Braves suspected Marlins were stealing signs during three-game sweep in Miami

Miami just swept a three-game home series against Atlanta and afterward several Braves players and manager Fredi Gonzalez all but accused the Marlins of stealing signs.

Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Gonzalez changed the team’s signs five times during Wednesday’s game alone and “the Braves went so far as to look at the sculpture in left center field, wondering if there was somebody hiding in there with a camera.”

Someone hiding in the Home Run Sculpture and relaying opposing team’s signs to the Marlins would be a spectacular story, but ultimately the Braves found nothing out of the ordinary in any of their searches. They did, however, continue to cite the Marlins’ extreme home/road splits when discussing the issue with the media.

One of the biggest supposed red flags from the Braves’ point of view is that the Marlins knocked around Aaron Harang after being shut down by him in a start last week, but realistically it’s the being shut down by Aaron Harang part that should raise more eyebrows. He’s a 36-year-old with a 4.91 ERA in 32 starts since the beginning of last season.

When asked about the sign-stealing accusations, Marlins manager Mike Redmond told Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald:

Just give us a little credit. I mean, we’re out there playing the game the right way. Guys are battling and competing. That’s how we’re winning ballgames. Actually, I don’t even think much about it because my focus is on our guys and my team and what we’re doing. We just played a great three-game series and I’m not going to let anything diminish that.

And here’s what Marlins infielder Casey McGehee said:

I’m not going to say it’s never happened in the history of the game before, but we’re not splitting any atoms, let’s put it that way.

Harang, of course, had a different take:

It was baffling, like, where were these guys last week? They were way too comfortable. It seemed like they were all hitting like Ted Williams.

Or, it was like they were all facing Aaron Harang.

Whatever the case, it should be fun when the Marlins and Braves next play beginning May 30 ... in Miami.

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