed out the game in the top of the ninth, and it was dead quiet instead of cheering,” said Marlins catcher John Buck, who was with the Blue Jays last season.
“(Safeco) is a big park. You got to really get it to hit it out ” especially left-center, right-center (field). It’s a pitcher’s park, kind of like here, which I guess is good for us.”
The Marlins, 2-20 in the month of June and 16-24 at home overall, have lost eight consecutive series since sweeping the Giants in San Francisco on May 26.
So taking another long fight west and playing a rare home series 3,317 miles away from South Florida might not be the worst thing in the world.
The good news for the Marlins is at least their bats are starting to come alive.
During the last two games of their series against the Angels, the Marlins went 8 for 23 with runners in scoring position ” a big improvement over their well-documented struggles over a 3-23 stretch.
Ramirez has gone 4 for 9 with two clutch, two-out RBI singles since being benched Monday and then put into the cleanup spot Tuesday.
And, after missing three games with an eye infection, Mike Stanton has put together back-to-back three-hit games and produced two RBI, raising his batting average 15 points to .262.
After Wednesday’s 6-5 loss to the Angels, interim manager Jack McKeon said he thought the Marlins were “on the right path,” but promised more tinkering would take place during the team’s nine-game trip against the American League West.
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