Marlins' 2003 WS squad sees similarities with '23 group

MIAMI -- The Marlins celebrated the 20th anniversary of their second World Series championship on Friday night in front of 30,978 fans by welcoming back nine members of that 2003 squad for the series opener against the Yankees.

Though Miami was unable to recreate the magic from two decades ago in a 9-4 loss at loanDepot park, the alumni in attendance spotted a few similarities between the two clubs. That’s not to say the 2023 edition will run the table, but the organization overall is trending in the right direction.

“I look at it as if I'm a hitter and I go play a team, am I excited to face the staff?” Mike Lowell said. “I look at the arms that they have -- and I know [Jesús] Luzardo wasn't great today, but I'm not excited to face a guy who has his stuff. I'm not excited to face Eury Pérez or even Sandy [Alcantara]. I know Sandy I'm sure wants to do better than he has to date, but those aren't guys where you feel like, ‘Oh man, this is a great matchup for me to put up some good offensive numbers.’”

Luzardo, who showed up to the ballpark wearing a 2003 World Series T-shirt, went to games during that playoff run. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to channel Fall Classic MVP Josh Beckett, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez.

The 25-year-old Luzardo was chased after surrendering a season-high seven runs in a season-low 3 1/3 innings. He has a 6.66 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break after posting a 3.29 ERA in a breakout first half. It’s a combination of out-of-whack mechanics and missed location. Luzardo’s velocity and pitch characteristics are still there, but he has allowed the game to speed up on him.

“It was cool to see everything that we did for them, and obviously it's great remembering what they did, and me growing up in South Florida,” Luzardo said. “I think it's awesome and great to have them back. I'm just frustrated [with] my performance in front of them. But I feel like tomorrow's a new day, so [I] just have to move on.

“They probably weren't favorites going into the year or even throughout going into the playoffs, so I feel like we're the same way. They had that little underdog to them, and I feel like so do we. One game isn't going to change our trajectory, but definitely at least for me, I feel like I need to make a quick change.”

Two other comparable elements the alumni brought up were a prototypical leadoff batter and the clubhouse cohesiveness.

Despite this week’s experiment batting Jorge Soler first over Luis Arraez, the Marlins have one of the game’s best as a tablesetter. Arraez by no means has Juan Pierre’s speed, but he is batting a Major League-best .366 despite a slump.

And ever since his introductory press conference, first-time manager Skip Schumaker has worked toward building a winning culture. Even during the club’s challenging second half, he has stayed even-keeled. World Series champions Soler and Yuli Gurriel have provided veteran presence.

“Even in Spring Training, I knew it was kind of a different vibe, because Skip was really paying attention to details like I'd never seen before,” Pierre said. “A lot of managers do it, but a lot of the time the team doesn't respond as well. I was like, ‘They're buying into this. They can do something,’ and you can just see it.”

The hope now is that the Deadline additions of Josh Bell and Jake Burger will allow the lineup to complement the pitching. Bell went deep for the fourth time in nine games, while Burger doubled twice. The 2003 squad, however, had several future Silver Sluggers -- and even one of the greatest right-handed hitters in Miguel Cabrera.

“He's been a great middle-of-the-order bat,” Schumaker said of Bell. “Both those guys slug. We really didn't have that in the order, and when you can slug up and down the lineup, that helps get you back into games and put those crooked numbers up like we've talked about before. He's hitting the ball really well, and again, the slug is what we hoped he would bring and both of them are providing that for us.”

With Friday’s loss, the Marlins (60-57) are a half-game back of the final National League Wild Card spot. The 2003 squad was also a half-game back on Aug. 11.