Wednesday, September 28, 2011

This Is IT

The end of the Florida Marlins as a playing unit happens today. Charlie Hough and Benito Santiago will be there for the first pitch, like they were there almost 19 years ago. Chris Volstad and Stephan Strasburg will take over after that.

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Last Normal Game at Sun Life

With all the festivities planned, tomorrow's game will seem like an afterthought.

Of course with all the turbulent news bursting forth around the Marlins the last few days, the last couple of games have also been taking a back seat. Today's news is more of the same - along with the Adventures of Ozzie we now find out that Leo-Juan may beat the rap after all, that Frank McCourt is trying to drag Loria into the Dodgers bankruptcy, and that the Marlins don't even own the website miamimarlins.com.

But usually that's the case with the Marlins anyway - unbelievable stories paired up with Florida summers and consistently empty stadium. But that, sad to say, will be no more soon. Tonight's probably your last chance to enjoy the spaciousness, in the way a Florida Marlins game traditionally should really be enjoyed, with packs of sweaty people scattered here and there all over the stands, aimlessly staring at each other, wondering why there are so many other fans of other teams making all that noise, and, when nothing else is happening, checking out the game every now and then.

Go ahead. The box office is open up to the 5th inning. You know you're going to miss it.

For those not within a hour's flight, the pitchers tonight are Javier Vazquez and John Lannan.

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More Omar

Infante will get to move to Miami as he reportedly agrees to a 2-year contract with the Fish.

Guillen to Manage Marlins

Seems the Marlins traded a so-far-unnamed prospect or two to the White Sox to get Guillen

Ozzie says, "I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be a part of the Marlins organization. I have an unbelievable amount of respect for the Marlins, owner Jeffrey Loria, president Larry Beinfest and general manager Michael Hill." (Hmmm, no mention of Samson there.)

Anyway, here's wishing good luck to Ozzie being back in Miami and dealing with a "control freak" like Loria.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Boo-Hoo

The assertion that there will be few tears shed as 'the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium' leap off the diving board of history this week seems a little premature.
Already the skies have been crying most of the day. Maybe Mama Nature will allow a game tonight, maybe not.
There's a sense of loss, as McKeon stares at the crumbling clubhouse, as the front office boys begin to interview for his replacements.
And the talk of getting rid of Nolasco is building.
And the mini-crime wave known as Juan Carlos Oviedo has, nevertheless, positive hopes for the future.
The Brewers swept Florida for the season yesterday in Miller Park, giving the Marlins a losing road record for the year, and sealing up the cellar of the NL East for the Fish.
The not-so-perennial-anymore cellar-dwellers the Nationals are here to finish up 2011, fighting for 3rd place.
Scarily, the Nats are on an 8-game road win streak while the Fish have a .400 record at crumbly, drippy Joe-No-Mo Stadium.
Scary Nats rookie Tommy Milone is scheduled to start tonight, as Anibal Sanchez starts for Florida.

UPDATE: Jack will retire again after Wednesday.

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Yesterday's Scores

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Friday, September 23, 2011

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Way Off

On the last day off this season the Marlins news has been the usual blahblahblah - the new Marlins logo is either fake or ugly, Samson disses practically whatever fans the Marlins still had, and 28-year-old Leo Nunez is now 29-year-old Juan Carlos Oviedo. Past that, not much. Here's tonight's scores...

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POSSIBLE-UPDATE: Twitterer H2ODAG believes our (former) closer had assumed a dead cousin's identity.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Nine to Go

It's the next-2-last home stand for Sun Life and for the Florida Fish. Atlanta is happy to play 3 here - they be 6-0 this year in beautiful Miami Gardens and they still dream of the playoffs. The Marlins, meanwhile, would be happy to play the spoiler role. Minor and Nolasco perform.

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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Go Hoppers

The final game of the SAL Championship is tonight - hopefully it can be heard through this link or this link.

And of course it's game number two tonight of the Marlins-Nationals series in Washington. Pitching will be the repaired Stephen Strasburg and the looking-for-another-win Chris Volstad.

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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

News and a Noontime Game

The best-of-5 South Atlantic League Championship Series is tied at a game apiece. The Hoppers go to Savannah to face the Sand Gnats for Game 3 on Thursday, and Johan Santana will be starting for Savannah.

Matt Dominguez's father, who's a copy editor for the Los Angeles Times, writes in the Times about his son's arrival to the majors.

Gaby's nominated for the Clemente.

Today, lunchtime rubber game. Ricky Nolasco and Randall Delgado will man the mound.

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UPDATE: Fish lose 4-1. And I've just noticed that this is the 4,000 post of this blog.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

9/11 Baseball

Anibal's one-hitter last night creates a belief in the sweep in the series and the year for the Fish against the Bucs.

The 2011 Fish are 4-7 in Sunday away games (including a 'home' loss in Seattle), and lost their last one after winning the previous 3 in a row. The Pirates are 3-8 in Sunday home games this year and have lost their last 2.

Two recently hot pitchers, Javier Vazquez and James McDonald, fling this afternoon. Interestingly, considering today's 10th anniversary and the ceremonies conducted earlier, it's been noted that Javy is the only projected starter in today's games with a 9-11 record.

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Saturday, September 10, 2011

Bad/Good News

LoMo's out of the lineup along with Stanton and Lopez. But the Fish had some stat improvements last night. And the Grasshoppers are in the Championship series.

In the last two years Florida has a 10-2 record against Pittsburgh. The 2011 Pirates are 7-4 in Saturday home games though they have lost 3 of their last 4. This year's Marlins are 6-4 in Saturday away games though they lost their last 2 and one of those wins was a 'home' game in Seattle.

Pitching will be Anibal and the MLB debut of Jeff Locke.

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Thursday, September 08, 2011

The Long And Short Of It

Thanks to the recently inserted double-header for next Thursday, the Marlins are beginning their longest road trip of the season.

At the same time, one of the shortest-service Marlins is planned to be part of the whoopee at the Final Game festivities.

But first, it's Pittsburgh. The Marlins, with 20 games left in the year, are 3 losses away from a losing season. The Pirates' record is 2.5 games better than the Marlins. Both Pittsburgh and Florida have won 4 of their last 10 games. The Pirates won their last game, but they've won only one of their last eight games after a win, while the Fish have won two of their last eleven road games.

Ricky Nolasco and Ross Ohlendorf square off on the mound in the diamond. (EDIT: But that's tomorrow night - here's tonight's scores...)

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Bye Bye Alfredo

Amezaga gets released - let's write him in to make the All-Time Team.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Wetness Wednesday

The trick with starting a game at 5 PM in Miami is hoping the daily thunderstorm deluge subsides a little earlier than usual.

Soon the new stadium wiil end these water worries, except maybe for an occasional overflow from one of the new extra toilets.

Brad Hand and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey square off this evening.

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Monday, September 05, 2011

Labor Day Night Game

The Fish just finished playing their last weekend series at What-Used-To-Be-Joe-Robbie Stadium. Now its the last 3 games with the Mets this year. After the 5th its 7-1 Florida.

UPDATE: Marlins win 9-3.

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Sunday, September 04, 2011

Bye Bye Phillies

It's the last game for the Phils at Whatever-The-Name-Is Stadium. After 7 innings it's 3-2 Marlins.

UPDATE: Actually that was 'After 6 innings'. After 7 innings it was 4-4. And the Fish finally win in the 14th inning.

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Thursday, September 01, 2011