Out of the Past

Amezaga Uggla Ramirez I hope the game is not on the line in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and Fredo comes up to the plate instead of Hanley.

I think the biggest obstacle we face, with or without the state tax rebate, is dealing with the crooked politicos in Dade. Mainly Republican. Just sayin'. I don't think that's correct. I'd bet the majority or at least half of the county and city (Miami) commissioners are Democrats. I'm pretty sure Alvarez is a Republican but I think Diaz has been a Democrat, a Republican and an Independent at various times so who knows what he is. Many people think Miami-Dade is a Republican stronghold but it's not. If I remember correctly Kerry beat Bush in Miami-Dade.

is it me or is Olivo playing a lot of games? I think Treanor should have a few games thrown in there. I thought he was willis personnal catcher or is that olsen? I dont remember but olivo needs some rest. He is playing a lot of games. Fredi will wear him out if this continues. Treanor should catch a little more.

This is from the Sun-Sentinel's blog. http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_baseball_marlins/ Ouch update Looks like Friday is the new target for Mike Jacobs' return to the lineup. Out with a bruised right thumb, Jacobs said before Tuesday's game that his flexibility has improved and he's been taking some "dry swings" with a protective guard. Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said Jacobs is "progressing really well" and was hopeful he'd be ready for Friday's game in Philadelphia. The Phillies will open that series with a pair of RH starters: Freddy Garcia and Adam Eaton before throwing ageless lefty Jamie Moyer on Sunday. On other fronts, Alejandro De Aza (sprained right ankle) doesn't sound close to returning. He isn't even running yet since going on the DL last Wednesday. And RF Jeremy Hermida (remember him?) is merely taking daily batting practice and doing some light running as he makes the slow comeback from a bone bruise in his knee. Fredi said he might take a ride up to Jupiter to watch Hermida on Thursday's off day; might be his best chance to watch him in person for some time. Posted by Mike Berardino at 06:13 PM man, I really expect ADA to come crashing back down to earth when he comes back would be awesome if I was wrong though De Aza is an 0-4 away from an OBP in the .280s so he doesn't really have that far to come down. People exaggerate how well he has done.

I don't know what's more surprising, the great hitting or the poor starting pitching. i'm not surprised by the hitting. we hit 182 jacks last season. i am very surprised by how bad our starting pitching has been. Well, we are missing JJ and Nolasco, and, comparing it to last year's April, the staff has improved much, baring walks and high ERAs. Willis/Olsen/Sanchez are still 8-1. That said, keep the streak alive; good job by the pen, and offense, keep clicking! I don't think the starting pitching has been bad due to injuries. So far all the starts have been made by our regular starters except 3 or 4 starts and the replacements pitched well in a couple of those.

Most of the State north of Palm Beach (and they have been no help for the Marlins) wouldn't care if the bottom half of this state dropped into the ocean. The fat ass pork chops from chewmytobacco, FL would have a moment of silence and then go whooping and hollering back home. I'll bet you we get more "no" votes from Palm Beach and Broward than from any of the other counties. There's probably more antipathy towards Miami-Dade from Broward and Palm Beach than from the rest of the state. I think the latest developments vindicates Loria. MLB has put a ton of effort and the state government is showing them the finger. With the incremental revenues available from the new stadium the $2 million per year from the state is paenuts and should in no way blow the deal.

I don't know what's more surprising, the great hitting or the poor starting pitching.

The four economists mentioned in the article are correct and because they're correct if the rebate proponents continue to push the rebate as if it's for economic development then the rebate wont pass. There are reasons to vote for the rebate but economic development is not one of them. Push the other reasons.

Why does WQAM have a beef with the Marlins anyway? I believe H Wayne and the Dolphins have a hand in this matter How? Please explain. I think it's because they don't follow baseball so rather than making fools of themselves talking about things they don't follow they would rather just ignore and take the occasional cheap shot. To be honest I'm not interested in anything Bokamper, Mandich, Big O, Mandich's intern, Kenny Walker or Joe Zagacky have to say about baseball. The casual baseball fan would have a more informed opinion than any of them.

I'd that the the lack of news on De Aza is worrisome, but that just may have to do with our crop of local reporters than anything else. I doubt Fredi would be reluctant to talk about his status, rather no one asked him. You are so right. The local baseball writers are the worst although I like Berardino. The other day on his blog Juan Rodriguez wondered about why Fredi didn't use Cabrera instead of Treanor in the extra inning game but he (Rodriguez) said the subject never came up in the post-game interview. Why didn't he ask??

So, I guess Cheap Trick did a good job. I had to leave right after the game-have a bad cold and just couldnt keep my head on straight anymore. Well, Kansas is next- They were terrible with a capital T. You have to remember they're 25 years past their prime so I don't know what you were expecting.

Also mentioned in the article was that TBay has a greater valuation than the Marlins. Does anyone actually believe that? On two levels, (1) perceived value as a professional organization and (2) actual operating revenues, I would have to think that was fallacious. For instance, if for some reason the two teams were for sale, which would fetch a higher price? I doubt it would be the team in a smaller market with equally bad stadium issues, NO history of winning, and a larger operating payroll. Also, if the teams were to re-locate, which one would be more highly sought after? The only thing that TBay has going for it over the Marlins is that they have the RedSox and Yanks in their division. If those two teams were in the Marlins' division, I'd wager our attendance would be higher, if for no other reason than the opposing team's fans buying tickets. Forbes loses a lot of credibility when they rank TBay anything other than dead last. Regarding operating revenues in '06 the DRays had higher attendance and because of the Marlins' unfavorable lease I would think the DRays kept more revenues from concessions, luxury boxes and club seats so when Forbes says the DRays had higher operating revenues in '06 I'm inclined to believe it.

He had a terrible game. The excuse making is ridiculous. He allowed 10 hits, 2 walks and 7 ER in 5 innings because he was terrible last night and not because of bad luck or any other excuse. The guy is not perfect and will have bad games. The only thing is that if the official scorer wasn't blind he would have allowed only 6 ER because the wild pitch should have been ruled a passed ball. A little harsh. How often does a starter endure TWO first inning errors? That coupled with the fact that the ground balls were finding ALL the holes made for a rough outing. Did he have his A-game? Nope. Do the Mets have a monster line up? Yup. Sometimes a bad pitching line doesn't reflect how a pitcher really pitched but in this case I'm afraid that it does but at least the official scorer corrected his mistake and changed the wild pitch to a passed ball so another of the runs became unearned.

I would like to be the first to congratulate our wonderful owner for kicking every other owner's ass in Operating Income during 2006. We came in first with a whooping $43.3 million. The Dodgers were 2nd at $27.5 million. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/33/07mlb_...thisSpeed=10000

my knee-jerk reaction was to say WTF on that bunt...and I still dont like it. Maybe Fredi wasnted to put some more pressure on Wright after a big error. Still, I dont like it...but we did score. You can't go by the result. At a blackjack table, that imbecile taking a card with 16 against a dealer's six will catch the 5 every now and then. And of course we'll never know if they could have scored 2,3,4 or more runs if Cabs hit instead of bunted. Maybe Cabs did do that on his own....can't blame the manager just yet. I agree except that I do blame Fredi because he should order Cabrera to never bunt. I don't buy the "he did it on his own" excuse.

Where is it? Not throwing strikes, playing horrible defense, making the wrong defensive decisions, making stupid mistakes on the base pads, etc etc. Time for Fredi to go ape on this team behind closed doors. How do we fix this? No Fudamental baseball = Team finishing below .500 (And at this point we aren't a 500 caliber team). I'm afraid these thing won't be able to be fixed on one season I think the number 1 problem so far this season is the starting pitching which has been terrible. The starters are 15th in ERA, 16th in BA allowed (.304), 15th in innings per start (this is excluding Mitre's last start), 16th in OPS allowed and 16th in WHIP.

He had a terrible game. The excuse making is ridiculous. He allowed 10 hits, 2 walks and 7 ER in 5 innings because he was terrible last night and not because of bad luck or any other excuse. The guy is not perfect and will have bad games. The only thing is that if the official scorer wasn't blind he would have allowed only 6 ER because the wild pitch should have been ruled a passed ball.

We finally get around to the meat of our order. No, don't bunt! I agree. Dumb strategy.

I am disappointed with De Aza's injury. He really filled the black hole that was CF last year. Reed sucks, but I am hoping he proves me wrong. Reed shouldn't get PT over Alfredo and Cody.

Julio should go and Gardner should come but assuming Julio doesn't go how about DLing De Aza and calling up Gardner? Yes, we would be a position player short but in essence we're already a position player short given that De Aza is available only for PH duties and someone would need to run for him if he gets on base and Gardner could certainly help the bullpen vs the Mets. Unfortunately Fredi used De Aza on the 15th so he can't be DLed retroactive to the 10th.

Polo Shadez has a huge range and has had many great plays in the past I am sure he is limited by the hammy right now. I am sorry to say this but it may be like this for awhile...those injuries are slow healers Well last year he was last in MLB among SS in Zone Rating. I think he's below average defensively but I guess you don't agree. I think as he matures his number of errors should decrease but I don't think his range will necessarily improve.

It is the height of insanity no doubt I'll be told, but more and more watching Ramirez at shortstop and his inability to go to his right or his reluctance to stretch or maybe dare I say, get dirty once in awhile. ROY or no, I'd like to see him maybe later this season, maybe in the off-season, give leftfield where his speed would be an asset and the types of plays he'll see fit him better a chance if the Fish have the chance to get a legitimate shortstop option. With Cabrera over there, longterm we really need someone on that side of the infield with more lateral range. None of this should be taken as me bashing Ramirez. Cabrera grew out of shortstop, it's not inconceivable the same thing happens to Ramirez. Last night I was thinking that I don't recall Hanley ever making a great defensive play. Not one. I'm sure he has made some I just don't remember any of them so if he's made them they are few and far between. I think Willingham is more of a sure thing than De Aza or Hermida so if anything I think a move to CF or RF is more likely.

This game will be very tough and with Cabrera struggling at the plate lately I dont like our chances. Go Marlins! Cabrera is not struggling lately. He's hitting .372. So he went hitless one game. It's gonna happen.

Remember Reyes is still only 24 (jackie was 28 during his rookie season) and made huge strides last year in getting on base. But I agree with the alomar and henderson comparisons. Age is why I think is not fair to compare Reyes to Jackie. Reyes is probably a more physically gifted player when compared to Robinson (certaintly above Alomar, and on par with Henderson) . . . Reyes has the tools to be better or similar to Jackie, is just too early to tell. In addition . . . OBP is a big component, and Reyes is not dominant in that category yet. I don't watch Reyes every day, so I'm not sure if he is likely to develop and be dominant on that area. Robinson was consistent top 3 or 5 OBP in the league during his tenure. Reyes is walking a lot more so far this season and every year he has improved in that. If he maintains his current walks pace I think he'll end up in the top 5 in MVP voting.. and deservedly so.

I wonder how long the Astros will keep putting him out there every day leading-off if he maintains his .240 OBP and his .620 OPS. He hasn't walked the entire season which is ridiculous. He looks like he's done. I imagine they'll keep him out there until he gets the 58 hits he needs and that could be another two months. I think him playing and leading-off helps the Marlins because the Astros could be a WC contender and by playing him they're compromising their chances of winning games.