Andrew Miller RIP

On Wednesday, Andrew Miller pitched three innings against the Atlanta Braves, giving up four hits, four bases on balls, four runs. He was the loser. It was probably his last start of the year, leaving him with a record of 1-5 with an ERA of 8.54. He is out of options, meaning he cannot be sent to the minors next year against his will.

An informative blog, mlbcontracts.blogspot.com, reports that from his 2006 contract, Miller is receiving $1,790,219 this year. And get this: He has a clause where he can opt out of his contract and go to arbitration if he so chooses. Whatcha wanna bet?

Next Year with the Prospects

Leo Nunez might not be with the Marlins next year, The Miami Herald reports this morning, because he's earning $2 million this year and in arbitration that may go to $4 million next year. This is the funniest thing I have heard in a long time.

Gaby and Mendez

On Tuesday night, I saw my third game in person in a row – first time since 2003, I’m sure. Early in the year, I was worried that Gaby didn’t have enough power for a first baseman, but he won the game with his 19th of the year – a powerful shot into the left field blue seats, and he’s likely to gain some power with age, maybe into the 25-30 range. But the interesting surprise of this late season is Adalberto Mendez, who on Tuesday night against the New York Mets pitched seven solid innings, 89 pitches with only two walks. He’s the anti-Miller. Put the ball in play and hitters get out two-thirds of the time. He had three solid double plays behind him, a racing outfield that caught some solidly hit balls (Stanton in particular made a great catch), and Brad Davis (home run hero of the day before) threw out two runners at second. The Mets managed 10 hits against Mendez, but only one run. He’s 28, from Santo Domingo, listed as a skinny 6-2, 160, and this is his first stint in the Big Leagues, after eight years in the minors. He was a Rule 5 Minor League pick from the Cubs in 2007, was in Jupiter in 2008 and Jacksonville in 2009. This year, he was in Jacksonville and New Orleans, accord to MiLB.com. His career minor league ERA is 3.98. Not overpowering stuff, and he didn’t get the win, thanks to Veras blown save, but still he made for an enjoyable night. A possible No. 5 starter next year?

Edwin before the fall

Well, I was going to wait till the end of the season to analyze Edwin Rodriguez, but ... but Josh is injured, Ricky is injured, two starting pitchers are about to serve suspensions, Sean West (who he?) is injured. Next week, Andrew Miller is the ace of the staff and that means the win-loss record for the rest of the year is going to be awful. So ... Edwin never makes me mad in game calls the way Fredi did. That means he doesn't do a lot of small ball. He seems smart in the way he handles some of the young Marlins (and there are a lot of them), and Bonifacio has blossomed as Edwin has moved him around, giving him starts in various positions, and sitting a struggling Stanton or Hanley, all smart moves. Anyways, the numbers: Fredi was 35-36 when he left on June 23. After the Monday double-header, the team was 70-67, meaning Edwin has been 35-31. I hope they keep him around for next year.

Managers and outfielders and relievers

1 -- How many times have you seen lineups like the Marlins have been posting recently in which the outfielders hit sixth, seventh and eighth. It happened several times before the arrival of the fabulous Maybin.
2 -- I am going to look back, when I have time, to see how many games Fredi-Pinto lost us after we acquired Rhodes, a solid left hand reliever, and still Pinto was sent out there for continuing disaster.

Just Another 16-14 Tuesday Night Game

Orlando and I were in our usual Section 102, row 4, seats 1 and 2, out in left field behind the bull pen. My guess is there were maybe 5,000 people in the ballpark. (The official attendance was 14,000, but that's a joke.) There were so few people there that, sitting in left field, we could hear hecklers in the right field stands. Braves fans used to turn out for their team, but the Braves are so miserable that there were only some die-hards. After a 3-1 first inning, I told Orlando that this might be a 9-8 kind of game. I was wrong.
In the second, we moved over to Section 101, right next to the ultra-expensive Founder Club seats. And then the fun began. There was a super-Braves fan in the first row, Braves cap, blue and red Braves jersey, and right behind us two women, a middle-aged mother and grown daughter. They began heckling the Braves fan, and he responded. This was all done in Cuban Spanish. I couldn't understand most of it. At one point I thought the mom yelled, "Oye, flaca!" which would have been a supreme insult, but Orlando said they must have said something else. The guy at one point yelled back, "No habla basura" -- don't talk trash -- and the women kept at it. ... right in front of us were two Orthodox boys -- maybe 16, 18, with the yarmulke caps and strings hanging from their pockets, and they sat a few seats away from each other, maybe the better to catch foul balls. One did catch a T-shirt thrown by a Mermaid in an unusually skimpy bikini. Just to our right was another couple, middle-aged, who didn't say a word the whole game, not even until each other, until Jorge Julio came to the mound for the Braves, whereupon the woman said she hoped he gave up some homers. "He OWES us," she said. Does he ever. The weather was pleasant, not too hot, not humid. I had some beers, and the runs kept coming, and coming, and coming. Hanley and Cantu both had great opportunities to blow the game open, but they didn't. In the later innings, the mom suggested that Mr. Braves fan was being paid by Havana, which IS a supreme insult, and she made derogatory references about rafters, all of which Orlando translated for me later. Mr. Braves fan denied he was being paid by Havana. We were down 10-3 at one point, came back to 10-9. And then it was back and forth. In the top of the ninth, we were tied 14-14, and then -- hello, deja vu! -- our new closer didn't close, and we lost. Last week, there was heartbreak at those damn closer losses, but we're out of it now, and this was comedy, not heartbreak. It was great entertainment for our 2-1 Herald Tuesday discount tickets, 11.50 each. The Cuban ladies left before the end, which left Mr. Braves fan turning around and yelling triumphantly in Spanish at no one in particular. I went home knowing I'd had a good time.

Marlins in August

They started out the month in contention -- and they ended the month as a sad also-ran. In between, they went 11-17. They started the month 1.5 games out, finished 7 out. Who's responsible? Lots of people. Here are the August splits (using ESPN.com).

Of the 16 NL teams:

Runs – 15
Batting average – 15 .234
Hits –16
Doubles – 3
Home Runs – 12 – 22
Total Bases – 15
Slugging 14 –
OPS – 14
Strike Outs – 1

ERA – 6th (4.06)
Runs – 10
Walks – 8
Blown saves – 4 (tie)
Save Percentage 14 (55 percent)

Hermida -- .192-1 HR 8 RBI
Willingham -- .210 – 2 – 11
Uggla -- .217 – 2 – 8
Cantu -- .223 – 3 – 10
Jacobs -- .223 – 5 – 16
Cody – .278 – 3 – 9
Hanley -- .295 – 3 – 11
Baker -- .318 – 2 – 9


Pinto – 25.07
Gregg – 10.13
Olsen – 5.55
Sanchez – 4.71
Volstad – 3.74
Lindstrom – 3.18
Nolasco – 2.72
Nelson – 2.53
Johnson – 2.38
Kensing – 1.23
Hendrickson – 0.66
Rhodes – 0.00

Pedro

well, on sunday, Pedro Martinez only hit 90 mph once on the radar gun, and many of his pitches were in the 60s, but he is crafty and still knows how to fool batters, and he was the winner of the game.... My buddies Mr. Super Fan and French both claim that he's a lock on the hall of fame, despite having less than 220 victories now at the tail end of his career. Seems like a low number to me.... if you want to talk about someone who had a few great years, then Dale Murphy should be in the Hall, too .... but there you have it.... I'm glad I saw him, even if the Marlins lost.

Pinto! Fredi!

Every one of us sitting in the stands knew disaster was coming Sunday afternoon as Pinto strode to the mound in the 7th on Sunday. ... We had a two run lead and by the end of the inning we were down 8-2. Why, Fredi, why? As run after run crossed the plate. A 27 ERA in his past seven games. Hel- LO? I was imaging that Fredi would say afterward that he had to show confidence in his pitchers less they loss confidence in themselves. And that's exactly what Fredi said. Dr. Feel Good. "The No. 1 thing is he has confidence in himself that he can do it. We'll get him through it." Hey, I think Willie Randolph is available. Ozzie Guillen. ... My buddy says it's like Fredi's potty training Pinto. He keeps putting the kid back on the pot until he gets it right ... Or maybe this is an extended spring training in August cuz Marlins have given up. ... Maybe both Fredi and Pinto should be sent to Double AA for extended training. ...

Worst Loss of the Year

From our usual half-price Sunday seats in Section 245, it started nice, with Olsen doing six shut-out innings, especially good since he gave up three straight doubles to start the game again the Mets Tuesday night. But ... but my buddy, Mr. Super-Marlin, ranted Fredi blundered by bringing in Pinto in a crucial situation. Pinto hit a batter and then erred on a bunt. Pinto should be in Double AA says Mr. S-M. But they had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with one out and their three-four hitters up, and they couldn't deliver. Arg. Worst loss of the year, said Mr. Super-Marlin and he may be right. Certainly the Tuesday loss to Mets and then the Sunday game were the two back-to-back losses I've seen in person. And now tough road series against Phils and Mets....

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 ....

Maybe there's still hope...

Well, since they went on the road playing Mets and Phils a month ago, this team has been struggling to be a .500 team. As LeBatard says, you can't go to the post-season with this starting pitching. But if
1 -- Josh Johnson comes back to his old form.
2 -- Dallas McPherson (.310 BA, 28 homers in AAA) takes over at third and Cantu moves to first.
3 -- Maybe Volstad (4-3 and 3.28 in AA)
4 -- And then what about Maybin, after a slow start, coming on strong in June, batting .315 with 5 HR and 18 RBIs.

Or maybe, probably, this is all a bit early, and 2009 will be THE year.

Observations on a Wed Night with Marlins leading 2-1

1 -- Isn't it great that a sesaon ticket holder since 1993 has the Griffey ball? Man, he deserves it.
2 -- Saw Tucker pitch Sunday. Good fastball, something that seemed like a great slider, just a couple of miles slower than fast ball... and good strike outs... but man, he needs to throw more strikes.
3 -- Remember when Mets whined that they always had to play Yanks in interleague play while the Marlins got the lowly Rays? Well, now the lowly Mets play the lowly Yanks while the battlin' Marlins play the super-tough Rays.
4 -- And finally, remember the Mendoza line -- whether a batter can get over .200 named in honor of shortstop Mario Mendoza. Well, now we have the Jones, named after Jacque Jones, and here in the middle of June he has managed to crawl just about .100 -- the Jones line. He's gotten up to .108.

All this while feeling good on a Wed night, where Andrew Miller had a good outing, going 7 innings, giving up one run, and Cantu hammered a couple of homers, leaving Marlins fans snickering at the Tigers trade. .... and LeBatard had Sampson on the radio, and Big Dan told the truth when he said no team with starting pitching this bad ever makes the playoffs. And he's right, but there's Tucker and Josh Johnson maybe on the way and .. well, it's only June....

The Big Test

June 7: OK, let's look again at French's prescient observation on May 13 about how that late May road trip and then the early June homestand was going to tell a lot: They were 3-7 on the tough road trip. They have now lost the first game of the homestand against the young, charging Reds and they have three with the Phillies coming up.
They are now 3.5 games out of first. A ton of blown saves, heart-breaking losses. This is a young, tough scrappy team. But it is not looking like a first-place team.

Two bits of trivia

1 -- on question from post below about what ML teams have never lost a series in post-season. Well, there's the, ahem, Marlins, and the team that was formerly known as the Devil Rays. But what about the Washington Nationals. Certainly, never in post-season. Their predecessor, the Expos. were leading in 1994 when the season was wiped out. But a web search showed that in the 1981 split season they were in the playoffs. They defeated the Phillies, 3-2, then lost to the Dodgers.
2 -- When I went to a ball game with Tom, he asked -- which pitcher won the most games for the Marlins in the inaugural season fo 1993. The answer is Chris Hammond. Remember him?
-- This is written from the Marlins foreign outpost of Barcelona ....

After you're done chortling about Detroit...

being 0-7 and Marlins being on top of their division, let's take a look at our starting pitching:
1 -- "Ace" Hendrickson -- 6.10
2 -- VandenHurk -- 11.81 -- GONE
3 -- Andrew Miller -- 12.91 -- NOT GONE
4 -- Scott Olsen -- 6.00 -- Our Superstud

And should we worry about Gregg? 4.15 ....

But with the Bad Hop Bears and Nolasco on the way, it'll have to get better, right?

Team ERA 6.19 -- on this quiet Tuesday night, that's the worst in the National League.

Game 3

The good news is that, for the first time this year, a Marlins pitcher went past the fourth inning. 4-1/3 innings, to be exact. Talk about hunting for silver linings in a 13-0 loss. .... Addendum: Well, my memory was faulty. I was thinking Hendrickson didn't get out of the fourth in the opener, as he surrendered six runs. Well, he actually pitched through the fifth ... It's just that he didn't get through the fourth without disaster. ....

Game 2 2008

Well, thoughts ... I was half-asleep, suffering from a cold-flu bug, listening mostly on radio, so correct me if my memory is faulty. In the fourth, Marlins have runner on third, two out and they walk Hanley to get to Uggla. And I knew, I KNEW, what was coming up. A strike-out. How many times last year did Uggla strike out with two outs and runners in scoring position? A ton. ... More exactly, according to ESPN.com, Big Dan last year came to the plate 83 times with runners in scoring position and two out. His batting average: .133. He struck out 26 times, far more than the 11 hits he managed in that situation.

... And then Fredi doesn't believe it's a fair game if he insists on Marlins getting 27 outs in a game. So he gives up four of these outs, called technically "sacrifices." The announcers said they were proud how well the Marlins batters were learning "fundamentals," meaning voluntarily making outs.... How many of these sacrifices led to runs? Not a one. ... And then -- did I possibly hear this right? -- Marlins pitchers had nine NINE 3-0 counts during the game.... And then came Andino in the 10th. YES! Take that you arrogant Mets ....

Is There Any Worse Starting Rotation in the Majors?

Well, we do have a basketball team: Hendricks (6-9 with an ERA last year of 5.21), Vandenhurk (6-5 and 6.83), Andrew Miller (6-6 and 5.63), Scott Olsen (6-5 and 5.81) and Ricky Nolasco (6-2 point guard with 5.48). Is there any starting rotating that's worse in the Majors this year? I wonder how long its bad since there have been five pitchers with that bad an ERA were some team's rotation.

Kim Folk Part II

This is a pretty pathetic post, but then the Marlins have the markings of a pretty pathetic team. Byung-Hyun Kim has just been released by the Pirates (not exactly one of your stellar teams) and perhaps the Marlins should pick him up. The thing is, he can go out there and pitch some innings. He was 9-5 with Marlins last year, on the worst team in the NL East, with an ERA of 6 (well, 5.84.). He was also with two other teams ... But he can soak up some innings ... about five innings per game in his 19 starts with Marlins... You look at innings pitched by our prospective starters this year, and losing Dontrelle's 200-plus inning dependability, there isn't a lot there... Actually, maybe this is too pathetic a thought for spring ...