No Manny!

You know, I'm happy. Putting him with Marlins would be like putting A-Rod with the Rangers, just a weird fit, bad chemistry, etc. ... LA is a great place for Manny .... as far as Arthur Rhodes, our new Tankersly, well, let's hope for the best.... remember Dennis Cook in 1997? Man, throughout the play offs he mowed them down... Rhodes too is a veteran reliever (38 years old) ... Rhodes underwent Tommy J surgery last year ... Beinfest was on radio Thursday night during rain delay and though he couldn't talk about deals not made, he said Marlins didn't want to give up its young pitchers, which is what maybe the Pirates wanted ... (Though he gave up Gaby Hernandez, a young pitcher, for Rhodes, so they must have given up on him) ... And maybe we can still pick up a catcher on waivers... and now, during the rain delay, the guys are talking about Andrew Miller coming back -- "a lot of reasons to be excited" -- oh, no, i don't want to see AM any more this year....

For the Record

The Marlins have played their last 7 games against two first place teams. Four of those games were on the road, three at home.  They won 4 and lost 3.  They sure feel like contenders to me, but I hope they don't give away too much to get Manny. . .

Pudge at 36 is not the player he was '03. Great player, past his prime, a catcher coming into a new league on August 1, doesn't know the pitching staff or the other teams. Not sure how much he would have been worth to the Marlins. 

I want PUDGE

Forget Manny, over-priced baby. Pudge was on the market, and he went for Farmsworth, an over-priced reliever who chokes in key situations (see Marlins Cubs playoffs 2003) ... Was Detroit asking more for Pudge than Marlins were willing to give? Heck, Pinto is better than Farnsworth. Maybe Dombrowski didn't want to do another trade with Marlins cuz he doesn't dare look like a chump twice in one season in dealing with a $22 million team. ...

Manny?

Early today, CNN SI picked up a rumor somewhere that the Marlins were talking to the BoSox about Manny. Now (after lunch), Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports is saying that it may actually make sense. He also says the rumor is that either Hermida or Willingham plus a prospect go to the BoSox, the BoSox have to pay most of Manny's salary for the rest of this year, and Manny has to agree to decline salary arbitration so that the Marlins don't lose a draft pick after they decline his '09 option. Basically, it would be the same kind of deal the Braves did with the Angels for Texeira.

Does this make any sense at all?  If I were the BoSox I'd love to have Hermida's bat (and future) in Fenway and would figure that Willingham may not have much value, but even so has more value after this season than Manny. 

The Marlins probably figure that Willingham will be gone next year, and that Maybin will be in center with Ross and Hermida at the corners. And Josh ain't exactly tearing up the league here lately.

Manny would get the Marlins lots of local attention, and fill some seats over the next couple of months.

If they do the deal, I hope its for Willingham, not Hermida.

A Humid Night with Too Many Mets Fans

Aw, man, Tuesday night was pretty awful. Losing 4-1 in front of 25,000, all of them packed into the lower deck. We were in our usual Tuesday half-price-with Herald-coupon seats in Section 102, by the Mets bullpen, and the place was packed, with thousands of people not knowing they're in a ballpark and need to sit down, and wandering out every half-inning it seemed to get more snacks. Clearly, it was a night showing why Dolphins football stadium is not built to watch baseball, with so many people obscuring home plate for too many plays, with my friend French bellowing, "Sit down!" far too many times.... And loud and chortling Mets fans everywhere, enough to give you a headache. But here it is, the end of July, and the $20 million Marlins are battling the $100 million Mets for first place, and I got to see a Big League game for $11.50... And Olsen settled down after giving up three straight doubles in the first.... And Anibel Sanchez returns on Thursday night ...

Runners in Scoring Position, Two Out

Wanna get the run home? Get a pitcher to the plate:
1 -- Josh Johnson batting .500 -- 1 hit in two at bats
2 -- Jorge Cantu -- .415 in 41 at bats
3 -- Scott Olsen -- .375 -- 8 at bats
4 -- Alfredo A-MEZ-e-ga -- .320 -- 31 at bats
Others: Uggla .278, Hanley .213

Source: Si.com on Sat afternoon, 7/26

Miscellaneous Stats

Did you know?
Total base leaders:
Hanley 222 plus 50 walks for 272
Cantu 198 TB plus 28 BB 226
Uggla 188 and 43 for 231
Hermida 162 plus 34 for 196
Jacobs 152 and 19 for 171
Ross 138 and 19 for 157

Cantu and Jacobs don't walk much ...
Stats from MLB.com at 5:34 on Sat 7/26, probably not including the Sat game. ...

Thoughts on the Marlins Beating the Cubbies on a Saturday Afternoon

The Bartman curse continues. We are now getting close to the fifth anniversary when the lovable, adorable Cub fans changed into monsters, starting a curse that still hexes the team because they blamed a poor nerdy guy for 17 runs crossing the plate all because he tried to catch a foul ball. Not until Cubs fans personally and profoundly apologize to this innocent fan, not until they build monuments in his honor will the Bartman curse be lifted. I am sure Bartman is willing to forgive and forget, but that's not the point. The point is that the monster fans were willing to blame a fellow fan rather than their miserable players. Well, the Marlins scored EIGHT runs in that inning after Bartman allegedly interfered. There was a lot of bad pitching and a big error by the Cubs shortstop, but how can sports writers keep blaming a fan for EIGHT runs? And Wood could have sent them to the WS the next night, in game 7, but he gave up SEVEN runs and Farmsworth another TWO . ... Josh Beckett pitched four innings in relief in that seventh game to preserve a 9-6 victory. But it's so much easier to blame the fan. ...
And so the $20 million Marlins on a Saturday afternoon in extra innings beat the $100 million Cubs ... and the Bartman Curse continues.

Hope at the All Start Break

Wow ... Josh Johnson is back, not a super outing, but a solid one, and then Volstad with a super outing. ... I saw him get Volstad get his first win, in Denver, sitting in lower deck right field, a $26 seat. ... at dolphins stadium, same seats on a sunday are $16 ... they had about 25,000 in attendance. we get about 11,000 .... they said it was volstad's major league debut in denver, and i thought they were wrong, cuz i'd seen him before... when i got home, i remembered, i saw him at dolphins stadium pitch four innnings against yankees in that exhibition game. gave up no runs .... and if a sanchez comes back ... and we get a catcher ... and ... and ... we're only half way through the season ....

Interesting Pitching Tidbits

With Nolasco's victory today, I was wondering what his chances of making the All Star team are. So, I went to The Hardball Times and looked at the sabermetric pitching stats. 

Since I have posted here several times on the subject Andrew Miller, I was gratified, and quite surprised, to learn that Miller really shines in a couple of sabermetric stats.

Hardball Times has a stat they call Fielding Independent Pitching, which is supposed to measure only the stuff that the pitcher is responsible for. Obviously, HR, walks, HBP and  SO are the key numbers. 

Well, by that measure, Andrew Miller absolutely shines. In fact, he does a little  better than Johan Santana!

Not that young Andrew is going to make the All Star team--he's not--and Nolasco might make it with another good start or two. But  Miller really could be something special.