The Miami Marlins are not exactly having the best start for a team that moved locations just a season ago. In 2012 the team went a disappointing 69-93 overall. They followed that up with an offseason that saw a purging of the roster, getting rid of Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle and several other marquee players along with general manger Ozzie Guillen. After a slow start to 2013, fans are none too pleased with the direction the team is headed in. During Monday night's game, several fans protested the team with t-shirts and signs and were ejected from the stadium befoer the game began.
Dan Barton was wearing a shirt that read "Helping other teams get better since 1998." He tells the Palm Beach Post that he and his friends were kicked out of their seats and were not allowed to return to the stadium. Barton said the police claim their signs were blocking the views of other fans. They offered to turn their shirts inside out and put down the signs, but the police told them no and removed them from the stadium.
Following the game, team president David Samson defended the removal of the fans, claiming they were drawing attention to themselves, making noise and disrupting others.
"We go through games during the course of the season, it is not uncommon to have ejections of people who drink too much. Overall it is hard to, even for certain people, it is hard to put a negative spin on tonight's game other than the fact that we did not win and got two hits," Samson said.
Samson said the fans were only asked to leave to ballpark. They were not arrested. He believes the police were just doing their job to keep peace around the stadium.
Fans do have a reason to be upset with the team so far this season. The Marlins are now 1-6 to kickoff the 2013 season. They have a roster that is almost unrecognizable. Last night during their game against the Atlanta Braves, they were shut out, earning only two hits. They gave up 10 hits and two runs. The team currently ranks almost last in every statistical category this season.
