Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Standing Up for the Marlins

So my youngest son and I went to the Indy 500 (and heard the Archbishop of Indianapolis pray for a Pacer victory that Sunday night). After the race, we hung around the parking lot for a while waiting for the traffic (300,000 people) to clear, and a guy with a Pacer T-shirt and a Cubs cap spotted my Marlins cap.

"Going to the Heat game tonight?" he asked.

"No," I said, "My team is a Double A baseball team."

"Aw, they're not even that," he said.

"Yes, they are," I said. "They're a pretty decent AA team." I paused, looked at his smug expression, and added: "But you have to feel sorry for us Marlins fans. It's been 10 years since we won a World Series."

That shut him up.

As of Wednesday morning, the Marlins are 13-39. The losing-est team in baseball history, the 1962 New York Mets, who lost 120, at this point were 15-37.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Gone Fishin'

Going to be in Midwest till June 2 ... Probably won't be posting much. ...

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

PLAYING CATCH UP


    In last year's trades, the Marlins picked up not one but two catchers -- Rob Brantly from Detroit and Jeff Mathis from Toronto. The Marlins also picked up Jake Jefferies in 2011 from Tampa
    Brantly, 23, shows some promise, probably would be in minors with most teams. Like most people the Marlins go after, he has a power deficit -- 3 HR in 222 plate appearances in the majors over two seasons, with a batting average of .265.
    Mathis, 30, is special. He has spent nine seasons in the majors and is below the Mendoza line for his career at .197.
    Michael Yong at fishstripes.com has a devastating analysis of Mathis, calling him "one of the most interestingly bad players in baseball today. ... Mathis is ... one of the worst hitters of this generation."
    Jefferies, now 25, he's in AAA batting .222 and on the DL.
    Why the fascination with catchers? There's one name you don't hear much. That's Kyle Skipworth, 23, now batting .121 in AAA. Last year he hit .217 in AA.
    Skipworth was the sixth overall pick in the 2008 draft, one pick after Buster Posey. While Posey has soared to super-star status among catchers, Skipworth has languished. The Marlins front office still talks about him as "developing" but their trades for catchers show they've pretty much given up on him. Another huge front office disaster.
    After Tuesday's loss to the Phillies, wasting another great Fernandez outing, the Marlins are 13-33. The '62 worst-ever Mets were 12-34 at this point.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK IT?

    The sad Phillies make the Marlins look great. Their payroll is $170 million according to ESPN, third after Dodgers and Yankees; their average home attendance even in this dismal season is 38,081 -- more than Marlins Park sits. But they're an aging team in decline that the youthful Marlins can knock over.
    Going back to the 2012 debacle, check out jigokusabre's lengthy comment at fishstripes.com on what went wrong: He says it wasn't the high-priced players but a supporting cast -- including worst first and third base in ML -- that doomed the team. And then bad management misidentified the problems. (You need to scroll down to see his comment; it's below a Loria defense.)
    For the year, the Marlins are now 13-32 -- finally ahead of the worst-ever Mets of 1962, who were 12-33 at this point.
   

Monday, May 20, 2013

THE 2012 FAILURE

        My buddy Orlando sent me one of his regular missives on Sunday -- not celebrating a rare Marlins win, but a player progress report: "Miguel went 4-4, hits 3 homers and had 5 rbi."
    Here's the thing: I never get updates from embittered friends on JJ, Reyes or Buehrle are doing in Toronto, or how Hanley is doing in LA.
    Fans -- including me -- were bitter when the Marlins dumped their high-paid players last year, but the truth is that Loria and Company spent a lot of money putting together a bad team of expensive guys who were bad last year and who this year are mostly mediocre or have produced little.
    Last year's team was not a great one. When the Marlins dumped Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante on July 23, the Marlins were 44-51 and in fourth place. Hanley went three days later.
    Technically, USA Today lists the Marlins as having a payroll of $118 million at the start of last year, but $19 million of that was for Zambrano, and most of that salary was paid for by the Cubs, who were all too happy to dump him.
    But here's a list of dumped players, their salaries last year and what they did last year and are doing this year.
    * Hanley Ramirez -- $15 million, 14 HR 48 RBI .246 in 2012 while in 2013 has .455 in a mere four games for Dodgers.
    * Josh Johnson -- $13.7 million, 8-14 with 3.81 ERA last year, this year a mere 19 innings with Blue Jays and 0-1, 6.86.
    * Jose Reyes -- $10 million, a solid 11-57-.287 with 40 SB in 2012, this year injured appearing only in 10 games with Blue Jays.
    * Anibal Sanchez -- an exception. He was 5-7 3.94 last year with Marlins but at a hefty $8 million, this year a solid 4-4 2.77 with Tigers.
    * Heath Bell -- $7 million, 4-5 with 5.09 ERA last year, this year 4.50 with eight saves with Diamondbacks.
    * Mark Buehrle -- $7 million last year with 13-13 3.74 ERA (not bad), this year struggling at 1-3 6.33 with Blue Jays.
    * John Buck -- $6.5 million. He never got above the Mendoza line last year, batting .192. This year he started hot with Mets, but has been cooling off -- 10 HR, .228 BA.
    * Emilio Bonifacio -- $2.2 million last year, now batting .196 with Blue Jays.
    *Carlos Zambrano -- Marlins paid about $2.5 million of his salary, according to USA Today. He was 7-10 4.49 last year, losing his starting role> This year, last I heard, he was trying to come back in Phillies farm system.
    Last year's team also saw considerably playing time by Gabby Sanchez (.202 before being traded), Bryan Petersen (.195), Chris Coghlan (.140) and Scott Cousins (.163).
    In other words, the most recent dumping of players was not like what followed 1997 and 2003, those bitter events still throb in fans' memories.
    For the year, the 2013 Marlins are now 12-32, the exact record of the hapless 1962 Mets at this point.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

PAYING customers?

    First, the good news. Hechavarria remains above the Mendoza line even after going 0-4 in another loss before 13,444 announced customers.
    Placido Estevez has pointed out at Marlinmaniac.com (no relation) that Marlins are NOT dead last in one category -- attendance.
    The latest stats at espn.com show the Marlins with 18,076 average home attendance, ahead of Tampa Bay at 17,936 and Cleveland 15,649.
    That Tampa Bay number shows how listless baseball fans are in the  Sunshine State, since TB fields an interesting team in a tough division and does so by making smart front-office decisions (locking in young players early, among other things).
    But here's the thing: I'll bet you that in ticket revenue, the Rays and Indians are far ahead of the Marlins. My buddy Orlando and I purchased upper deck outfield seats for opening night for $25.50, including various online handling fees. For that we got a free extra game, which we claimed Thursday night, sitting in the sixth row in section 14, which is behind home plate. If we hadn't had that deal, we could have taken advantage of seniors Thursday (seniors being anyone 55 over over), which would have also gotten us free tickets. My friend JS, with ex-husband, her ex-husband's other ex-wife and the other ex-wife's fiance, also attended Thursday night -- all on free tickets.
    Our hot dog guy (great $3 sausages east of the ballpark) told Orlando that he and many people in the neighborhood have been approached by a Marlins rep and offered free tickets.
    You can also get 2-1 deals on Tuesdays, kids eating free on Wednesdays, etc. So the number of customers paying full value for a seat must be astonishingly low.
    After Friday's 9-2 loss to the Diamondbacks, the Marlins are 11-31. The worst team of the modern era, the 40-120 1962 Mets, were 12-30 at this point.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Got My Money's Worth

    I attended my third game of the year on Thursday, and boy was it a great game. I got my money's worth -- more than that, really, since I didn't pay anything for the ticket and was sitting in the sixth row behind home plate. (More on that at a later date.)
    In the first, Juan Pierre hit a ball that barely cleared the right-field wall -- his first homer of the year. In 8100 plate appearances, he has 18 HRs -- one per every 450 at bat. Since he's 35, last night's "blast" may have been his last.
    Fernandez did another spectacular pitching job, especially considering he was going against the hard-hitting Reds, but there were two defining moments.
    In the ninth inning, the Marlins down 2-1 with a runner on third, the Cuban Missile, Aroldis Chapman, enters the game and immediately strikes out Placido Polanco, the vet, with pitches at 100, 101, 100 mph. Up comes Marcell Ozuna, 22, who is only a few days removed from AA ball. Pressure situation, All-Star pitcher on the mound, and the kid stepped up to the challenge, blasting a triple and giving Chapman his first blown save of the year. Ozuna showed right there that he's up to Big League pressure and can get around on 100 mph heat. A bright ray of hope for us struggling Marlins fans.
    More telling of the grim reality of the present was a situation in the seventh inning -- one that shows how awful is the team this year. Adeiny Hechavarria singled, Derek Dietrich (just promoted from AA and hitting third) was hit by pitch. Runners on first and second, nobody out. And up comes the cleanup hitter, Ozuna, 22.
    And... he squares to bunt. I was groaning right away. Marlins were down to 2-1 and their cleanup hitter gives them a chance for a big inning. What's more, the on-deck hitter is Coghlan, batting .220. 
    "Maybe he'll hit a deep fly ball," says the guy sitting behind me of Coghlan. Not a chance, I say. No power.
    Even worse, the guy hitting behind Coghlan is Mathis, just off the injury list and hasn't had a hit this year.
    Ozuna "does his job" -- bunts, sends runners to second and third with one out. The Reds intentionally walk (?!?) the weak-hitting Coghlan to get to the green Mathis, who grounds into a double play, ending the inning.
    With such a weak-hitting lineup, you're not going to score many runs, a point proved again Thursday night as the Marlins lost 5-3 in 10 innings.
    For the year, the Marlins are 11-20. The '62 Mets were 12-19 at this point.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Comparing Astros and Marlins

    Michael Jong at fishstripes.com has a brilliant analysis of two rebuilding teams -- the Astros and Marlins. The Astros have put their project in the hands of the former scout director of the Cards, a team with a fabulous farm system. The Marlins continue to put their system in the hands of a guy who has been failing for a decade while Loria fires managers for not performing.
    Jong writes: "Beinfest has an unfortunately shoddy history in the draft over the last ten years and was in part responsible for the dearth of talent that was promoted in the late 2000's and early 2010's. The Marlins' minor league system ranked near last in each of the three years before this past off-season, and it was due to a series of poor drafts that were finally rectified by recent picks. Also, Beinfest and company have shown no inkling of interest in statistics and have proven they have very little knowledge on the matter based on the comments they have made in the past."
    Read  his full report here.
    After Sanabia's loss Wednesday night, the Marlins are 11-29. The '62 Mets at this point were 12-28.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Oh, Lucy!

    A day after I posted that maybe we should enjoy watching an AA team, the one big-time Major League salary comes into focus. Ricky Nolasco, who gave up six runs in the first two innings last night, is listed by ESPN as getting $11.5 million this year.
    There were rumors in the off-season that the Marlins wanted to dump Ricky too, but MLB stopped that because they didn't want the Marlins to become (more?) of a laughingstock. He earns far more than anyone else on the team -- and more than the entire rest of Tuesday's starting lineup. In second place are Polanco and Hechavarria (?!) at $2.75 million each.
    He is tied for the team lead in losses -- with five -- but at least he soaks up the innings, leading the team with 53.1.
    Confirming their AA status, the Marlins had Dietrich and Ozuna batting three and four last night.
    For the season the Marlins are 11-28. The 1962 Mets at this point were 12-27, but they were about to lose another nine straight games, so this may be the point where the Marlins can separate themselves from the losing-est team in ML history.
   

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

STARTING A DIET

    Analysts now love the Marlins farm system. Last year, fangraphs.com ranked it 26th in the majors. This year, SB Nation says they're eighth, Bleacher Report 5, Scouting Book 6.
    Bleacher Report put it this way: "Over the last year, the Marlins’ farm system endured a 180-degree swing. However, it came at the cost of essentially all their premier big-league talent. Through trades with the Blue Jays, Dodgers and Tigers, respectively, the organization bolstered their prospect pool at nearly every position."
    That's kind of like starting a diet by shooting yourself in the stomach.
    The other thing is that the prospects, who would mostly be in AA at this point in a class organization like the Cards, are already playing in a big league park.
    Here's the rankings from ScoutingBook.com of players listed as prospects but already in Miami, big leaguers, no longer really "prospects": Jose Fernandez (ranked 1 prospect), Rob Brantly (5), Marcell Ozuna (6), Adeiny Hechavarria (8), Derek Dietrich (14). Brantly and Hechavarria were starters from the get-go this year.
    So, maybe the attitude to take is to enjoy watching a AA team in Miami this year.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Remembering Matt D

    Well, it's a pretty good AA club, with Ozuna, in A ball last year, hitting cleanup.  And the guy has an arm! So some hope there.    
    Still, after losing two of three with the Dodgers, the Marlins are heading home last in the ML in runs scored, home runs, batting average, slugging average and of course OBS.
    Which of course makes me think of Matt Dominguez. He was supposed to be the great third baseman, the phenom drafted in the first round (12th overall) in 2007. Last year he was dumped to the Astros in return for Carlos Lee because ... because for a brief moment the leadership was dreaming of a World Series. Carlos is gone and Dominguez, while not the phenom once boasted about, is a regular player with the Astros batting .264 with 2 HR and 15 RBI.
    Dominguez, 23, is getting paid $492,000. The dysfunctional Marlins dumped him and now have a free-agent, Polanco, 37, with zero HR and six RBI, batting .242 and getting paid $2.75 million.
    The Marlins are now 11-27. The '62 Mets at this point were 12-26.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Where's Waldo?

    Er, Hanley. One trade (one of the very few) you're not going to hear me bitch about was sending Hanley Ramirez to the Dodgers last year. Hanley is a five-tool underperformer. It's always something.
    At the moment, he's batting .455 (!) ... in 12 plate appearances and is on the DL with his $15.5 million salary -- one of the many non-performers on the expensive Dodger staff.
    Last year, Marlins traded him for Scott McGough, a 23-year-old pitcher who is now 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA at Jacksonville, and Nathan Eovaldi, who was 4-13 last year with a 4.30 ERA and is now injured. Eovaldi is showing Andrew Miller type potential.
    Oh, of course, the Marlins needed to give the Dodgers a little extra something besides Hanley -- and they did. Randy Choate, who is now with the Cards showing 1.93 ERA in 4.2 innings.
    On Friday night, none of that mattered. Fernandez got his second victory, despite giving up three runs in the first, Dietrich got his first HR and Juan Pierre showed more signs of life with two hits.
    The Marlins are now 11-25. The '62 Mets were 12-24 at this point.

Friday, May 10, 2013

LA!

    The Dodgers -- upcoming foes for a weekend series -- are in some important ways are more pathetic than the Fish. The Marlins are now 10-25, with the Dodgers at 13-20.
    According to USA Today, the Marlins have a payroll of $36.3 million and the Dodgers, with the second highest payroll (after the Yankees) are at $216.6 million. If  you extrapolate their present win percentage to end of season, that means the Fish are spending $789,130 per victory, the Dodgers $3.4 million per victory. Those Dodger owners must be steaming.
    Meanwhile, the Marlins have three players -- Fernandez, Ozuna and now Dietrich -- who were in A ball last year. They're now AA players promoted by a desperate franchise. If they develop, the Marlins might be able to give the AAA Yankees a run for their money later in the year. 
    BTW, the Marlins present pace would give them 46 wins for the season, better than the 40 achieved by the worst-ever '62 Mets.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

DISMAL DAYS



    After losing three to the Padres, the Marlins are grasping for new lows.
    They have announced formally what we already experienced last week -- the upper bowl is closed for some games. In a small ballpark like the Marlins, that's really pathetic. As my buddy OA said: "We didn't need to build a new park for that. We already had a lot of practice doing it at Sun Life."
    Meanwhile revisiting the Trade that Will Live in Infamy, another buddy reminds me that the Tigers picked the Marlins' pocket again last year by picking up Anibel Sanchez and Omar Infante.
    Sanchez is doing great -- 3-3 with a 1.97 ERA -- and Infante is a solid .287 infielder. The Marlins got Brantly, who may some day might be a fine catcher but probably belongs in minors now; Jacob Turner (5.20 ERA at AAA and looking like another Andrew Miller) and Brian Flynn, a 23-year-old pitcher recently promoted to AAA and showing a bit of promise.
    Meanwhile the Marlins have promoted another AA prospect, Derek Dietrich. He's 23, shows some promise. We know that because a smart organization, Tampa Bay, drafted him in the second round of 2010. He was obtained by the Marlins as a spin-off of the Blue Jays give-away, in which Yunel Escobar was flipped to the Rays. Escobar is doing even worse than Hechavarria, so that deal at least wasn't a disaster.
    The Marlins are now 10-25, compared to 1962 Mets 12-21. 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

That Damn Tigers Trade


    Back to the future: Another one-run game in San Diego, another loss. Disappointed in JP's lead-off performance, they put Hechavarria (.188) there and he goes 0-3 with a walk.
    Which of course brings me back as a sour fan to that damned 2007 Tigers trade and what might have been.
    Back in October, after Miggy won the first triple crown since 1967, Sportspickle.com quoted Marlins GM Michael Hill as saying that he's still confident the Marlins got the better of the deal. "Miguel Cabrera likely peaked this year. Whereas the guys we got in return have yet to do anything. You could say they're full of potential."
        Oh yeah? Of the six guys the Tigers sent the Marlins, three -- Dallas Trahern, Mike Rabelo and Eulogio De La Cruz – -- got dumped without any compensation.
    Let's look at  the others:
    Andrew Miller – traded to Boston Red Sox in 2010 in return for Dustin Richardson, who was claimed off waivers by the Braves the following year. So zero benefit there.
    Burke Badenhop – traded in 2011 to Tampa Bay for Jake Jefferies, who's now with AAA New Orleans. In six minor league seasons, Jefferies has  batted .250, with 10 stolen bases and 15  homers.
    Cameron Maybin – traded in 2010 to Padres for Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb.  Mujica, who showed considerable promise, was dumped last year to the Cards for Zack Cox, who is now playing third base at AA Jacksonville batting .328 with no homers. Ryan Webb is a run-of-the-mill bullpen guy with Marlins.
        So six years after giving away Cabrera, we have ... Ryan Webb.
        Still, of those still in the minor leagues as spin-offs of the trade, Hill said:  Now, you may say: 'Those guys you got in return suck major ass' or 'I never heard of any of them.' And that's fine. But maybe we'll somehow trade one of those guys for a future Hall of Famer."
        Wanna bet?
        After Tuesday's 5-1 loss to the Padres, the Marlins are now 10-24. The '62 Mets were 12-22 at this point, the 2003 Tigers 7-27.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Bring back the Phillies

    Monday night was back to reality with the Padres, a 5-0 loss, cementing the team's last-place ML stance for runs scored. The crowd was 14,156.
    My guess is most of those San Diego fans paid full price for their tickets. Not here in Miami, where the Marlins are literally giving away tickets to try to win back disgusted fans.
    My buddy OA says: "We are babysitting our grandson tonight and he's raised on Sir Pizza. So with the order, the box came with a kind of post-it coupon that'll give you two tickets to any April-May game, Monday-Thursday, up to baseline reserved, for free. So I kept it. (On the back, it has a little calendar that tells you which games it's good for.) Redeemable at the stadium. And I just saw that with an empty can of Pepsi, you can get almost any seat (even some of the prime ones) for $5."
    Plus on Thursdays old farts like OA and I get in for free. And we still have unused free coupons that we got by purchasing our opening day tickets.
     Last month, I paid $31 apiece for four upper deck outfield seats at Yankees Stadium. With my most recent Marlins visit, I paid $9 and got a much better seat.
    For the season, Marlins are now 10-23. The '62 Mets at this point were 12-21, the 2003 Tigers were 7-26. Thanks to their Phillies cheese steaks, the Marlins are now averaging 2.97 runs a game -- ahead of the worst-ever 2.85 posted by the 1968 White Sox.

Monday, May 6, 2013

What a weekend

    Fernandez and Slowey pick up their first victories, Ozuna is batting .478 in his first six games, and Hechavarria goes 2-4 Sunday with seven RBIs, putting him closer to the Mendoza line with a .190 average.
    Fun games to watch. But, in this season of our discontent, I have to point out that Marlins are still last in ML in runs, and they gained two victories against the declining Phillies.
    If there is anything more pathetic than the Astros (payroll $22 million) and Marlins (payroll $36.3 million), it's the aging Phillies with a payroll of $165 million, behind only the Yankees and Dodgers. The Phillies are paying Cliff Lee $25 million, Howard, Halladay and Hamels $20 million each.
    Halladay was way over-the-hill on Sunday, and the Marlins youngsters had a great day. The Phillies have gotten 14 victories for their $165 million so far, the Marlins 10 for their $36 million. Still, Philadelphia loves its team -- 45,276 showed up on Sunday. The Marlins are hard pressed to get 20,000, even with deeply discounted tickets.
    For the year, the Marlins are now 10-22. The '62 Mets were 12-20 at this point, the 2003 Tigers 7-25.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

DIE-az

    Shortly after I wrote yesterday that the Marlins seem to specialize "in picking up free agents for low pay that no one else wants" -- I learned they had called up Matt Diaz, 35, released by the Yankees in spring training.
    Announcers happily say that Diaz has really beaten up Marlins pitchers over the years, but in Philadelphia, he wasn't facing a Marlins pitcher. He steps to the plate last night with the bases loaded and strikes out.
    Diaz -- he pronounces it DIE-az -- may have been picked up just to give Spanish broadcasters something to talk about for the rest of the season.
    After Friday night's lost, the Marlins are 8-22. The 2003 Tigers were 5-25 at this point, the 1962 Mets were 11-19.

Friday, May 3, 2013

FROM THE HALLS OF MARCELL OZUNA

    Phenom Marcell Ozuna had two hits Thursday night against Phillies, and he could be the real deal. Or he could be another Jeremy Hermida, who hit a grand slam in his first ML at bat and has been sliding downhill ever since. 
    Were my bad thoughts about the Marlins farm system wrong? Well, Ozuna was signed by the Marlins as an undrafted free agent in 2008. Sanabia, last night's pitcher, was drafted in the 32nd round in 2006; he's starting to show signs of true mediocrity. The other seven starters on Thursday all came from elsewhere.
    As a small market team, the Marlins need to build from within, but what they seem to specialize in is picking up free agents for low pay that no one else wants -- Dobbs, Solano, Polanco, Juan Pierre (who miraculously walked again Thursday night, making for his third walk of the season).
    Where are the great draft picks that the Marlins boasted about in the past? Like Kyle Skipworth and Matt Dominguez?
    The Marlins are now 8-21. The 1962 Mets were 10-19, the 2003 Tigers were 4-25.
    After Thursday night's two-run outing, the Marlins have now scored 81 runs in 29 games -- 2.79 per game. The record low for a 162-game season comes from the 1968 Chicago White Sox, which scored 2.85 a game.
    The Marlins are also close to the worst-fielding team in baseball this year. Only the Nats have more errors, for what it's worth.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

A QUIET MIRACLE

    I witnessed a quiet miracle Wednesday afternoon at Marlins Park. Juan Pierre walked. In the first inning of his 25th game this season, the leadoff hitter drew a walk -- his mere second of the season.
    For the day, he also got two hits, raising his batting average to .222 and his on-base percentage to .260. Maybe he's got some life left yet. Stil, the team batting average from the leadoff spot is a miserable .191, second worst to the Twins' astonishing .173.
    I don't know why I pick on Juan Pierre, since the 2-9 hitters are also pretty bad.
    Still, we cling to slivers of hope. Phenom Ozuma goes 2-4 Wednesday, as does Nick Green, who ups his batting average to .321. Green also makes a couple of nice fielding plays, and my buddy OA says, "He's looking pretty good."
    Then I open the Herald this morning to see that Green will be released on waivers today because Adeiny Hechavarria is coming off the DL. You remember Adeiny, a key piece in the Bluejays give-away, who's batting .184.
    Wednesday was the second game of the season I attended in person. OA and I also went to opening day, buying cheap upper deck seats in which we got four free seats for a later game.  On Wednesday, we bought $9 seats (cheapest available in the home run porch, section 134, far center field), and then plopped ourselves down in about the 10th row of section 26 (lower deck, left field).
    Our favorite food (the Cuban guy whose stand is outside the east side of ball park) wasn't there, figuring the day game wasn't worth his time. He sells sausages for $3 that are twice the size of a Marlins Park $6 hot dog.  So we settled for the pork sandwich in the food court, a pretty good deal at $7.
    The upper deck was closed, and I'd say that 90 percent of those sitting in the lower deck were kids in school groups, admitted for free or vastly reduced prices. The announced crowd was 16,188, and I'd guess that only a couple of thousand of those were paying customers like us.
    The Marlins are now 8-20. The '62 Mets were 9-19 at this point, the 2003 Tigers were 3-25.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

WHOA

    I leave town for a few days, and Marlins explode. They were 5-17 when I left. Now they're a roaring 8-19, having won three in a row, thanks to a 15-inning battle and an  ump's blown call at third.
    Still, the '62 Mets, losing-est team in baseball history, went on a streak about this time too, and they were 9-18 at this point. The 2003 Tigers, worst non-expansion team in history, were 3-24.
    The Marlins remain last in batting average, home runs, slugging percentage and runs scored. They are averaging 2.7 runs a game, still putting them on track for worst-ever run production over a 162-game season, the 1968 Chicago White Sox, which scored 2.85 a game.
    Stanton finds his home run swing. Stanton finds DL. But phenom Ozuma comes up and gets a hit. A sprig of hope in a dismal season -- even if the past two victories were against the lowly Mets.