calvinball

And Homerun Hermida!

Hammah just missed one.

Foxs News Article reports the deal is done

Miami Herald Article Here's a nice article on Hammer from earlier in the week. I didn't run across it until today. Enjoy.

I think we definitely need to keep Cabs and Hammer batting back to back. Hammer is doing a good job protecting Cabs, and when they choose give Cabs the pass and pitch to Willingham, he is making them pay. Cabs has 43 RBI's on the year, and Hammer is backing him up with a solid 45 RBI's.

Quick update on the other divisional games... Braves won a day game. Mets, Phillies and Nats all lost their night games (Mets game just went final).

Believe it or not, Boone is 2nd in the NL in getting hit by pitches. Some people just have the gift...

5 K's thru 3... Pretty efficient too, only 37 pitches thru 3.

Willingham is now tied for third in the league in RBI's at 25 (the leaders are at 27).

Josh is a smart player and a good writer. Thanks for posting Holly!

Any idea why Willingham was a late scratch? He seemed to be getting hot again (a HR in each of the last two games).

I don't think you can put this off as "just a slump". Slumps are a couple of games....even weeks...but Willy has been....bad....for the last month or so now. He had two days off before last night, so if you give him another the only thing you are accomplishing is benching him. Case in point - his last AB tonight, Heilman throws a fastball on the outside half of the plate and he's way out in front and pulls it. That's a pitch he would have taken the other way 99% of the time but he seemed like he was looking to pull something that entire AB. His approach, to me, definatley seems at if it has changed. he's constantly swinging at bad pitches, something he wouldn't be cought dead doing when the season started. Like I said before, I hope he turns it around, but i'm starting to get a bit concerned from what I have been seeing on the field. It's just a slump. He has had spells like this before, and he will come around. BTW: Last night Willingham had a great AB to drive in the go-ahead run against Pedro Martinez. With two strikes he reached out and hit a pitch that was thrown down and away. He hit it back up the middle to score the winning run. Be patient. He's a very good hitter, and the hits will start to fall again soon.

Hammer doesn't look comfortable at all behind the plate. I am guessing his time behind the plate is over. Unless there is an emergency. He didn't look comfortable right after he made the move to catcher, but he looked great this spring. I wish he had been getting some starts behind the plate all year long.

Theiy need to move while the movin's good!

Willingham got back on track tonight, going 3 for 4 with an RBI (30). His BA is back up to .290. :thumbup

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sport...ll/14532627.htm Florida's rookie tendencies may include award With so many rookies in the starting lineup, the Marlins could have an advantage when it comes time to pick the NL Rookie of the Year. BY CLARK SPENCER cspencer@MiamiHerald.com Dontrelle Willis has a commanding view of the Marlins' clubhouse from his locker, which is located at the head of the room. Wherever Willis turns, he sees rookies. There's Mike Jacobs, Scott Olsen, Josh Willingham and Josh Johnson off to his left. There is Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez, Reggie Abercrombie, Eric Reed and Jeremy Hermida over to his right. And across the way, there's Ricky Nolasco and Carlos Martinez. Willis figures one of them will wind up winning the National League's Rookie of the Year award, just as he did in 2003. ''I think there's a lot of guys on this team that are going to get votes,'' Willis said. ``I guarantee we're going to have three of the top five.'' If the race turns out as hotly contested as Willis thinks it will, he said he might even bring his Rookie of the Year trophy to the clubhouse one day and drag it around like a greyhound lure. ''Like a rabbit,'' he said. Willingham, Ramirez and Uggla have raced out to strong starts, emerging as early contenders, along with Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder, Colorado Rockies reliever Ramon Ramirez, Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Conor Jackson, Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Sean Marshall and Houston Astros starting pitcher Taylor Buchholz. Among rookie hitters, Fielder leads the way with a .333 average, Willingham has the most home runs with seven, and Ramirez and Jackson are also hitting .300 or better. As rookie pitchers, Buchholz (2-1) and Marshall (2-0) have helped to fill big voids in their teams' rotations. Houston's no longer contains Roger Clemens and Chicago is missing Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Colorado's Ramirez has yet to allow a run (and only five hits) in nine relief appearances totaling 12 innings. He has struck out 16. Other NL rookies drawing interest include San Diego Padres second baseman Josh Barfield, New York Mets pitcher Brian Bannister, and Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. But the Marlins think they might have the inside track on this year's award. ADVANTAGE: MARLINS Their roster is not only stuffed with rookies, but many of them are regulars. Five of the Marlins' eight starting position players and one of their starting pitchers is a rookie. ''It would be nice to see the Rookie of the Year come from this team,'' Willingham said. Said Uggla: ``There's probably a better chance than normal that the Rookie of the Year will come from this team because we have so many rookies. In order to be Rookie of the Year, you have to get the opportunity, get the at-bats, and that's something most of us are getting.'' Willis is the only Marlin ever to win the award, but he also serves as a reminder that the next winner might be a player who is not yet on an existing roster or was added recently. Willis, who didn't make his debut until three years ago today, won nine of his first 10 decisions, and ended up 14-6. Willis said he likes what he sees in the young Marlins. ''We're playing aggressive,'' Willis said. ``With young guys, you usually see them playing tentative.'' GIRARDI ENCOURAGED Even though he would prefer more wins, manager Joe Girardi said he can't complain about the effort the rookies are giving, even if the results aren't always there. There's always a chance Jacobs and Abercrombie could snap out of their hitting slumps while the current front-runners begin to fade as the long summer heats up. ''You look at what Hammer's done,'' Girardi said of Willingham. ``You look at what Hanley's done, what Danny's done. J.J.'s been pretty good. Nolasco's been pretty good. Let's see if we can get a few more guys in that category.'' Girardi would never complain about having too many leading Rookie of the Year candidates, but said there could be a danger in having several. ''It's like when they talk about the Heisman Trophy sometimes,'' he said. ``They take votes away from each other like when you have Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart.''

Here are some fun stats on Josh Willingham. This is where he currently ranks in the National League (for all players with at least 75 at bats). Tied for 4th in Doubles (with 10) Tied for 7th in RBI’s (with 24) 8th in SLG % (at .630) 8th in OPS (at 1.049) 12th in BA (at .326) Not bad for a rookie…

Conine is alot more muscular, I remember JP running into Niner fullsteam and just bouncing off without even making Niner budge. I seriously doubt Josh's listed weight is correct (200 lbs). I would just about bet he is as big, if not bigger, than Niner. Josh is thick and very strong. If I were a carny I would guess he weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 225 lbs.

If we are going to have Willy catching we better trade for a LFer or CFer that will put up decent numbers. I rather have Willy in left and Olivo catching than Willy catching, Aguila in LF with Abercrombie/Reed in center. It would be wise to look toward the future and not just this year. In the long-run it is best for the club to have Willingham's bat coming out of the C position. He needs to get at least a couple of starts a week to continue his progress behind the plate. He had a great spring and he needs to keep getting some reps to build on that momentum. When the club is looking to make a serious run at the playoffs there will be an OF'er available and his bat will probably be a lot better than Aguila's. As far as the pitching stats go, that's a bunch of bull. Even in a rotation where one catcher catches everyone, the pitching stats vary greatly from pitcher to pitcher. If Willingham has just caught one pitcher, there is not acceptable way to compare his catching ability to O's by looking at strikes, balls, hits, runs, ect.. Now, looking at offensive production when both are in the game going against the same pitchers.... That will tell you something.

I think Willingham needs to catch 2 out of the 5 starting pitchers in the rotation to learn the position and to stay in the lineup this year. It's also probably not a bad idea to have him spending some extra time with Tuck during the day before the games. The best thing for the future of the club is to have Willingham behind the plate. He showed a lot of progress this spring and holds a lot of promise for the future. When money is available the club will do a lot better than Aguila for LF. For now, let him play out his dream starting in LF for 2 out of 5 games.

Set 'em up, knock 'em down. Good inning!

Interesting that Olivo is catching tonight. I thought Willingham was supposed to catch Vargas. :mischief2 Olivo's been greaet so far, and obviously Willy has been fine in left. no reason to change it. I just hope they are not abandoning the plan to develop Willingham as a catcher. He was doing great in spring training, and I think it is short-sighted to not develop that ability.

Interesting that Olivo is catching tonight. I thought Willingham was supposed to catch Vargas. :mischief2 Gameday Link: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/y2006/gd.ht...mlb_1&brand=mlb

If I remember correctly Stokes tried LF last year and had a lot of trouble there. Is he playing LF in AAA this year? Maybe he just needs some more time at the position (I know LF is not brain surgery, but he struggled in the experimnet last year).

I will go with Willingham. I can't expect him to keep up this kind of production, but he had a great series, both offensively and defensively. He had an OPS over 1.500 this weekend!