Florida Fans Lovin’ Their Livan Marlins’ Hernandez To Face Tribe’s Hershiser In Game 1
Growing up in Cuba, just 300 miles from Miami, Livan Hernandez managed to get his hands on videotapes of the 1992 and ‘93 World Series.
But watching a World Series game live on TV? Or listening on the radio? No way.
“I’ve never seen one,” Hernandez said Thursday. “Not even dreaming.”
That will change Saturday, when Hernandez looks in at his catcher, winds up and throws the first pitch of Game 1. In a scenario literally beyond his wildest dreams, the 22-year-old rookie will start for the Florida Marlins against the Cleveland Indians.
His family and friends in Cuba may not be able to watch, but much of the rest of the world will. Even the president is talking about the Marlins.
“I want to congratulate those in Miami because their baseball team is going to be in the World Series,” President Clinton said Thursday during his tour of South America.
In Miami, the bandwagon is overflowing. Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga was so disappointed by attendance this season that he put the team up for sale, but a record crowd of 65,000 is expected for Game 1.
Their new hero is Hernandez, the MVP in the National League Championship Series. He caused such a commotion walking into a Little Havana restaurant Wednesday that it took him four hours to eat lunch.
“I love all the fans,” Hernandez said. “I hope they fill the stadium and yell a lot.”
Hernandez will be opposed by Cleveland’s 39-year-old Orel Hershiser, who started - and lost - the first game in Marlins’ history in April 1993, when he pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Five seasons later, the Marlins are in the postseason for the first time, and they’re thriving. The N.L.’s wild-card team went 7-2 in the first two rounds and reached the World Series by surprising two-time defending N.L. champion Atlanta.
Cleveland, seeking its first world championship since 1948, is also regarded as an upstart despite winning its second American League title in three years. The Indians beat Baltimore in the A.L. Championship Series thanks to four one-run victories.
“Whether anybody believes it or not, the best two teams are here,” Marlins manager Jim Leyland said. “Neither team fluked into this thing. Both teams did what they had to do.”
The Marlins had to overcome a wave of illness and injuries, and the latter remain a concern.
Third baseman Bobby Bonilla, who left Tuesday’s pennant-clinching victory in the eighth inning with a sore left hamstring, took batting practice Thursday but didn’t field any ground balls. Bonilla has played despite chronic wrist and ankle injuries this season, but he said his latest ailment could keep him out of the lineup for the first two games in Miami.
“I don’t want something like this to rain on the parade,” he said. “I’m going to battle it, but I’m not going to hurt the team in any way. If I have to miss the first two and then go to Cleveland, that’s what I’ll do.”
Hernandez will make his first start since Sunday, when he pitched a three-hitter with an NLCS-record 15 strikeouts to beat Atlanta. The rookie right-hander hit the outside corner all day, and the Braves complained that he benefited from umpire Eric Gregg’s generous strike zone.
Will those be strikes Saturday?
“If they’re not, he’s capable of moving the ball to where they will be,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “He has been able to do that all along. If the strike zone is tighter, the pitcher has to tighten up.”
The plate umpire in Game 1 will be Ed Montague of the National League. His strike zone is regarded as average - larger than some, smaller than others.
“I’ll have to get a feel for the umpire,” Hernandez said through an interpreter. “I’m going to work the corners and change up my pitches like I did against Atlanta.”
Hernandez said he doesn’t know where the city of Cleveland is, but he has faced the Indians. In 1996, his first pro season, he allowed them eight runs and 12 hits in 6-2/3 innings in consecutive spring training appearances, landing him in the minors.
The Marlins blamed culture shock for that slow start. This year Hernandez quit eating Big Macs, dropped 20 pounds, won his first nine major league decisions and even learned a little English.
He can say “World Series.”
xxxx SERIES SCHEDULE All games on NBC Saturday: at Florida, 5:05 p.m. Sunday: at Florida, 4:35 Tuesday: at Cleveland, 5:20 Wednesday: at Cleveland, 5:20 Thursday: at Cleveland, 5:20* Oct. 25: at Florida, 5* Oct. 26: at Florida, 4:35* *-if necessary.