musk

I was able to get tickets for one game near where Bartman sat for the NLCS game..... should be alot of fun.. plus I think Cubs fans will be somewhat shocked to see any Marlins fans with this year's team. Since Marlins fans are always considered fair weather supporters. Though they have played three decent games this year against the NL champs Astros...... No. Cubs fans will still give you the same sh*t regardless of what team you root for. Cubs fans suck and are absolutly retarded. Trust me, I have a lot of friends who are Cubs fans and I've been a couple of Cubs games since I live in Central Illinois, they are all the same. Can I come with you ? Wrigley is my dream field to visit. It's a cool stadium though. I'd say get some people together and get some rooftop seats.

The Marlins home games are not sold out. Ticketmaster.com gave me several options for tickets, just not the section I was looking for. No, they really are sold out. Haven't you been reading the news? They sold out in Feburary.

so what does this all mean? It means that the Marlins are a prime example of how Major League players can have their own Major League team. Hell, A-Rod can almost have 2 Marlins teams.

I've been a member on this board since last summer. I just became a member of the St Louis Cardinals webboard, www.cardsclubhouse.com and what a difference. First, there is probably 1/4 of the activity on that board as there is on this board. Second, today I posted an exerpt from Peter Gammons' blog and they removed it because it was ESPN Insider material and the board has an extensive policy against posting articles and such. I am now extremely apreciative of how this board is run and its members. You guys let it go and just provide an area for free exchange of ideas regardless of where our info comes from. Keep up the good work and never succumb to the man! :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

PTI = Garbage when LeBetard is on. He brings down the legitamacy of any media program.

Did you guys see this? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2397625 Yankees have the top 3 paid players in baseball. Marlins have 2 millionares in D-Train and Mohler.

wasn't sergio mitre who blanked us last year w/ the cubs? I can't remember since the cubs starting rotation was constantly changing. But I remember going "alright, we get mitre this should be good" then 3 hours later going "son of a bitch, we got mitre, this sucks!" yep, thats him sweet, the cubs have a rich history of letting go young talent. see- Maddox Willis Farnsworth

you can say that for the entire lineup minus cabrera. wait until the scouts get their scouting reports into the teams and pitchers begin adujusting. it'll be sick.

wasn't sergio mitre who blanked us last year w/ the cubs? I can't remember since the cubs starting rotation was constantly changing. But I remember going "alright, we get mitre this should be good" then 3 hours later going "son of a bitch, we got mitre, this sucks!"

This is kinda off topic but I have been seeing alot more people wearing Marlins shirts and hats. When I was going to work I saw 3 people wearing Marlins gear and this was within 5 minutes of eachother. I even saw 2 cars with a Marlin plate on the way to class. :thumbup . Probably got it on sale at a flee market and figured it'll be a collectable someday. Not to be the debbie downer, but isn't it a loss if the season opener ranks in line with last seasons average? That kind of game is meant to represent the high end of the spectrum... My understanding is that the Marlins ratings last season were very strong. It isn't that people are disinterested in the Fish, it's that they refuse to go hell on earth, better known as Dolphins Stadium. I used to watch almost ever game on TV and go to at least one game a week. It's just hard coming home from downtown and getting up to the stadium in time for the first pitch. And I was taking the MetroRail! Fighting traffic to get to such a remote location is tough. Not to be the debbie downer, but isn't it a loss if the season opener ranks in line with last seasons average? That kind of game is meant to represent the high end of the spectrum... My understanding is that the Marlins ratings last season were very strong. It isn't that people are disinterested in the Fish, it's that they refuse to go hell on earth, better known as Dolphins Stadium. Dolphins Stadium>RFK Stadium Dolphins Stadium>Oakland Coliseum Dolphins Stadium>US Cellular Field (in Chicago) Dolphins Stadium>>Metrodome Dolphins Stadium>>>Tropicana Field It's really not that bad... I agree. I've been to a ton of stadiums, and at least there isn't an "obstructed" view in Dolphin Stadium. In fact, the only time I ever had trouble seeing a part of the field was when I sat in upperdeck, dead center field for game 7 in 1997....you couldn't see Jeff Conine if a ball was hit to the teal monster. For instance, if anyone has ever sat in Minute Maid park in the OF, there is not ONE seat that has a clear view of the entire field. In fact, if you are in the upper deck corners, you can't even see a quarter of the entire OF. I don't care how nice the stadium seems, I'm ALL about the view. And there is NO atmosphere in Tropicana field...partly because it is indoors. But, then again, the time I went there it was the WORST collection of major league talent...orioles vs. DRays...when the only player of any noteworthiness was Randy Winn...and he was being "rested" that day. I'm heading to the new Busch stadium in a couple of weeks and i'll let you know about that. The old Busch stadium wasn't too bad. I sat in the bleachers a lot which made a lot of the outfield obstructed but that is to be expected. Dolphins Stadium IS NOT better than ol' Comisky. Even from the Van Ryan that thing looks 100x better than dolphin stadium. Have you even been there after they remodeled the whole thing?

Uhm, heres an idea..... 1. How about you DON'T announce every week about how you are finding "serious" alternatives for the Marlins to call home. 2. Leave a contending team intact for at least 5 years so that you can BUILD a fan base and not just expect it to grow overnight. 3. Give each person attending a free poncho for every game held in June when you can bet the house on that it will rain everday.

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST One GM says "the National League has become the Pete Rozelle league. No great teams, but everyone has a chance." OK, not quite. Florida doesn't have a chance because it is overhauling after three legitimate years in which it contended. Washington is going to have a hard time because of all the injuries, and the fact that as long as the Nationals are MLB wards, there isn't the revenue to fill in around some of their very good players like John Patterson, Livan Hernandez, Chad Cordero, Brian Schneider, Nick Johnson, Jose Vidro, Alfonso Soriano and cornerstone corner Ryan Zimmerman. After all these years... Unless Washington gets help, the 2006 question will be the same as it's been since before there were Marlins and Rockies: Can anyone beat the Braves? In this year's case, the Mets or the Phillies? What the Braves did last season in winning again and breaking in Jeff Francoeur, Kelly Johnson, Brian McCann, Ryan Langerhans et al was beyond what manager Bobby Cox had accomplished in any other year. But remember this -- future Hall of Famers Chipper and Andruw Jones bought into their responsibilities to the young players, which made it easier. Now, this year, Cox has to replace Rafael Furcal with Edgar Renteria and hope that Edgar's defensive struggles in Boston were simply, as he has said, the manifestation of being uncomfortable, and not a physical fall off the cliff. Atlanta's problem last year was that its starting pitching was average, at best -- fifth in ERA, last in strikeouts. John Smoltz and Tim Hudson have looked better this spring, and Kyle Davies is moving into the rotation. OK, fine. They'll work the last two spots with Horacio Ramirez, John Thomson and Jorge Sosa... Then comes the dilemma Cox faces every year Smoltz isn't in the bullpen -- finding a closer. Kyle Farnsworth took more money to leave home and set up in New York, which tells you what responsibility he doesn't want to face. Macay McBride and Blaine Boyer went down in spring training. Chris Reitsma has the stuff but has a history of mistakes. So somewhere -- Oscar Villarreal, McBride, Sosa -- Cox will find a closer and the Braves will be right there near 90 wins. If everything fell together for the Mets, they can be better than the Braves. Their three young stars, Jose Reyes (best energy in the game?), David Wright and Carlos Beltran, are magical, and Beltran could be what they hoped when they signed him. Carlos Delgado and Cliff Floyd are big bats in the middle, if healthy. And health is a big key, and far beyond Delgado and Floyd. They need Pedro Martinez to make 28-33 starts and not be so bothered by his toe that he can throw 88-90 mph; if he can, he will win. They cannot afford to lose any starting pitching right down to Brian Bannister in the No. 5 hole, and they have to hope that the league doesn't adjust to Tom Glavine's second-half adjustment when he began pitching in and using his curveball. GM Omar Minaya went out and built a deep bullpen -- putting Aaron Heilman back in the setup role -- in front of Billy Wagner, but they have to keep Wagner healthy. The Mets can beat the Braves. Will is another matter. The Phillies are going to be very dangerous, with the three powers in the infield -- Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard -- and the improved defense of Aaron Rowand between Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell. The pitching has its issues. Brett Myers and Jon Lieber need help in the rotation, and they have to hope Tom Gordon and Arthur Rhodes stay healthy with the help of Ryan Madson. One thing is very different: Pat Gillick is now in charge, and his resume shows winning in Toronto, Seattle and Baltimore because he was willing to make unconventional moves. There are going to be some hot, wet nights in South Florida when teams are going to dread facing Dontrelle Willis, Josh Johnson, et al. What's important is that come September, where will they be? On the brink of another outstanding team built around Miguel Cabrera, Jeremy Hermida and Hanley Ramirez? Headed to San Antonio or Palm Desert?

Mike Greenberg is such a tool. He was at it this morning again. He was bashing Pettite and saying there is no excuse for Petitte to let that Marlins AAA lineup score 10 runs off him. He called it the ugliest performance of the day. It was. So it's your opinion that last night was simply a bad Petitte performance and NOT the Marlins hitters turning it on? Cause it seems like when a pitcher like PEtitte gets shelled like that you'd have to give the hitters some credit. I don't care what the Natioanl media thinks of the llineup last night offense was just as impressive as the pitching was ugly. It's pretty obvious that it was more of Pettitte not being on his game being last night was his first start of the season more than it was the Marlins hitters were god's gift to baseball last night. Saying it was the hitters is saying that no other team would have been able to score 10 runs off of Petitte. Put the Yankees out there last night and they would have had Petitte out after 2 1/3. I'm not trying to take limelight away from the team's win, but give the media a BREAK. Pettitte's performance was horrible. It will be his worst performance all season. Whenever ANY pitcher gives up 10 runs in 4.2 IP you don't care who they hell they are playing because that is just pathetic. You make it seem as if Chicago was in the Marlins place last night Mike & Mike would have been talking about how incredible the Chicago offense is, but just because it was the Marlins they will make an excuse that it was horrible pitching. Don't disect this, it was horrible pitching. You know what, go look at the box score. 10 runs were given to Pettitte meaning they only scored 1 run off the bullpen in 4 innings. What happened to that incredible offense, did they just say "hey, 11 is enough I have to get up early tomorrow"?

Mike Greenberg is such a tool. He was at it this morning again. He was bashing Pettite and saying there is no excuse for Petitte to let that Marlins AAA lineup score 10 runs off him. He called it the ugliest performance of the day. It was. i knew last night's game wasn't going to change anyone's mind. it won't be until june when we have a decent record that the sports writers will stop ragging on the team. if we're anywhere near .500 in mid to late june they'll start praising the team left and right. if you really want good baseball analysis you have to really search for sources and do your own homework. the mainstream media can be pretty bad. they'll probably praise girardi the most for "turning a group of youngsters into major league players", and Girardi has already gotten a lot of positive press for his managing style. But I wouldn't expect this unless we are less than 10 games below .500 in june.

yeah the wins are more satisfying but i find them more suprising than exciting. I know we have a crap load of undeveloped talent on this team and we'll be good in 2 years or so. But I find myself saying "wow, the Marlins won? holy crap!" instead of being like "hell yeah, the marlins won. each game counts" like I was last year. all in all it's still good to see the boys put up 11 runs regardless who it's on.

Wow, I just realized that opening day is @ 4:05 on a Tuesday. What was MLB thinking? The Marlins can't even get people to come to games after work, why the hell are they going to leave work early just for opening day. This isn't New York. Followed by 2 day games? Man, its going to be a rough week. There is a reason why The Marlins cut ticket prices in 1/2 for weekday day games.

FWIW, I just went on Ticketmaster and found four seats in Section 142, Row 23 ($38). Here's something quirky, though: I searched for two and four seats in the Tank specifically, and both times it came back with seats in section 232 (Club C). Strange 1) that that section is opened and 2) that ticketmaster keeps sending me there. EDIT: This Fish Tank thing seems to be a recurring pattern - every San Diego game sends me straight to Club C. I don't want Club C dammit! You have to be real careful with Ticketmaster......Here's a little experience I had with them. I go to Turner Field once every summer for a Marlins away series (My Mom lives there). I ordered tix online about 2 months before the 3 game series. The online site advised that there were no "Dugout" seats as there called there (Kind of like out Founders seats).....I was bummed out....... I checked for the same seats about 5 days before game time.........Plenty of "Dugout" seats available.....but I had already purchased inferior seats 2 months prior...........Lame. That's not ticketmaster, thats the team. Teams release more tickets as the game approches so that people who couldn't get the tickets when single tickets became available will have another chance to get them. How do I know this? Because yesterday I was able to get 12 tickets to a Cubs/Cardinals game in Wirgley and if you know anything about baseball you know that Cubs/Cards have the biggest rivalry in baseball (if you say Yankees and Mets, congradulations, you've been successfully brainwashed by eastern media outlets) and tickets are impossible to get ahold of. So I am assuming the Cubs released these tickets early Tuesday morning right before I went online to check. The Marlins don't have to do this since their tickets aren't in high demand. So for those of you who have only been to Marlins games @ Dolphin Stadium (wow, I feel pity for you), expect this if you want to go to any other ballpark.

Wow, amazing. You guys are hatting on a sports analyst for basically repeating what EVERYONE ELSE in sports is saying. Radio hosts, Baseball analysts, and ex-marlins must all be jerks. Yes, there were a few highlights like dontrelle's 1 hitter through 5 and tonight they put up 11 runs on a good pitching staff. But Dontrelle's effort was just that, an effort. He had over 100 pitches thrown by the time he was pulled at the end of the 5th and they still had 2 errors. I'm not trying to come down on the team at all. They impressed me last night, their defense could use work (hear that Uggla), and we need more than just a couple of games judge offense. But jesus, you are ripping this guy for basically repeating what everyone else in sports has said a million times over, that the Marlins are a minor league team in a major league uniform. Don't be so offended when they call a team with 6 rookies, a league minimum payroll, and 2 "veterans" who are 23 years of age a minor league team. They might not be right, but they aren't that far from the truth. Just let the youngsters speak for themselves. If they do well coming into June then we can call Mike a jerk. but then proceeded to bash the Marlins, calling us a AAA team in the majors for starting 6 rookies and an embarrassment to baseball. I hope he says the same thing about his Yankees/Mets when they choke in the playoffs as usual (for the Yankees) or never even get there (for the Mets). Either find something to praise or shut up. Yeah I hope he calls 2 rosters full of MLB All-Stars and future hall of famers an AAA team. So, just so I'm clear...everyone here thinks what the Marlins did isn't an embarassment? Not talking about the game last night, but the franchise itself. So, just so I'm clear...everyone here thinks what the Marlins did isn't an embarassment? Not talking about the game last night, but the franchise itself. I say yea... its not an embarassment, I agree completely what they did this offseason nope, its totally acceptable to dump your entire payroll 2 years removed from a world series after spending more than you knew you'd be able to afford to try an expirement that was already proven to be futile by a previous owner and make it perfectly clear that you are planning to relocate the ball club. Its funny, one day this board will rip the FO to shreds and complain how the fire sale broke their heart and the next, people say they agree with what the team did.

Right now I'm finishing up my last semester at the University of Illinois and I should be home for at least 3 weeks before I come right back up to central Illinois to start full-time at A.D.M. Last summer I lived at home and I didn't miss a home series. It was awesome sitting behind all the scouts for only $32. This year I'm going to try to go to at least one game while I'm at home but I'll be strapped for cash and pretty busy. Are any of you going to be cutting down your trips to Dolphins Stadium this summer relative to last summer? I know the team "needs our support", but I know people in Miami only pay to see a team that they believe will be competitive (ie: Panthers, Heat, Dolphins etc..). To be honest, if I were living in Miami this summer I wouldn't go to as many games as I did last year.

What I don't understand is why they need a deal in place 4 years prior to opening day? The new Busch Stadium took only 2 years to build and they couldn't even finish 1/2 of it until October. It just doesn't make sense to me. The more the FO talks the more I think the team's move is invetiable.

I'm tired of this BS..why doesn't Loria sell the team..If he doesn't have money to build us a stadium in Miami,then sell the team and let them remain in Florida..why make all the fans suffer? Totally agree. It's obvious that South Florida baseball needs a deep pocketed owner that is willing to fund a stadium, put together a contender, and suffer through multiple seaons of low attendence. What South Florida needs is a successful tradition of baseball to build its fan base. We would have had that in '97 and it was definitely happening after the '03 season but I think this latest fire sale is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back in South Florida. Loria sells the team to some rich south american and he funds the stadium and puts together a good ball club. And think about how attractive the Marlins would be to all the latin players during free agency w/ a south american owner. And what better way to reach the latin american community in south florida?

... but he is showing signs that he might either be on steroids or he will never be able to be a leader on this team. Possibly the stupidest thought ever put into print. Yeah, a career .300 hitter who averages 30+ hrs a season is going to start taking steriods right when MLB starts testing for them. Good move. :banghead If you followed the team at the end of last season there were clear signs that there is some dissention begining to brew in Cabrera. He is young, talented, and on a team no one considers to be contending in the next 1/2 decade. He is making peanuts and finds no reason to put forth effort. If the Marlins keep him around this attitude problem may be so ingrained in his mentality it may have some serious negative effects on his career. I like Cabrera. I don't think he needs to be wasting years in a lineup that 1) won't contend and 2) he has no protection in and won't get anything to hit. I would love to see him to go a veteran run club like the Cardinals where that type of bull won't be tolerated. The best thing for Cabrera (and maybe the Marlins) would be putting on a different uniform before the 06 trade deadline.

5. Florida Marlins 56-106 Overview: Since the Marlins will finish with baseball's worst record this season, let's highlight the positive. Miguel Cabrera is good enough to pull an Andre Dawson and win MVP. Dontrelle Willis can pitch (though he looked mighty awful in the WBC). Joe Girardi has taken the team's fire sale like the professional he is, and he'll be the rock for a team with about 327 rookies. And they have a second baseman, Dan Uggla, whose surname describes what the team will look like this season, and that counts for something. Uhm, Yahoo, have you forgotten about a little player named Albert Pujols who, over his last 4 seasons, has AVERAGED, .333 BA 40hrs and 120 rbi's? Yeah, most players pray for just one season like that, including Miguel Cabrera. The only way Cabrera will win MVP this year is if Albert loses a leg and is forced to play while hobbling around on one leg. And even then it'd be close. And now it'll be harder for Cabrera to win silver slugger playing 3b but its more of a possibility than MVP.

haha. oh man i love sarcasim. but i love it more when it goes completely unnoticed by someone else.

:lol Yea, I saw that. I miss Alex but we have Hanley oh come on, you can't forget gonzo that quickly can you?