T-Minus 5 Months Till Blastoff?

"The stadium search is expected to last about five or so months" (which will be added on to the last ten years or so.) (MLB)

Fehr: No Contraction Yet

"(T)he union has not been approached about contraction, a hot issue recently with the troubles the Washington Nationals have had in getting a stadium lease and with the dismantling of the Florida Marlins.

"'No one has suggested to me that it is a live issue, so I am not treating it as one,' Fehr said. 'I have no reason to think it is a live issue.'" (WashingtonPost)

Samson Visits Homestead

...wants land 'with no cost', still sizable funding gap, etc., etc. - "Meanwhile, Samson said there has been ''no progress'' in talks with Hialeah about a new stadium", just as old WWII explosives are pulled out of possible Hialeah stadium site. (MiamiHerald)

Quaking in his Cleats?

Dontrelle will pitch against the O's on Thursday, avoiding another possible thrashing by the mighty Hurricanes.

Girardi in Tears as Machine Replicates Him

(MiamiHerald)

Miguel, Miguel, Miguel

"Miguel's position doesn't necessarily depend on Miguel...You think about the guy who hits in front of Miguel, he's going to get great pitches. So, who do you want in front of Miguel? They're not going to pitch to the guy in front of Miguel to get to Miguel, we know that. They might pitch around Miguel to get to the next guy." (MLB)

MORE: If more Miguel, then Mel says "No Mora". (Globe&Mail)

MORE MORE: Miguel may not get much more. (PalmBeachPost)

"Capefish's..." is Now "The Marlins Ballpark News"

Check out the new design and the continuously updated information and speculations about the search for a South Florida home for the Fish. (Click Here!)

New Orioles Conine, Millar, Darensbourg Chat About the Marlins' Chances...

...both on the field ("People shouldn't underestimate the new team") and in South Florida ("sad...disheartening...I don't know if that many people care".) (SunSentinel)

Ben Jacobs, on Young Bad Vs. Old Bad

"This offseason, the Marlins have been lambasted for shedding payroll and getting rid of just about every veteran player. At the same time, the Royals have spent plenty of money on adding talent. Which team would you bet is going to win more games this season?

"Your first inclination may be that it will be the Royals, but the Marlins won 27 more games than Kansas City last year. The Marlins also have Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, who are easily the two best players on these two teams.

"The Royals may be the better bet to win more games, but it's certainly not a lock (or even an overwhelming likelihood), and both of these teams are going to be bad. The difference is that the Royals will be old and bad, while the Marlins will be young and bad. As a fan, I'd much rather watch a young team struggle and see how well they're progressing over the course of the season, than watch an old team struggle and see how many of the veterans just throw in the towel in August." (HardballTimes)

Greg Cote Interviews Girardi...

...and catches a wave of hopefulness about this team and their chances of staying. (MiamiHerald)

Pokey Has a Past You Wouldn't Wish on Your Worst Enemy

But, as McKeon says, "He's had a lot of tough times, but he's a lovable kid...If he's in good shape...[the Marlins] have a helluva player." (MiamiHerald)

The Gamblers Speak

WQAM's Ed Kaplan, reporting from Vegas, said tonight that the Palms hotel has the over/under on the upcoming Marlins season at 65 wins.

UH OH: It's down to 64, and some think that's too high. (Covers.com)

Destrade to Broadcast WBC Games From Japan

(DelawareOnline)

Olivo Decides to Stay

ALSO: Guess who's a little Pokey in arriving to camp...Willis to recieve Points of Light award. (PalmBeachPost)

Oklahoma Possibly A Serious Contender For Marlins?

Probably not, since it's a Usenet post, but anyway, here's what it says; "Serious to the point that Marlins officials are said to be meeting with Oklahoma City within the next two weeks to discuss what the city can offer, which would certainly include an expansion or replacement of the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark, which only seats around 13,000. Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria previously owned the Oklahoma City 89ers, and appears pretty interested in the city, given the way it has embraced the Hornets and is proving it can support major league sports. Some sources ay that IF the Marlins move, Loria's ties to Oklahoma City put OKC in the front spot, ahead of other contenters like San Antonio, Norfolk, Portland, and several Miami-area cities like Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale." (Ok.General)

MEANWHILE: Other posters are trying to come up with a better name than 'Oklahoma Marlins'. (Rec.Sport.Baseball)

THEN AGAIN: Maybe they can get a good name for the (possibly former) Nationals. (BaseballMusings)

Olsen, Megrew Throwing; Olsen, Girardi Running...

...Ligtenberg, Kinkade examined; Hermida #2 on Prospectus list; Girardi .263 against Moehler. (MLB)

Quick Guide to the Grapefruit League

...spotlighting the best (tradition, beaches, Dodgertown) and the worst (crappy new stadiums, crappy roads, Floridians) that the Florida spring training experience has to offer. (FOXSports)

Big Moe Likes Jeffrey...

... and Willis likes Olivo. (SunSentinel)

Work

"The Marlins drilled for more than three hours in 85-degree weather, and Girardi professed himself pleased with the results.

"'I was proud of how they worked,' he said. 'That's as hard a day as I've been in in spring training. They were moving all the time - that was part of the schedule.

"'I believe in work. Work is how you get better.'" (APthroughSI)

oDDLY EnOugH: That's not a universally-accepted notion. (LazyWay)

Le Batard Ridicules His Own Culture, City of Hialeah

I wonder how he would have responded if a Gringo had written some of these comments. (MiamiHerald)

Battle of the Lists

Should a city's baseball-worthiness be based on its population-size or its media-market ranking? (Alt.Vacation.Las-Vegas)

Quick Chunks

Dontrelle's pitching the season opener (hmm, if we're going with a 5-man rotation, that means Dontrelle would probably get his 1st start in Miami on April 15 against the Nats). Miguel Olivo's concerned about playing in the WBC. Here's an article on Rich Kranitz's style. And here's a quick look at the veteran pitchers in Marlins camp.

"FAN FEST FOUR - FINAL FINALE"

I hung around for the next 'town-hall meeting', this time featuring Larry Beinfest, flanked on one side by Josh Willingham and Mike Jacobs and on the other by Jeremy Hermida and Sergio Mitre. The moderator was radio's Roxy Bernstein (it was the first time I ever saw him - he looks young enough to have just come out of college). This time I took some sporadic notes of what they said, which is why this post is so late - I felt I could stall until I could get some time to myself to do it. Now I hope I can read my notes. Let's see...

- Larry made it clear to the questioning fans that he has nothing to do with the stadium issue, that that was Samson's department. He also said that this year is totally unlike any other year that he's presided over, that Loria wants to win every year, that he supports the WBC, and that the cigar smell has finally been removed from the clubhouse (laughter).

- Mitre showed up with a mustache and goatee, with prompted a question about Girardi's no-facial-hair rule. Mitre says that he has no problem with it, that what was on his face at that moment was there just through laziness. Then Josh mentioned that he had no facial hair to shave, which also got the crowd laughing.

- Someone asked Josh about whether he preferred catching over left-field. He said he had no preference, and that whatever is determined in spring training is okay with him.

- Mitre said that he was greatly influenced last year as a Cub by Greg Maddox and his work ethic and preparations.

- Someone asked the players who was the nastiest pitcher that they each personally faced so far in their brief MLB careers. Jacobs said Esteban Loiaza, Hermida said Kyle Farnsworth, Josh said Billy Wagner.

- Most of the fans' questions were to Jeremy about that grand-slam homer in his first MLB at-bat. How did it feel when he hit it, how did it feel after he hit it, what kind of pitch did he hit, what kind of pitch was he expecting, how does he feel about the attention, does he realize that he'll be asked about it continously from now on - questions like that. I won't give his answers so that you can have a chance to ask him, except to say that, yes, he realizes he'll be answering these questions for the rest of his life. But he seems to have a level head - in the middle of one answer he refered to baseball a "game of failure" and said that it teaches you to be humble.

- A kid asked the players who was their favorite players when they were growing up. Jacobs said Chipper Jones, which brought out boos from the crowd. Willingham said Cal Ripken Jr., Hermida said Ken Griffey Jr., and Mitre said Nolan Ryan.

- Beinfest said that he was really impresed with Chris Volstad, calling him 'outstanding'.

That's about all I can make out from my notes, except the revelation that Mike Jacobs constantly chews sugar-free bubble gum during games.

I left Fan Fest at this point. I passed by the box office in doing so, and saw only a couple of people standing at the windows.

John Henry "Lost About $50 Million" While Owner Of The Marlins...

...and he still hates shelling out money to those miserable little "less successful clubs." (MaineToday)

Oklahoma Says, 'Sure, We've Talked to The Marlins'...

but Samson says, "I'm not going to comment." (SI.com)

MORE: Let the Broadway show tunes begin! (BaseballToaster)

Stadium Better Get Finished Before Dec. 21, 2012...

... because after that, according to Darren Daulton and the Mayan calendar, it's not going to matter much anyway. (MercuryNews)

Today's Quotes From the South Florida Stadium 'Search'

"We're at a point where we're just banging against a wall."..."I think it's time to fish or cut bait. I'm just as tired of talking about this as you are."..."I don't believe West Dade is the right place. I don't believe Hialeah is the right place."..."I think it's absolutely ludicrous we're talking in this manner."..."The racetrack in Hialeah is completely unacceptable."..."(N)o one has contacted me." (SunSentinel)

MEANWHILE: Jerry Reese is saying, "On behalf of the citizens of Charlotte and the surrounding Piedmont area of the Carolinas, I extend to you a warm invitation to relocate your team to our city and region." (CharlotteObserver)

Fan Fest Part 3.7176238

Before I go forward I want to write out some more stuff from the Samson-Willis town-hall meeting that may be of interest, and that I've been slowly re-remembering through the day (pad of paper in hand). I'm sure these things happened, and they are not just brain farts, but as always no warranty is implied.

- In a followup on a question about McKeon, Samson announced that Jack will be with the team during spring training. No word on what he'll be doing.

- The crowd applauded loudly when Samson mentioned Dontrelle's recent engagement, and Samson joked on how smart he is to be marrying a lawyer.

- Negotiating ploy or not, the words and tone of Samson when he discussed Huizenga and a stadium next to the former JRS strongly suggested that he considered that avenue of inquiry over and done.

- Samson attempted to 'reassure' the fans by listing many teams that had threatened to move before they got their stadiums (including St. Louis threatening to move to Illinois), saying that these threats are a regretably normal part of the process of getting a stadium. He said he certainly didn't want to move away from South Florida, and Dontrelle was also adamant in saying that he Really Loved Miami, even more so than he ever thought he would.

- A fellow rose up and complained that Broward County was paying $5 million to renovate Ft. Lauderdale Stadium for a team of 'outsiders', while not spending any money for our 'home team'. Considering that that money was for repairs of damage caused by Hurricane Wilma, I thought that criticism was harsh. As I was at Ft. Lauderdale Stadium later that evening, I can say that the repairs were a success, and I didn't see any evidence of hurricane damage.

- Samson is, as has been noted, a kind-of-short guy, while Scott Olsen is Very tall. They didn't stand too close to each other that often.

Fan Fest Part 3

When I went back inside the Club section, I started to hear applause down the hall. To cut to the chase, I ended up at one the 'town-hall meetings' that the Marlins were holding.

Rich Waltz presided over the affair. This was the one that the Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Post, and MLB quoted from extensively - David Samson and Michael Hill were flanked on one side of the table by Scott Olsen and Jason Vargas and on the other by Wes Helms and Dontrelle Willis.

Much of what was said then was noted by the reporters, and I did miss hear the exchange about the new FAU stadium which the reporters mentioned. As I gather my foggy memory together (I didn't take any notes during, but scribbled some down after), here's some other things that happened...

- In explaining Jeffrey's travails Samson let out a number I hadn't heard before - he said that Loria had spent $62 million 'in cash' on the team in the last 3 years.

- Waltz spent some time trying to get the other panelists involved by asking them questions. Vargas and Olsen were asked about building up their stamina to deal with Florida heat, and Vargas said that he just stepped up on the light weights and long tossing. Waltz got a few kids to ask questions, and one asked Dontrelle for his autograph, which Dontrelle provided.

- Some one asked about a possible IPO of Marlins stock, and Samson responded with a list of problems that other teams in that situation had experienced, and mentioned that there would be 'disclosure issues' with the Marlins. (Surprise!)

- To me 2 strains of the conversation seemed to smack into one another - the promotion by Samson of the new domed park providing "72 degrees" and dry conditions for the fans and players, against the almost-pride in what the natural Miami climate does to opposing teams playing here. Wes Helms recounted that the Miami effect definitely puts a drag on teams coming from less hostile enviroments, and that players would normally lose about 4-5 pounds of water weight after playing a series here.

- Then came my big chance when I asked a question of them. Actually I asked 2. When a situation plops in my lap that is unexpected sometimes I do things that later on I may decide I probably wanted to do differently.

Most of the audience's questions were directed to Samson concerning the franchise's future, so much so that Dontrelle joked about the forum becoming 'the David Samson show' and started to take off his jersey to much laughter. So I wanted to make sure to ask something to get Willis to respond.

But first, at that moment, I wanted to pin down Samson on the date of when the team will finally announce whether they'll stay or go, since he had been reported as saying that decison must be made wthin a few months. Either he didn't want to answer that or I asked it wrong because to me he just recounted the terms of the Huizenga lease, that it ends in 2007 and that after 2010 they have to be somewhere else.

My 2nd question concerned something no one I had heard had asked up to that time, and I asked both Samson and Willis to expound on the hopes, possibilities and maybe concerns over the upcoming World Baseball Classic. This got a rise out of both of them. Samson went into a spirited defense of the concept, saying that baseball, just under soccer, is one of the most-played games around the world, that it would be a great way to promote the game in other markets, and that he wouldn't want players from his team to play anything less than full-out in these games.

Dontrelle was even more persuasive, saying that it was a huge honor to be playing for his country, and that he would be trying as hard as he can to help win these games for the USA. His response brought a round of applause from the crowd.

After the meeting was over I hung around to see what else would happen. Something did...

Fan Fest Part 2

On the concourse up to the 100 level was the long line to acquire the tickets to stand in the long line to get an autograph from a Marlin. A band was setting up to play: past that were some guys sitting in front of a big screen TV playing some baseball video game. Then came tables of various groups, like Roger Dean Stadium and the Marlins fan club ($20 to join? Geez!).

And there was a Sunsports/FSN table, where who did I spy standing there waiting to be noticed but Rich Waltz, infamous year-old TV voice of the Marlins. Suckup that I am, I walked over, stuck my hand out, shook his hand and said, "Good job you did last year." And I swear, maybe it was an affectation, maybe it was something in his eye, but for a brief second he lifted his gaze skyward, in an attitude of blessed relief, as if thanking the Lord that someone finally showed up who didn't want to complain about his performance. But then again, maybe it wasn't anything.

As opposed to last year (from what I remember) the concession stands were open; I didn't see any food vendors on the ground level this year. I went through a tunnel towards the playing field and saw an amazing sight. All the grass was completely gone, the dirt was dug up in patterned spots, exposing the blue pipes underneath. The pitchers' mound was entirely scraped off, and I saw the elevator-platter all by itself - a big round disk with a squared-off promanance pointing towards what would have been first.

The scoreboards were gone; workmen were welding and moving through 8 levels of the large box-like structure that's to house the new monsterous hi-def scoreboard. It was like an 8-story steel building floating over rows and rows of orange seats, open on the side with men walking back and forth in plain view. The other (western) scoreboard was in a similiar state.

And then when I was drinking in that sight who should pop out of the Fish dugout but Dontrelle Willis with a little kid that he was trying to get to play catch with. It wasn't much though - they just goofed around in the dirt for a while and then walked back in.

Back on the concourse, past some more game-type things, there were tables set up to sell old Marlins give-aways and old batting practice caps and other things (like year-old media guides for MLB teams, which were $3 as opposed to $1 last year). There were papers to write down bids in a auctioning-off of an authorized-and-framed sliver of the old ripped-up warning track (used during 1997 And 2003!). And another auction of a bottle of champagne that was Not opened during the 2003 celebrations. Both auctions had written bids in the hundreds.

At the end of where they wanted us to go were the Marlins autographers, and the lines of autographees waiting their turn. When I was there Matt Treanor, Lenny Harris and Randy Messenger were manning the tables. Messenger kept standing and taking pictures with the folks, something the other two weren't doing at that moment.

Then I wandered up to see if only the 'VIPs' would be allowed into the Club level. Turned out I just walked in. Not much was happening in the open areas so I wandered back out to the seating sections to see what the prices were on the seats that were papered with price lists. Earlier a Fan Fest worker was saying to someone that they had tagged some 2000 seats for the Fan Fest but that actually about 8000 seats were available for season-tickets. That was believable.

And then another amazing sight. Just below in the orange seats about 16 Mermaids emerged with a photographer. He lined them up and tried to position them the way he wanted for a shot. I stood there for a good while admiring his professionalism. Some Fan Fest worker was behind me aways, seemingly concerned about my presence but not approaching me or anything. He soon went away. After about the thousandth Mermaid hair-flip or so, I wandered back in to the open areas. That's when things got a little interesting.

Oh oh, I'm getting yelled at to get off the computer. (Not really, just building what little suspense I can build. And I need some sleep. This writing long posts keeps me up too late. Congrats to those who do this on a regular basis. More later.)

Fan Fest Part 1

Arrived at good ol' Doll-pins Stadium just before 11 on Saturday (free admission, but it was $5 for parking, and the parking receipt was good for $5 off on season-tickets.)

1st thing I noticed was the absence of those big tents that hugged the south side of the stadium, the ones where they've been holding their fiestas the past couple of years. The Marlins set up a lot of free pitching and batting areas for anybody, little and big ones, to try to win a free t-shirt. Frankly if you didn't walk out of there with less than 500 or so t-shirts then you weren't really trying. There were open boxes of t-shirts that people were just helping themselves to.

At least 10 radio stations set up booths on the ground level and were giving away even more stuff, including my prized freebee of the day - a Mermaids calendar (woo-hoo).

A quartet of Mermaids were available to stand next to and take a photo with, just behind the case with the 2 World series trophies. There was only a small line for tickets at the box office though.

On the way up to the 100 level Coca-Cola was giving out samples of a energy drink called Vault (wasn't bad). On 100 level...oops, being called away from keyboard - to be continued...

South Florida Area Can Just Barely Support a MLB Team

...but that's a whole lot better than San Antonio, Portland, Vegas or Charlotte, according to this study, which found that only northern New Jersey and areas near Los Angeles had the personal income needed to support another MLB team.

Went to the DiMaggio Legends Game

Pretty big crowd came out for this annual charity event. New/old Oriole Jeff Conine spoke a bit before the game started, thanking everybody for coming out. Brooks Robinson, Rico Carty, Manny Sanguillan, Jackie Hernandez, and Alvin Dark were some of the guys signing autographs just before gametime (Dark, whose last MLB game was in 1960, seemed a bit surprised that people still called to him for an autograph, saying "You still remember me?").

Fun sight - Minnie Minoso coaching at third, Brooks Robinson at first. Manny Sanguillan hit pretty well but someone else ran for him - you could see he could barely walk, much less run. The rules are looser here - Ron Swaboda got an out, walked into the dugout, then came out again as the next batter, and got a hit. The female morning-host on 99.9 FM for some reason was in the lineup and played a not-so-good second base. Bill Lee hit a 3-run home run that tightened up the score and brought his team out to the plate to congratulate him. 2 outs later the game was over. The AL (or the Visitors, or whoever they were) won 14-13. The Marlins alumni were impressive, as Andre Dawson and Orestes Destrade both had home runs, while even Cookie Rojas looked pretty good for a while fielding at third base. (Maybe the Fish should be scouting these guys.)

Norfolk Businessmen Visit Marlins

"They are prepared to cover most of the costs of a stadium through taxes that are already in place," Samson drools. (MiamiHerald)

Miami-Dade County Manager Agrees With Samson: There's No Perfect Stadium Site

"None of these options are easy, and many will be viewed as unrealistic." (MiamiHerald)

MaverickBall Moves to the 'Most Valuable Network'

(NewMaverickBall)

Chris Resop Rides The Marlins Caravan Back Home

(NaplesNews)

And Speaking of St. Louis,...

...guess which team had been trying to get a new ballpark since 1995? Guess which team "(f)or nearly four years ...(had) struggled in getting financial assistance from the city"? Guess which state legislature "failed to vote on a proposed bill that would have provided funds to build a downtown baseball stadium"? (CLUE: Oddly enough, these troubles weren't because of lack of fan support.) (BallparksOfBaseball)

ADMISSION: Okay, it's not CONSTANTLY hot in the summer in St. Louis. (About.com)

Time For an Actual "Human"-Produced Post

The 2006 regular-season schedules for the Nats, Mets, Braves, Phillies and Marlins seem to be pretty well finalized.

So, ignoring the players, managers, what team's better, what team's worse, and other insignificant ephemera, I have been staring at the schedules of the NL East teams, in an attempt to see where the natural up-and-downs occur. I've used the supposedly tried-and-true criteria, such as:

A.) The more home games the better; more away games less so.
B.) More days off to rest up would be good, long streaks of games without days off not so good.
C.) As humans tend to be more tired and make-up days for delayed games tend to be more needed at the end of a season, days off in Aug-tember could be considered to be a better deal as opposed to days off in May-pril.
D.) Then there are the unpredictable weather factors: playing in open-air refrigerators like Colorado and Chicago may be disadvantageous in April (for an example, remember the Marlins last year), while steam rooms like St. Louis could be nasty in August (and let's not get into hurricanes).
E.) And other stuff I'll make up on the way.

Here's what I saw, listed almost-monthly, by home/away game ratios (with days-off) and with probably incorrect observations:

---APRIL---

PHILADELPHIA (16 home - 9 away, 3 days off) - rides high in April, the only question may be how'll the weather'll treat them in Colorado April 14-16.
NEW YORK (12 home - 13 away, 3 days off) - will be at home 12 of their first 15 games, then will fly to a series in (possibly) sunny California; in the middle of the month they play 16 straight days.
FLORIDA (9 home - 15 away, 4 days off) - plays only 6 of their first 21 games at home, and, while they aren't playing in Colorado until June, they do have to be in Cincinatti April 17-19 and Chicago April 24-26.
ATLANTA (9 home - 16 away, 3 days off) - gets to start the season with a West Coast trip; of their first 23 games only 6 are at home.
WASHINGTON (9 home - 17 away, 2 days off) - plays 13 of their first 16 games on the road.

---FIRST WEEK IN MAY, that strange Seligism where all the teams play short strings of 2-game series without any breaks---

NEW YORK (7-0) - Flies home from Atlanta to play 2 against the Nats, 2 against the Pirates and 3 against the Braves, all at home.
PHILADELPHIA (5-2) - Flies from Pittsburgh to Florida for 2, then back home to play 2 against the Braves and 3 against the Giants.
WASHINGTON (5-2) - Flies from St. Louis to New York for 2 games, then back home to face Florida for 2 and Pittsburgh for 3.
FLORIDA (5-2) - Stays at home to play 2 against the Phillies, flies to Washington for 2 against the Nats, then flies back down to Miami for 3 with the Cards.
ATLANTA (2-5) - Stays at home to play 2 against the Rockies, then planes to Philly for 2 games and New York for 3.

OPINION: Even though the Marlins have 3 more home games than Atlanta, I'd say the 2 long plane flights back and forth from D. C. could take as much out of the Fish as the short flights away from Atlanta would the Braves.

---REST O' MAY---

PHILADELPHIA (12-9, 3 days off) - a 6-game Midwest trip looks like the biggest strain schedule-wise on the Phillies until the end of this month, when they begin a 20-game stretch with no-days-off.
FLORIDA (12-10, 2 days off) - those 10 road games are in the middle of a 16-day, 16-game string. (NOTE: Pierre returns to Florida on the 22nd, Delgado and Lo Duca the 26th.)
WASHINGTON (10-12, 2 days off) - starts with a 9-game road trip followed by a 10-game home stand, ending up the month playing 16 straight days (for the last series of the month they'll be the only NL East team playing on the road).
ATLANTA (10-12, 2 days off) - starts with a 16-day/16-game stretch which ends in San Diego, then 2 days later in Chicago they begin a 17-day/17-game marathon (their longest) - from the 12th to the 18th, though, they'll be the only NL East team playing at home.
NEW YORK (9-12, 3 days off) - begins with a 9-game road trip, and then at home for 9 out of 12 games (those 3 days off are all Mondays).

Through April-May the Braves play 20 home and 32 away games, while the Phillies have 33 home games scheduled out of 53.

---JUNE TO ALL-STAR BREAK---

ATLANTA (23-13, 3 days off) - completes the 17-day gamefest they started at the end of last month - they Go Into The All-Star Break after finishing a 10-game home stand
WASHINGTON (21-15, 3 days off) - starts June off with a 20-game streak without a day off (their longest), and also GITASB after a 10-game home stand.
NEW YORK (17-19, 2 days off) - starts off at home, goes on a 9-game West-Coast swing, back home for 7 games, then a 9-game road trip.
PHILADELPHIA (15-20, 4 days off) - begins the month on the West Coast in the middle of their longest stretch without a day off; then they GITASB after 15 out of 24 games at home and 4 days off.
FLORIDA (12-22, 5 days off) - Blech! A West Coast trip, followed by interleague games packed with more recently former Marlins, followed by the start of hurricane season at home. At least they get a lot of days off to recover.

---INTERMISSION: WHO ARE THE NL EAST PLAYING IN INTERLEAGUE?---

PHILADELPHIA - Red Sox, Devil Rays, Yankees at home - Red Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays away
ATLANTA - Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles at home - Devil Rays, Yankees away
WASHINGTON - Orioles, Yankees, Devil Rays at home - Red Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays away
NEW YORK - Yankees, Orioles at home - Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees away
FLORIDA - Blue Jays, Devil Rays, Red Sox at home - Devil Rays, Orioles, Yankees away

---ALL-STAR BREAK---

The Mets, Nats, Phillies and Braves get 4 days off but the Marlins get only 3. Boo Hiss.

---REST O' JULY---

PHILADELPHIA (11-6, 1 day off) - begins with their last West-Coast swing of the year, then spends the rest of the month at home.
FLORIDA (11-7, 1 day off) - gets a break for the first 2 series, as they will be the only NL East team playing at home, which will be the start of their longest home stand of the year (followed by the day off).
NEW YORK (6-9, 2 days off) - goes out to the Midwest for 2 series, back home for 2 more, then away again.
ATLANTA (6-10, 1 day off) - starts off with the Pads (that's the end of their scheduled West-Coast trips for this year), then spends a bit of July in St. Louis heat; from the 21st to the 24th they will be the only NL East team playing away games.
WASHINGTON (6-10, 2 days off) - after a 6-game road trip will have a couple of off-days during their home stand, finishing up the month on the West Coast.

---AUGUST---

FLORIDA (16-12, 4 days off) - will be the only NL East home team from the 1st to the 3rd; their 9-game road trip from the 8th to the 16th will include their last West-Coast games this year; followed by 11 games at home (hurricanes) and 3 games at St. Louis (heat).
ATLANTA (15-13, 3 days off) - after the first 6 games will be 15-7 the rest of the month, never going farther west than Cincinatti.
NEW YORK (15-13, 3 days off) - plays up-and-down the East Coast until the last series of the month, when they'll shoot off to Colorado.
WASHINGTON (13-14, 4 days off) - begins the month in the middle of their West-Coast trip, then after a day's rest they play 16 days straight, then get days off on the 24th and 28th.
PHILADELPHIA (10-19, 2 days off) - starts off the month sweating in St. Louis at the beginning of a 9-game road trip; then they play for 17 straight days, the first 10 at home.

---SEPTEMBER TO THE END---

WASHINGTON (17-11, 3 days off) - continues another 16 straight games/days begun on 8/29, which ends with their last games out West this year - after that they'll play 11 out of 15 games at home till season's end.
ATLANTA (16-12, 3 days off) - is the only NL East away team from the 4th through the 6th; after that it's 16 home games and 6 away to finish the season.
FLORIDA (16-13, 2 days off) - continues a 20-day, 20-game streak that started on 8/25; after that the Fish have a 10-game road trip, then 6 games at home to close it out.
NEW YORK (15-15, 1 day off) - finishes 16 straight days of games Sept. 13, gets a scheduled day off, then finishes the season playing 17 straight days of games (their longest streak of the year, 8 games at home).
PHILADELPHIA (12-16, 3 days off) - will be playing 10 games against the Marlins this month, including the season-closing series at Florida.

Rule of Girardi No. 2: No Excessive Celebrations Allowed

Corollary to Rule No. 2: Annoying John Boles may just get you a prophecy. (BaseballMusings)

Blogger.com Considers This Site a 'Spam Blog'

"Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog....Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive."

But how can they confuse me with a spam blog?

"Spam blogs...can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text, along with a large number of links..."

Oh....

MLB No Want LV

"We hear MLB's executives so far have scuttled the Marlins' desire to meet with Las Vegas officials for a second time. (Last December's visit was an introductory meeting long before Florida received permission to explore relocation.)

"The Marlins and MLB wouldn't comment, but it's believed MLB still has big concerns about placing a team in a gambling mecca. Still, it would be a bit surprising if MLB doesn't allow a meeting eventually.

"Vegas officials have reached out directly to Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, but Loria's hands are tied. Though Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has suggested stadium financing wouldn't be a problem (he has never offered specifics), none of the Marlins' other suitors has offered a better financing package than the one available here." (MiamiHerald)

Dawson, Destrade Playing in This Year's 'DiMaggio Legends Game'

Also showing up will be Dennis Martinez, Art Shamsky, Ed Kranepool, Brooks Robinson, Earl Weaver, "and the ageless Minnie Minoso". (SunSentinel)

Tim Marchman Gives NL Teams His Grades on their Offseasons

The Marlins get Two grades, B+ and F-. "The high grade is for the execution of the fire sale; the low grade is for the decision to have one." (NewYorkSun)

Samson Says."I'm Getting A Generator..."

"...because that's how much I'm staying. I'm not selling my home. I don't plan on ever moving." (MiamiHerald)

MORE: Samson also said some other things. (FishStripes)

Gonzo May Provide "Nice Diversion" For Fenway Groundskeeper

...as he was left flummoxed by Renteria's grousing. (Eagle-Tribune)

Mordecai, Pierre Named to Sun Belt Conference's All-Time Baseball Team

(USAVanguard)