Marlins Top Ten All Star Moments: #7

Leading up to the midsummer classic, FishStripes is counting down our top 10 "hats-off" moments in Marlins All Star Game history. The Fish have 18 All Star Games under their belt, so clearly, with such a wealth of thrilling game moments to choose from, your opinion on the order and relevance of each moment may vary. Feel free to jump in on the comments and post your personal top ten, or simply rip ours to shreds.

Our All Star hats-off moments so far have all come from games in the 90's, so we're switching things up with All Star moment #7, which took place on July 13th, 2004, at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

You may recall the 2004 ASG as "that one where Roger Clemens sucked real bad." And you would be correct. Clemens was smack dab in the middle of one of his many "final" seasons of baseball, and he must have really been mourning the fact that his career was about to end for a week or so, because he struggled terribly, giving up six runs to the American League in the first inning.

Despite losing the game to the AL, 9-4, 2004 was an exciting midsummer classic for Fish fans. The Marlins were the reigning World Series champions, and five members of their team took part in the game. Jack McKeon managed the National League team, Carl Pavano pitched, Mike Lowell played third base, Armando Benitez sat lifelessly in the bullpen, and Miguel Cabrera was an All Star for the first time in his young career. 

Just seeing Miggy at the All Star game was a hat's-off moment. He was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. He hadn't started packing away 11,000 calories per day in arepas. He hadn't been arrested for spousal abuse or drunken brawls. He had yet to poke Scott Olsen in the forehead during a dugout scuffle. And best of all, he hadn't been traded to the Detroit Tigers. Ah, memories.

Uh, Miguel didn't actually do anything in the game though. In fact, no one did. Carl Pavano gave up 2 runs in 2 innings, Mike Lowell and Cabrera both went 0-for-2, Jack McKeon managed his team to a 9-4 loss and Armando didn't pitch at all. But hey, they were there. Five Fishes FTW. Or the loss, as it were.