Putting Your Cards on the Table

After that horrendous Sunday game in which the pitchers seemed to hold the ball for hours and then threw balls to the Chicago Cubs, I was at the St. Louis Cardinals game Monday that zipped along with a complete game shut out for Volstad, shortest game in Marlins history at 1:52. And here's what I learned about our starting shortstop, replacing Bonifacio, who was sick at the last minute, who was replacing Hanley who has a little something or other.

So our shortstop, just up from AA Jacksonville -- Ozzie Martinez, 22, from Carolina, Puerto Rico, 5-10, 190 – batted .302 in Jacksonville, with 5 homers. Thirteen stolen bases, nine caught stealings – not much speed. He was btw drafted the same year as Andrew Miller and Sinkbeil -- 2006. Whereas they went in the first round, he was taken in the 11th round, out of Porterville College in California.
Would kind of like to see more speed out of a shortstop, but still …
Volstad, btw, was the 16th pick overall in the 2005 draft.

Was this the worst inning I've ever seen in person?

Sunday, against the Chicago Cubs: The Marlins were down 2-0 and Andrew Miller could have been touched up for more in the first, but he managed to contain the damage. Then came the second. This is against a lineup of Chicago Cubs minor leaguers – not a single regular.

Wellington Castro, who was later to get his first ML home run started with a walk (the first of the inning). Pitcher Jeff Samardzija sacrificed him to second. ONE OUT. Sam Fuld singles to right, Castro to third. Coach visits the mound. Passed ball by Mike Rivera, runners move up. Darwin Barney walks (second walk). Bases loaded.

Edwin has seen enough. Brett Sinkbeil is brought in. Sinkbeil was the 19th player taken overall in the 2006 draft. Miller was the sixth player overall in that same draft. Bunch of young talent here. About to explode.

Sinkbeil walks Jeff Baker (third walk), run scores. Micah Hoffpauir walks (fourth walk), run scores. Tyler Colvin walks (fifth walk), run scores. Coaching visit to mound (this from MLB.com). Perhaps coach suggested he throw strikes. Bobby Scales strikes out swinging. TWO OUTS. Brad Snyder gets his first major league hit with a single to center, two runs score. Wellington Castro (who walked to start the inning) hits a ground rule double. Another run scores. Samardzija (who foolishly made a sacrifice out early in the inning) is smarter this time. He walks (sixth walk).
Fuld flies out. THREE OUTS.

There is something absolutely deadening about walks from a fan’s view. The team tied a Marlins’ record with 12 walks for the game.

Before the game, I joked with a friend that Miller was facing a minor league lineup. Question: How many runs would he give up? Four runs in six innings, said R. In fact, he gave up five runs in an inning and a third.

Logan Morrison and Andrew Miller

Well, two weeks ago, when French and I went to see the Astros, there was Andrew Miller on the mound. A horrendous ERA in Double-A and somehow they want him to start a game in the Major Leagues. For the first two innings, I stood and applauded wildly every time he threw a strike, and he wasn’t half-bad in a no-decision.
During the game, French was looking to the Marlins future and it wasn’t good. He rattled off the list of players with no power: Maybin, Bonefacio and Morrison in the outfield on any given day, with Coughlin another left fielder with no power. A no-power outfield is not a recipe for the playoffs.
Now, this brings me to yesterday’s game and Logan Morrison, who took an awful hit off a foul ball, and according to this morning’s newspaper is OK.
Before being removed in the 10th, Morrison was 3 for 4, with two doubles and a triple, raising his BA to .312.
Well, doubles and triples are not HRs, of which he has only one, but certainly not bad. So I went home and calculated total bases as a percentage of at-bats. Hanley is at 48.6 percent, Morrison is 48.5, Uggla at 50.6 percent. So Morrison has some power, just not the HR type.
And by the way, Morrison will NEVER be rookie of the year. He came up late this year, too late for this year’s award, but a friend was wondering about next year. Nope. Through Sunday he already had 138 at-bats, and to be rookie of the year next year, only those with fewer than 130 ML at bats will be considered.

Triiva Quiz

How many teams have never lost a post-season series? I can only think of two -- and they're in the same state.

The Big Dutchman

Well, I saw my first regular game of the season ... VandenHurk, 2-1/3 innings, 75 pitches, 11.81 ERA. We were thinking, he should be sent down, and indeed after the game he was. ... But ... but... hope springs eternal, several very nice fielding plays by Mike Jacobs, this guy who used to be a piece of wood at his position, is really coming along. And Amezega made two really nice plays in center field -- both of them astonishing, really.

A Bill James Trivia Question

In his excellent book, Bill James Gold Mine 2008, he says for the last seven seasons, the Marlins have had a different pitcher each year who led the team in saves. Then he asks which of these does not belong on the list (if you get this wrong, you're on the wrong blog): Antonio Alfonseca, Armando Benitez, Vladimir Nunez, Todd Jones, Chad Fox, Joe Borowski, Ugueth Urbina and Kevin Gregg.... Too easy, right? OK, try to guess this: Bill James says this year the Marlins will once again have a different pitcher leading the team in saves. Guess who.

Kim Folk

Where is Byung-Hyun Kim now that we really need him? Last year, our most successful starters were Dontrelle (10 wins, gone), Scott Olsen (10 wins, injured but recovering?), B-H Kim (9 wins, five losses, the team's best w-l percentage, and where is he now?), and Sergio Mitre (27 starts, five wins, according to Bill James book, which is hard to believe, and is kind of an injured question mark). So ... you can either say we're in deep do-do when it comes to starting pitching, or this year's crop can't be any worse than last year's, and maybe, just maybe.... well, it's spring.
-- John Dorschner