Marlins President David Samson before yesterday's Cardinals-Marlins game spoke about the team's '12 attendance, the "disappointment of not having a Marlin named to the All-Star team to replace injured [RF] Giancarlo Stanton as well as frustration with the inconsistency of the team throughout the first half of the season," according to Craig Davis of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. Samson said of the team's attendance during its first year at Marlins Park, "It’s hard not to be happy averaging over 28,000 people, but we’d rather be at 32,000 to 35,000 people. I think the team did not help in that regard. ... It will respond based on performance, and right now our performance is just to the left of mediocre." He also "addressed issues such as problems with the grass at Marlins Park, attendance and the upcoming reality TV series 'The Franchise' featuring the Marlins that will debut Wednesday night on Showtime." Samson said of the Showtime series, "We promised to give them access to everything. We did that. They’re everywhere. When we did the trade for [1B] Carlos Lee, they’re there, when we sent players down, they’re there. They’re there when we trade players, when [we] talk about players." Nationals RF Bryce Harper will replace Stanton on the NL's All-Star Game roster, and Samson said, "I think there were a lot of different ways that Tony (La Russa) and MLB could have gone. I think it’s unfortunate. I think that every team should be represented on the line in an All-Star Game. ... Obviously MLB or Tony or whoever makes the decision had their own view of it, and it's certainly disappointing." Meanwhile, Samson said of the problems with the grass at Marlins Park, "The grass sort of reflects our season. It’s brown right now but getting greener. We’ve called agronomists, we’ve called voodoo people, we’ve called agriculturalists, we’ve called grounds crew people, we’ve called grass growers, we’ve called them all" (SUN-SENTINEL.com, 7/8).
SWIMMING ALONE: MLB.com's Joe Frisaro noted Samson "spoke with an MLB representative about the decision to not take another Miami player as a replacement." MLB "had no comment on Samson's remarks." When asked if he was given a reason why no Marlins replacement was selected, Samson replied, "I can't say that I had one" (MLB.com, 7/8). In West Palm Beach, Joe Capozzi noted the "shutout is shocking because the Marlins’ roster includes players with a combined 24 All Star nods." Samson said, “Listen, there’s nothing you can do about it except to say that I wish our guys would have ... I wish our first half would have gone differently, obviously" (PALMBEACHPOST.com, 7/8).
