Monday, March 30, 2009

Promotions For the New Economy

The Marlins will be giving mortgage payments on Saturdays this year to people who enter the 'Marlins Mortgage Payout'.

"South Florida fans are encouraged to log onto www.marlins.com and enter the Marlins Mortgage Payout." (I did so this morning, and had no luck in finding the 'Marlins Mortgage Payout')

ALSO: "In response to the high unemployment rate, the team has introduced Marlins Workforce Mondays. Unemployed residents have the opportunity to take advantage of up to four complimentary tickets to select Monday night home games.

"Military personnel can take advantage of the Marlins Stars and Stripes program. Eligible military members have a chance to attend regular-season Sunday games at no cost.

"Another plan to encourage car-pooling to the park is the 'Go Green, Get Green With Marlins Baseball.'

"Vehicles with four or more fans will receive a $25 voucher toward the purchase of tickets for select future home games...

"On April 5, the Marlins will offer something new to fans. Typically the day before the season opens, the team works out at the stadium. This year, for the first time, the Marlins are opening the gates to the public, allowing them to watch the workouts.

"Billy the Marlin, the Mermaids and Manatees will be on hand to entertain the public." (MLB)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

They Voted 'Yes' - Now It's Time To Find the Money

The county must try to sell bonds for the stadium in a market that forced a planned sale of bonds for the airport to be deferred. (MiamiHerald)

Jeffrey, meanwhile, has no problems - he can just sell up to a 49% chunk of his now-much-more-valuable team for his share of the stadium's cost, and then go take a nap. (MiamiHerald)

Even More Catchup

Craig reported on Ryan being sent to New Orleans and that Scott's recovery will take longer than hoped.

Today the Herald reports that Meyer and Koronka are competing for the last lefty reliever spot, that Frankie has been traded to the Padres, that Wood's been sent to Jacksonville and Coghlan to minor-league camp, and that Anibal starts today against Baltimore here in Lauderdale.

(Though the Baltimore Sun says that instead of Baez, Hayden Penn will start for the O's.)

The Sun-Sentinel finds that the Marlins are interested in Ronny Paulino, and that they have signed Carlos Vasquez.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Mr. Brattain

John Brattain, a great baseball writer, who saw what Loria and Samson did to Montreal and tried to warn us Marlins fans about them,passed away suddenly on Monday, ironically on the same day that Loria and Samson got the final votes for their massive-money-maker of a stadium.

I quoted him at length occasionally, and he responded in the comments several times, always expressing his real concern for the beleaguered Marlins fan.

Many of his readers are remembering him in these comments, and our thoughts go to his family.

Monday, March 23, 2009

This Could Be IT (Stadium Vote Version)

The county commission is scheduled to meet at 1 PM today to vote on the stadium.

County Manager Burgess has started the craziness early by intending to ask for more bond money than the stadium deal requires.

You can show your support for the stadium on its Facebook page.

YES!!!!!: County approves stadium plan.

Greg Cote marks March 23, 2009 (or was it March 24?) on the top of the "franchise's greatest days" list.

The vote also signals the end of the Florida Marlins.

Dave Hyde lists 10 demands for the fans to make up for the $62 million that Jeffrey didn't have to pay.

Philosophy of Fandom

Samuel Arbesman ponders the paradoxical question of which kind of sports fan (short for 'fanatic') is the most logical. (BostonGlobe)

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Lunacy

Back before 790 AM became the Marlins home, and even before it was a sports station, a show would come on there every now and then called the Moonscope show, hosted by a guy who, in-between playing some funky tracks of music, would attempt to link up the past week's happenings, and happenings throughout world history, to the differing phases of the moon and the effects each phase supposedly has on us. It was one of those concepts that's easy to say "Aw, come on!", but still stays in the back of the mind anyway. After all, the moon affects ocean tides, and humans are practically made of seawater too - why can't the moon mess with us?

So, just to see what would appear, I had the Cracked Stat Dept. chart the win-loss records of the Marlins for the past five seasons based on the phases of the moon. The Marlins win-loss charts are from Baseball-Reference.com and the moon phase info is from Old Farmers' Almanacs. Just for the hell of it, they counted the day before and the day after each moon phase as a part of that phase, so each phase has a three-day window for games to be played. They also charted the win-loss records for the games between each of the phases - they're in the columns with the arrows pointing to the phases they're between.

     
,_______._______._______._______._______._______._______._______.
|| new | | first | | full | | last | |
year || moon | <---> | qtr | <---> | moon | <---> | qtr | <---> |
------||-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
2004 || 9- 9 | 15-11 | 8-10 | 10-13 | 9- 8 | 12-11 | 10- 4 | 10-13 |
2005 || 9- 9 | 14-13 | 8- 9 | 12- 9 | 9- 7 | 10- 9 | 8- 9 | 13-14 |
2006 || 8- 7 | 14-14 | 9-11 | 8-16 | 9- 5 | 11-13 | 7- 6 | 12-12 |
2007 || 7-10 | 13-13 | 8- 9 | 6-19 | 10- 8 | 14-14 | 8- 8 | 5-10 |
2008 || 10- 8 | 14- 8 | 8- 9 | 13-12 | 9- 6 | 13-11 | 7-10 | 10-13 |
------||-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
total || 43-43 | 70-59 | 41-48 | 49-69 | 46-34 | 60-58 | 40-37 | 50-62 |
------||-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
win-% || 50.0% | 54.3% | 46.1% | 41.5% | 57.5% | 50.8% | 51.9% | 44.6% |
------''-------'-------'-------'-------'-------'-------'-------'-------'



Looks like the Marlins have definitely been a full-moon team, with a winning record during the full moon in each of the last 5 years, even in the off-years. Next best for wins has been the phase between the new moon and first quarter. And see how two out of their three worst showings, moon-phase-wise, took place between the first quarter and full moon, even as they recovered during the time of the full moon.

Statistically insignificant though it may be, we may be on the verge of something. Or maybe not. As Mr. Moonscope always used to say on the radio, and even on his website, these speculations are "for entertainment purposes only."

Friday, March 20, 2009

Gaby's Not Broken

MRI on Gaby shows a contusion. ALSO: Volstad looked good, Fredi calles Nunez the 'mainstay of the bullpen, and the Marlins send Collazo, Sinkbeil, Standridge, West, Lindsey, Mayorson, Morrison, and Cousins to minor-league camp. (MiamiHerald)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

'BREAKING' NEWS: City Breaks Deadlock, Votes 3-2 FOR Stadium

Check out Sarah Talalay's reporting

http://blogs.trb.com/sports/custom/business/blog/

Voting Day (Again)

It's another 'this could be it' day for the new stadium. The Marlins makes a few concessions to try and get a favorable vote from the city commission today. (MiamiHerald)

Ouch!

Hanley's still out, Proctor still shut down (same with Lindstrom), Gaby smacked his knee into Lastings, and Olsen plunked Jeremy twice.

On the other hand Josh showed some great stuff, and Emilio went 4-for-5. (MiamiHerald)

And Brett showed impressive defense.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Helping Black-Owned Businesses Threatens Stadium Deal

"County Attorney Robert Cuevas reportedly told commissioners on
Friday that he cannot approve the stadium deal, or allow it to come
up for a vote, because the Marlins signed a compact promising 15
percent of the construction work to black-owned businesses.
The county phased out its practice of awarding contracts based on
race after a federal court ruled it unconstitutional in the late
1990s. Since a Marlins stadium would be funded in large measure with
public money, the county's concern is that the rules apply to the
stadium contracts." (MiamiHerald, through TealAndBlack)

RESCINDED: Agreement's cancelled; commissioner's suspicious, Samson's indignant. (MiamiHerald)

Two-Word Headlines

Matt's hurt.
Hanley's scratched.
Harvey's gone.
So's Jesus.
Four cut.
New Hermida.
Jeffrey's jolly.
Nats win.

Another Marlins Blog

Here's a blog that's back for the new season - it's Marlins Musings

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Saturday's Game

In Ft. Myers after 3 innings the Twins lead the Marlins 4-0 - here's the live box score link...

http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2009_03_14_flomlb_minmlb_1

Changes

The Fish jettison Jay, and send Wood, Ceda, Fermin, Skipworth, Dominguez, and Stanton to minor-league camp, and Jai to AAA.

Then the Marlins lost to the Braves 9-2. Johnso was for some reason pitching on 3-days rest and Maybin dropped a bunt. (MIamiHerald)

The World Looks Upon Miami Gardens

Today the WBC arrives at Dolphin Stadium as the Netherlands team with Rick VandenHurk will play Venezuela and Pudge's Puerto Rican team faces Team USA.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Forget 'Contraction' Talk

'A New York Daily News report last week suggested Major League Baseball might eliminate the Marlins and Oakland A's if they do not get new stadiums. But MLB president Bob DuPuy said, via e-mail: "There is no discussion of contraction among either the commissioner or clubs."

'And (sports economics professor Andrew) Zimbalist said contraction is not viable because "it exposes baseball legally. They would face antitrust suits, and baseball doesn't want to face that expense."' (Flcourier.com)

Bonifacio and Andino in the Outfield

Fredi hopes they can do some of what Alfredo can do. (MiamiHerald)

Ups-And-Downs

After losing 8-4 against the Cardinals on Wednesday, the Marlins beat the Mets 16-8 on Thursday.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Today's One of Them Votin' Days

City "commissioners are expected to vote on expanding and extending the life of the Southeast Overtown/Park West CRA, a move that could create hundreds of millions of dollars for the struggling neighborhood.

"The vote could secure Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones' vote next week for a new ballpark for the Florida Marlins." (MiamiHerald)

IN-OTHER-NEWS: Glenn Straub is still offering to build a ballpark on his piece of downtown land. The Marlins reply, "What offer?" (MiamiToday)

RESULT: The commissioners voted to expand and extend, thus making Commissioner Spence-Jones satisfied enough to possibly swing the stadium vote the Marlins' way. (MiamiHerald)

MORE: The Marlins will go to Jungle Island and hire black-owned businesses. (MiamiHerald)

Three 'Outs'

Volstad was taken out after being hit by a pitch. Amezaga will be out 4-6 weeks. And Andino is out of options.

OOPS: Volstad got hit by a line drive, but it was his pitch to the plate that got hit into the line drive, so in a roundabout way he did get hit by a pitch. Uh, not really.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Catch-up With the Guys

Ricky's looking good. (MiamiHerald)

Matt's "advanced defensively". (MiamiHerald)

Stanton impresss Peter Gammons. (ESPN)

Ryan has a teacher in Edinson, and a classroom in Denny's. (PBPost)

Sean feels that he's "just a few good starts away from the big leagues". (MiamiHerald)

Andrew gets more intense-makeover work. (MLB)

Andrew, Chris and Anibal swin with dolphins. (PBPost)

Andrew, Burke, Rick, Mike, Brett and Matt feed graham crackers to giraffes. (PBPost)

"Winter" Baseball League Coming to Florida

Games start in October during huricane season. Four teams play this year - including in Miami at FIU's University Park - with plans to expand to twelve teams within five years. And they're hiring! (FloridaToday)(DailyCommercial)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Things to Read

Alfredo tweaks his other knee. (MiamiHerald)

What do you do when you need hotel bed taxes to build a stadium, and nobody shows up? (MiamiHerald)

The Marlins are the last refuge for players like Pedro and Pudge (so say Pedro and Pudge). (FoxSports)

Friday, March 06, 2009

Today's Game

Beckett vs. Volstad in Ft. Myers. (SunSentinel)

No Games For You

Proctor in recovery mode, scratched from any more spring games. (MiamiHerald)

Pre-Stadium Non-Voting

No vote last night, but the proceedings seemed to make the swing-voting city commissioner smile a little bit, thus buoying the optimism of stadium supporters. March 12 is the day they vote on the CRA. (FieldOfSchemes)

First-Week Attendance? Depends on Who Won Last Year

The Marlins are down 19%, the Cardinals down 20%, the Mets down 15%. Though with last year's World Series teams, the Phillies are up 29% and the Rays are up 40%. The Orioles are up 16%, explained by an early Red Sox home game. (PalmBeachPost)

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

March Backward

The city, seeing the county wash their hands of the stadium until the city decides something, decided that they will take their own sweet time, and rescheduled the voting date again, this time to March 19. (MiamiHerald)

"We're Not Playing on the Same Team Now"

Hanley plays against the Fish as the Dominican team wins 10-1. (MiamiHerald)

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

The Pressure's On

As the city commissioners find more things wrong with the stadium agreements, County Mayor Alverez suspends all stadium doings until the City gets its act together, and the national media begins the 'contraction' chant.

The city commission is still scheduled to vote on most of the stadium stuff on Friday, but their vote on Thursday acting as "as the Community Redevelopment Agency in special session at the Overtown Youth Center" may determine the stadium vote of at least one commissioner.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Fishy MLBlogs

Here are some more Marlins blogs that are on the MLBlogs.com domain. Some have posted recently, others not so recent. Check them out...

(Fish Bait)

(Florida Marlins Report)

(Teal Fish)

(Marlins Mania)

(Fish World)

(Capefish's MLB Blog)

(edit duplicate)