The Miami Marlins may have gotten rookie ace Jose Fernandez's finest all-around effort of the 2013 season Wednesday night, but it ended on a sour note.
In the sixth inning of Fernandez's gem, Evan Gattis spanked a solo home run off him and Fernandez grinned arrogantly. His pompous reaction rubbed many of the National League East leading Braves the wrong way.
"Somebody hits off him, and he smiles," Braves pitcher Mike Minor said. "It seems like you're not supposed to get a hit off of him."
Later in the game Fernandez exacted revenge, hitting the first home run of his major league career. He admired his shot for a bit too long, though, and heard some harsh words as he rounded third from Chris Johnson. Fernandez's petulance continued; he spit on the ground on his way to home plate.
After the game, Fernandez knew his actions were out of line and strongly apologized.
"I feel embarrassed. I feel like I don't deserve to be here, because this isn't high school. This is a professional game. I made a mistake. I'm going to learn from it," Fernandez said. "I had a good year, and it ends up like this. I embarrassed a lot of people. It's just not right for the game. For sure I can promise 120 percent that that will never ever happen again. I won't show anybody up like that."
He felt so bad about the way he acted that he personally went to Minor and Braves catcher Brian McCann to say sorry. "I said, 'I'm really sorry, I'm embarrassed and that's something that won't ever happen again,'" Fernandez said. "McCann said, 'Hey, man, you're a kid but you're in the big leagues. You need to do what big leaguers do.'"
Marlins manager Mike Redmond also chastised his young star for his actions. "Tonight showed some immaturity on Josie's part," Redmond said. "Showing the other team up with a home run, that's not what we're doing here. We're 30-some games under .500. We don't have the right to be flashy or show anybody up."
Whether or not Fernandez's season ended with some controversy, he was the lone bright spot in Miami's 2013 slog. He finishes his season with a 2.19 ERA in 172.2 innings, with 187 strikeouts as opposed to just 58 walks.
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