How Dickerson’s slump embodies Marlins’ collective approach: ‘It’s not a selfish game’
One of Don Mattingly’s favorite things about Corey Dickerson is the way the veteran outfielder comes to the plate with a plan for every at-bat. Lately, his plan has been to swing away — a boom-or-bust approach for the Miami Marlins in the thick of a playoff race.
It was true Saturday. In his first at-bat, Dickerson laid off a breaking ball at the bottom of the zone and swung away at Blake Snell’s elevated fastball, striking out on five pitches while fanning at three fastballs at the top of the zone — bust. In his second at-bat, he stuck with it, swinging at two straight fastballs to start the at-bat and sending the second soaring over the center-fiend fence — boom.
“I just don’t want to succumb to trying to get hits, just go up there and try to chase a hit,” Dickerson said Saturday. “I want to do damage.”
The home run was Dickerson’s second in as many days against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field and his third since last Sunday. He headed into Sunday mired in a bizarre slump — in his last eight games, Dickerson was 3 for 29 and all three of those hits were homers.
Even as Dickerson has slumped, the Marlins (17-17) have only given him one game off because of the role he is filling. Miami has the second fewest homers in MLB and Dickerson now leads the Marlins with six and has their third highest hard-hit percentage.
“It’s not a selfish game right now,” Dickerson said. “I don’t want to go in to just try to get my hits. I want to be able to drive in runs, get really good swings off and try to help this team make the playoffs.”
Dickerson also said he made some mechanical adjustments for the first two games against the Rays (27-13) in St. Petersburg, so he’s optimistic about some consistency returning, too. Four of his last eight batted balls entering Thursday had an exit velocity of at least 95 mph, qualifying them as “hard hit.”
“I feel really good,” Dickerson said. “I’ve just felt so good lately, especially mentally going up there, feeling free.”
.JPG "MarlinsRaysBaseball (3).JPG")
Harold Ramirez returns to IL
Harold Ramirez’s return to the Majors lasted all of 4 1/2 innings Saturday.
The outfielder returned to the 10-day injured list Sunday after straining his left hamstring in the fifth inning of Miami’s 7-3 win at Tropicana Field on Saturday. Utility infielder Eddy Alvarez, who was optioned to the alternate training site in Jupiter on Saturday to make room for Ramirez, returns to the active roster in Ramirez’s place.
Ramirez, who began the season in the mix for the starting job in right field, played in just two games in July before he became one of 18 Marlins to contract COVID-19 in the opening weeks of the season. He remained on the IL until Saturday, when he finally rejoined the team at Tampa Bay. He singled in a run in his second at-bat, then suffered a scary hamstring injury in the fifth. As he ran out a ground ball, Ramirez pulled up short and collapsed as he crossed first base. He remained down for several minutes and had to be carted off the field, unable to put any weight on his left leg.
Ramirez was scheduled to have an MRI on his left leg Sunday.
“It looked pretty bad. He was definitely in some pain,” Mattingly said Saturday. “Just seeing him in the training room, he said he feels better, so we’ll just see what happens tomorrow, but it obviously didn’t look very good out there.”
Looking ahead
▪ The Marlins’ rotation is set for their upcoming three-game series against the Atlanta Braves. Pitcher Jose Urena will make his season debut Monday in Atlanta after spending more than a month on the IL because of the coronavirus. Sixto Sanchez will make his fourth career start Tuesday and fellow starting pitcher Pablo Lopez will wrap up the series at Truist Park on Wednesday.
▪ Game 1 of Miami’s three-game set with the Braves will broadcast exclusively on YouTube. It’s one of four games across the streaming service will air exclusively throughout September.
▪ Garrett Cooper was out of the starting lineup for the second straight day Sunday. The slugger is dealing with a quadriceps injury and is day to day.
▪ With Alvarez joining the active roster, outfielder Monte Harrison, and relief pitchers Brett Eibner and Tommy Eveld were on the Marlins’ taxi squad Thursday. They will travel with the team to Georgia.
This story was originally published September 6, 2020 at 12:06 PM.
