Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images
The Miami Marlins couldn’t have scripted a better start on Tuesday night. A six-run lead in the first inning, the bats alive, the Padres on the ropes. But by the time the fifth inning ended, the game, and the mood, had completely unraveled.
At the center of it all was rookie second baseman Ronny Simon. In just three innings, the 25-year-old committed three costly errors, each one chipping away at Miami’s early cushion and his own confidence. By the time he was pulled in the fifth, Simon wasn’t just struggling on the field, he was visibly breaking down off it, wiping away tears in the dugout after a series of defensive misplays helped turn a dream inning into a nightmare.
The Marlins would go on to lose 8-6 to the San Diego Padres, and Simon’s role in the collapse was undeniable. But so was the weight of what he was carrying.
Ronny Simon, who was called up on April 20 and had made just one error at second base all season, started the night cleanly, fielding a pop-up in foul ground and a routine grounder to end the first inning. Then came the unraveling. A hit-and-run in the third distracted him just enough to let a ground ball sneak into center field. Though ruled a single, it marked the beginning of the end. The Padres cut the lead to 6-4.
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In the fourth, Simon’s emotions became as visible as his mistakes. After bobbling a grounder from Tyler Wade and failing to get the out at first, he attempted to turn a double play on a Fernando Tatis Jr. grounder, but his flip to shortstop Javier Sanoja sailed wide. Back-to-back errors. A once-commanding lead now clinging by a thread.
Simon was pulled in the bottom of the fifth. Sanoja slid over to second, Otto Lopez entered at shortstop, and the Marlins’ lineup shifted again. San Diego would take a 7-6 lead that inning and never look back.
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When Simon returned to the dugout, tears welled up. And why wouldn’t they? We’re constantly told that sports are a domain of toughness, that stoicism is strength, that the only acceptable emotion is fire and grit. Crying? That doesn’t belong in the highlight reel.
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But that’s nonsense. Professional athletes may get paid to perform under pressure, but that doesn’t make them immune to it. The margin for error is razor-thin. The stakes, whether measured in standings, stats, or self-worth, are sky-high. And when things go wrong, when a young player who’s still finding his footing has a game fall apart in his hands, what’s so wrong about showing how much it hurts?
Ronny Simon had a brutal night. But he also had a human one. And in a sport that so often pretends otherwise, that matters.