SoFlaFish

A perfect game is a different matter, I'd applaud that whoever it was. Jiminez actually walked 4 hitters in 5 innings, which suggests his stuff wasn't even all that good despite the fact nobody got a hit off him. I beg to differ with you. He was still hitting 97mph on the gun in the ninth inning after 120+ pitches! Actually, after issuing his walks, Rockies pitching coach Bob Apodaca suggested that Jimenez throw from the stretch for the whole game. After that he only issued one walk.

I was there at Turner Field on Saturday night, and I can assure you that the fans were not "cheering" for Jimenez! I was sitting out in RF and my son and I were the only two that were standing up, only because it was the first no-hitter I ever attended. If anything, there was respectful clapping for the achievement, but not active cheering. As a matter of fact, when Dexter Fowler made the incredible catch in RF in the seventh inning, some Braves fans were up and clapping at what was an AMAZING catch (it looked SO MUCH better in person than on TV - it was coming right at us and I was convinced it was a hit). It was then that those fans earned my respect as true baseball fans. Something that is in a shortage in these parts.

I have the Saturday plan and pay full price for parking every game. The only thing the team offers you is the opportunity to purchase parking passes in advance, but the cost is still $10.00 per game.

Went back today, but this time with a quarter of my son's tee-ball team in tow. They were all amazed at the access to the players. One of the boys, who is normally shy and reserved, became an autograph fiend, wiggling his way to get all the autographs he could! We had a ball with Hanley Ramirez today. During bunt drills in the cages, he unleashed an expletive in Spanish that only me and my buddy understood. We then yelled back to him (in a joking manner and in Spanish) "Hanley, c'mon there are kids here!" He looked at us and then started to laugh during his whole drill. When he had another bunt go wrong, he yelled out a censored curse and looked over to all of us laughing. A moment later, Bonifacio came over to us asking (in Spanish), "What was up with you guys and Hanley?" Also, as is our tradition, my buddy and I (Columbus HS alums) always bust Freddi's chops about his going to Southridge. This year, he remembered us and busted our chops by saying, "Hey, guys, I really love those girls at Columbus!" We answered back, "You bustin' us?!" He was laughing saying, "Hell yeah!" The boys arrive and check out the drills. Checking out Chris Volstad. Volstad. Baker bunting in the cage. Hanley awaiting his turn to bunt in the cage. EvenLittler SoFlaFish and Wes Helms sharing a moment. Getting Chris Coghlan's autograph. Cameron Maybin takes some swings as Gaby Sanchez looks on. Brett Carroll put his batting helmet on EvenLittler SoFlaFish and then on his tee-ball teammate. Then he talked to the boys from my team about practicing and hitting a ball off a tee everyday. They were so impressed that a major leaguer was talking to them. Baserunning drills. http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh266/SoFlaFish/wbc-08/Spring%20Training%202010/P1010032.jpg New first base coach Dave Collins going over baserunning techniques with a bunch of guys.

They start between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. and run through 'til about 1:00 p.m.

Were the players hospitable to all the fans? It looks like everyone had a great time. Now only if it felt like spring in NC. Get to go to work tonight where the temp will be probably just at a mild 30 degrees. The players are always great to the fans, but you really need to know how to behave. I usually don't approach them unless they want to be approached. When you're there, you can tell. Sometimes, if I just mind my own business, they come to me. Today, Jose Ceda just walked up to my son and handed him a baseball. We weren't asking for it, but he just walked right up to us. Also, it helps a lot if you speak to the Latin players in Spanish - I guess that goes without saying. I've been doing this for eight straight years (going up to Jupiter, that is), and I've never had a negative experience. Not once!

Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capustrano, it's the annual SoFlaFish and EvenLittler SoFlaFish pilgrimage to Jupiter for spring training. We hit the fields today (Sunday, February 21) and the workouts were lighter than in previous seasons. Didn't see any pitchers throwing off the mound, but there was still some good training to be watched. We'll be back next week on Sunday, except I'll have half of EvenLittler SoFlaFish's tee-ball team with me so that they can see that the major league players pretty much do the SAME drills they do on Thursdays and Saturdays. And now . . . without further interruption, here are the 2010 installment of SoFlaFish Spring Training Pictures: Ricky Nolasco getting in some fielding drills. My son was excited to realize that they were doing the same drill that his tee-ball team was doing on Saturday morning: fielding from the pitchers mound and throwing to first base for the out. Andrew Miller tries to lay down a bunt into one of the two "zones" on the left. The one closest to the clay base path is the "Panic Zone," the one to the right of that is the "Hurry Zone." This is a new drill that we didn't see last season at Spring Training. New first base coach Dave Collins goes over bunting techniques with the pitchers. Just standing there behind him for twenty minutes taught me SO MUCH about bunting. Stuff I had never even thought of! My son gets Josh Johnson to sign his baseball card. It goes without saying, he was quite excited, JJ is one of his favorite Marlins players! My son proudly shows off his Josh Johnson autographed baseball card. Ricky Nolasco just finished signing ELSFF's baseball card. Tommy Hutton (far left), Joe Frisaro (right) and Fredi Gonzalez (obstructed behind Frisaro) were deep in conversation . . . . about the new Anthony's Coal Fire Pizza that opened in Palm Beach Gardens. I kid you not! Gotta love Spring Training! Chris Coghlan takes his turn swinging for the fences in the batting case during batting practice. Mike Stanton awaits his turn to bat.

Here's a funny aside relating to FanFest. I was in Tampa yesterday on a work related matter and I saw the ad in the St. Petersburg Times for Rays FanFest (which is this Saturday). If you want to get a wristband to be eligible to get autographs, you have to pay $20.00. No wristband, no autographs. Season ticket holders automatically get wristbands! Hey, at least the long lines for Marlins autographs was free!

I like to tell people that I am the only Marlins fan in Vermont. Of course I may be wrong. I have been a fan since '93 and remember Charlie Hough's first pitch, Chuckie Carr's hot dogging and our first Great - Jeff Conine. In 2003 I was married on October 19 on a cruise ship out of New York harbor, and among honeymoon memories is the joy of of sitting in the sports bar with all those Yankees fans as we creamed 'em. Any other Marlins fans from odd places out there? Well, let's just say that from 1994 to 1997, you weren't the only Marlins fan in the Green Mountain State. I went to law school in VT and wore my Marlins cap on a regular basis. I would make the roadtrip up to Olympic Stadium everytime the Fish were in town.

How much you willing to pay? I have one here (XL) with a nice blank back ready for customizing. I've been dying to create a "Matias Carrillo" or "Rich Rodriguez" jersey out of mine. I bought it in 1994.

This thread is truly pointless, only because you have no perspective. You only think because you see it first hand here it's only happening here. Using your rationale, it's tough being a fan of EVERY team in MLB except the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and Cubs. Puh-lease. Try being a Royals fan where the franchise is basically irrelevant. If you guys b!tch and whine every time ESPN doesn't really "mention" us, try sitting through Baseball Tonight and count the number of "stories" or "analysis" on the Royals. Then you have the Pirates who haven't had a winning season (or hope for one) since Sid Bream got past Mike LaValliere! And we're not the only franchise that gets overrun by fans from other cities. Sure, the Red Sox and Yankee fans outnumber the Rays fans in St. Pete, but it also happens to established clubs as well. Go to Miller Park when the Cubs come to town. Go to Chase Field when the Cubs are in town. Geez, anytime the Cubs go anywhere, you're going to have high percentage of Cubs fans there! For that, blame WGN! Go to PETCO Park when the Dodgers come in. Geez, there are even scores of Mets fans at Citizens Bank Park when those two teams meet! It happens more often than you think. Some teams have large out-of-town fan bases thanks to the old Cable TV superstations that carried out-of-town games, like WPIX & WOR. I was at a Braves-Phillies game last year and about 35% of Turner Field was populated by Phillies fans. It happens all the time and in all sports. Next time you see a Dolphins road game, take a look at all the Dolphins jerseys in the stands. Last season during that Rams game there were a ton of "Dol-fans" at the Edward Jones Dome and I'm sure those folks have NEVER lived in South Florida. And do you think Fire Sales only happen here? The Padres are going through another "market correction" (name a Padre outside of Peavy and Gonzalez -- and Peavy would be gone already if not for the injury). Remember 1993 in San Diego? We were the beneficiaries of that "fire sale." The Pirates just dumped McClouth for chump change. The Indians have their roster basically for sale this season except for two or three players. And back in the day, teams like the Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics, St. Louis Browns, Washington Nationals, etc. were just glorified farm clubs for the Yankees.

Actually, if you're going to complain about anything it's the fact that 40% of the team store on the first level is made up of Miami Dolphins merchandise. That's despicable!

Hmm, strange. I do know for a fact that our Media Market (South Florida) is bigger than theirs (Tampa Bay). Actually, the Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota) media market is larger than the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market. It isn't bigger if you add "Miami-Fort Lauderdale" and "West Palm Beach-Fort Pierce" markets. However, if you add Tampa-St. Pete and Orlando-Daytona, their combined markets are much bigger. Media market rankings, by size: RANK - MARKET - # OF HOUSEHOLDS - % OF U.S. 1 New York, NY 7,433,820 6.495 2 Los Angeles, CA 5,654,260 4.940 3 Chicago, IL 3,492,850 3.052 4 Philadelphia, PA 2,950,220 2.578 5 Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX 2,489,970 2.175 6 San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA 2,476,450 2.164 7 Boston, MA (Manchester, NH) 2,409,080 2.105 8 Atlanta, GA 2,369,780 2.070 9 Washington, DC (Hagerstown, MD) 2,321,610 2.028 10 Houston, TX 2,106,210 1.840 11 Detroit, MI 1,926,970 1.684 12 Phoenix, AZ 1,855,930 1.622 13 Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), FL 1,822,160 1.592 14 Seattle-Tacoma, WA 1,819,970 1.590 15 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 1,730,530 1.512 16 Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL 1,546,920 1.352 17 Cleveland-Akron (Canton), OH 1,524,930 1.332 18 Denver, CO 1,524,210 1.332 19 Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, FL 1,466,420 1.281 20 Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, CA 1,399,520 1.223 .... 38. West Palm Beach-Fort Pierce, FL 779,430 0.681

Just a thought, but it might be interesting to see if there is an overall downswing in ALL cable tv ratings thanks to the economy -- with people perhaps dropping cable all together to save money.

if the marlins are gonna pay the least in the majors for their players, it should cost the least in the majors for a ticket to watch them. yep, it is a business, and Loria is stealing from all of our pockets. Please, keep your mouth shut before you keep digging yourself a bigger "idiot hole." The difference between the Marlins and the lowest average ticket price (Arizona) is $4.45. What do you want, the Marlins to charge $1.00 for "Fish Tank", $5.00 for outfield reserve, $10.00 for lower level, $15.00 for Founders Club?