HawkFan

I hate paying for autographs but I may have to go to this. If you can make it to Spring Training he signs just about every game from what I've seen. I second that. He also signs after pre-game bullpen sessions during the regular season if you can get into the stadium when it's still going on.

I also agree it's silly for Broward fans to be alienated about the name change; they've supported the team so much through the years and just because it's further south they're not going to support them at all anymore? While I originally was upset about the idea of changing to the Miami Marlins simply because I bought into the whole "first MLB team in Florida belonging to all of Florida" concept hook line and sinker, since Miami-Dade is ponying up the majority of the cash here (well, actually the tourists are), then so be it. In addition, they're no longer the only team in the state, so there's less reason to keep it. Note, though, that the name change was not just included in this round of stadium deals; the proposal was in the original package the team was trying to put together w/ the state back under Henry in the early 2000's. I remember writing to my district's State Congressman and Senator that while I was an ardent Marlins fan and supported the idea of state sales tax breaks and additional funding to build the stadium, I did not support that particular bill that was being debated because it included a change to the Miami Marlins. I felt that it was disengenuous to ask for so much State support and then take the State's name out of it. I don't rember if it was the Rep or the Senator that wrote back, but they said they agreed with me and were going to introduce an ammendment to stipulate if the team received any State funds, the team name had to remain the Florida Marlins. Of course, that session ended before debate and additional ammendments could be raised, and by the time the bill came up for debate again, he was no longer in office. Still don't understand why this didn't get passed. Every other professional sports team in the state but the Marlins gets the Sales Tax exemption, and you would think with the Republican-controlled Legislature, they'd be all over tax cuts.

Josh Johnson will be at Coral square mall in Coral Springs for a meet and greet saturday july 24th 11.30 to 1pm, autographs are $29 per item Thanks for the post... How did you hear about it? where in Coral Square Mall? Again, thanks!!!! I'll be there, going to Cody signing later on today... It's been on signingshotline.com for 2 months now...

Not for nothing, I like the pullover jacket thing just cause its simple black with a couple teal stripes. the rest is pretty darn affliction-ish He actually had the jacket on after the Marlins/Nats ST game in Viera. I thought it was cool at the time, and I might pick it up (price isn't too bad for a jacket). The only other shirt I would wear is the black one w/ the white pinstripes at the bottom- not going to pay $40 for a t-shirt, though.

Wow, an actual publicized Marlins free autograph signing? I have to go back to the days of Juan Pierre to find another one of these... Hanley had a free signing at one of the Brandsmarts down there last year, but I agree w/ you in general the amount of public appearances by sports teams in general has dramatically decreased. I remember in the 90's the Magic had at least one appearance a month; while it was almost always a backup player, it still built an attachment w/ the team. I think it probably has to do w/ appearance fees skyrocketing, as generally player appearances are requested and paid for by businesses looking to drum up business. W/ players wanting a "bigger piece of the action" when it comes to autographs and sports collectibles, it's just beyond most small businesses' budgets. It's really sad to see what used to be a common, free/inexpensive transaction between the player and fan, become big business.

I would have preferred to see the Flying Dutchman up, as he is a proven arm.

There's always a lot of talk whether participating in the HR derby has an adverse impact on players. When ARod pulled out a couple of years ago because of this reason I remember Jayson Starks destroyed him an column. I guess Jayson needs to apologize. http://www.pinstripe...http://www.pinstripealley.com/2010/7/12/1556053/does-the-home-run-derby-adversely?ref=fangraphs On the average players who participate in the HR derby fare worse in the 2nd half compared to how they fared in the 1st half. The average decline is .042 OPS points. Of the 79 participants, 57% declined the 2nd half. Now that's an interesting find. I would have thought it was the opposite. Everybody talks about a particular player that went a little south after the competition, but no one talks about the other guys in it. I mean, the decline could be on a number of things, like not getting the rest other players do because of all the festivities they partake in, wear and tear of a whole season, etc... But that's still an interesting tidbit. Makes me wonder.....How did the other 43% fare? We'd have to compare how these players did versus the rest of the All-Stars and all players. My hunch is we see somewhat of a regression to the mean for all All-Star players (including Derby participants). It is also possible that players in general see a decline in performance in the second half because they are worn out by then. I am not sure that the finding above is statistically significant. Now you're speaking my language. Everyone likes to throw out stats (which is fine, I'm an Economist and I love numbers, and part of baseball is the numbers), but they forget to put them in context or realize when we're talking about an individual's statsistics, they are statisically insignificant to the population (all of MLB). To me before we place a causal relationship to the Derby and 2nd half slides, we'd also have to compare the derby participants' 2nd half numbers to every other one of their seasons. Everyone talks about certain players being notorious "slow starters;" perhaps these 57% of derby participants are just "slow finnishers."

After 7 years of mariage, I definitely know when to stand my ground on something and when not to. After having another conversation about the fish, I realized this is not one of those! Even though we had a "deal," yeah....it's not worth it. Actually, she said she'd rather go down for another series than we had planned for this year than have a dead fish hanging on the wall. I went ahead and took her up on that offer, as it's a win-win! Besides, she had a really good point I'd have to take down a lot of the memorabilia I already have up to fit the darn thing, and I'd rather not do that. Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I'll see if I can get some picks of my den soon, but right now it's serving as a temporary storage room as we get soem other work done around the house. Rabb, Bob- Also glad to know to there are others out there with similar furnishings. We should pool some pictures together and everytime someone in the media writes a crap sotry about the MArlins not having a fanbase, we e-mail them with evidence to the contrary.

When we found out how the Bobby V situation shook out and made Edwin the interim manager for the rest of the year, Ozzie was the first name I instantly thought of. I remember reading an article a few weeks ago right as Fredi was getting the axe that the Sox probably weren't going to bring Ozzie back next year. Then I started putting two and two together (primarily that he was a coach for this FO, so he's a known commodity). It's worth noting, however, he stated in several articles dated June 23 he has no interest in the Marlins job, and if they're looking for a "yes, ma'am", follow the leader type manager (as the rumor coming out over the Bobby V fiasco was there was a difference in philosophies regtarding ownership/FO invovlement on on-field decisions), Ozzie IS NOT a candidate.

So when my wife and I bought our home 5 years ago, she "gave" me the downstairs beadroom to use and decorate how I saw fit (in exchange for her getting the design decisions for the rest of the house). Well, I went full-on Marlins, painting the bottom 1/3 of the room teal, top 2/3 a nice, light silvery-grey and a black racing stripe all the way around separating the two. Quite striking looking, and isn't too dark because only the bottom part of the walls are teal. The rest of the room looks like Billy went and threw up memorabilia everywhere, with framed jerseys, balls, pictures, bobbleheads, posters and the like. No, I didn't go subtle, but this is where I go to watch the games and such (complete w/ minifridge stocked w/ beverages), so it's all good. Anyhoo, I have the opportunity to obtain an actual mounted, stuffed Marlin taxidermy for practically nothing (essentially, just shipping costs). The thing is like 8 feet long! Let's just say my wife is...less than thrilled at the prospect of having a dead fish hanging on the wall, and is drawing the line. My question for my fellow Marlins fanatics- is this going too far? Should I stick to just baseball Marlins stuff in there as opposed to real marlins? Since it's so big, it would completely dominate the largest wall in the room, so it probably is overdoing it, but I still think it would be exceedingly cool to have a real Marlin w/ the rest of my memorabilia. How do you think I should tackle this w/ Mrs. HawkFan?

While I'm not 100% sure Bobby V would have made a difference one way or another with this team at this point, I do think he would have been a quality hiring considering he would have been outside of the organization and would have brought a different persepective. He would have brought credibility to the position and organization that frankly Edwin does not, and he's got the right kind of mindset in the clubhouse to keep our young players straight. In addition, he is a very "likeable" manager and reaches out to the community in which he manages, which we will need in advance of the stadium to try and get more people on our side. While I don't think we'll ever know what went on internally and externally considering Bobby V, it was embarassing.

Or parking. Considering the Marlins are leasing the parking spaces for $10 each, I imagine parking will be $12-$15, more than likely $15 because I think the demand will be there w/ fairly small amount of adjacent spaces in the grages and flat lots. Doing an analysis of the other MLB parking rates, $15 would put us middle of the pack or so. Considering Marlins officials have been talking "Middle of the pack" payrolls, we can expect middle of the pack costs on eveyrthing from tickets to food to parking. Of course, I'm also fully expectign them to implement a tiered pricing strucutre for parking similar to what everyone's done w/ tickets (advance and dog, marquee games vs non-marquee) and what a few teams have done for parking. Could charge more for parking garage vs flat lot, or 1st floor vs second floor, that sort of thing. Expect Loria and co. to extract every dollar they can from us.

Love the andre dawson shrine.. he is the reason I became a marlins fan in '95. Awesome! My favorite all-time player. It was like Nirvanna for me when the Fish signed him in 95. My favorite player on my favorite team, even if it was for a bench spot in the twilight of his career.

This would be comical if it weren't sad.

Gaby is handicapped because no one knows who he is I agree, it has far more to do w/ his near anonymity and fairly slow start than the fact the Marlins had the ROY last year. Having the previous year's ROY on the same team certainly didn't hurt Mike Piazza, Raul Mondesi, Hideo Nomo or Todd Hollandsworth on an unpresedented 5 straight Dodger ROY's (heck, the Dodgers had 4-time ROY's in the early 80's w/ Fernando-mania, Sax, Howe and Sutcliffe. There are many instances of back-to-back ROY's, especially in the NL. Remember, Cogs wasn't even in the picture last year, initially. It wasn't until he caught fire around the All Star break and lead MLB in hitting after that point, that he was considered a ROY candidate. Still, Cogs only had to really surpass McCutchen. Gaby would have to surpass both Heyward and Strasburg, and I just think that's too much hype to overcome even if he continues to improve his numbers. My guess when all is said and done, Strasburg ends up with it, though I think Gaby will at least beat out Heyward and finish second.

Do this already! Enough with the minority garbage. Well, I understand it, but to us, at least from what we know about Bobby basically having a job, we know the minority garbage is BS just to appease the rules. So to us, its a big waste of time. On a related personal note... I got my job the same way. I was hired on the spot without a formal interview, but was the first and the boss told me she has to interview others before sending me to my formal interview. So I watched as a swarm of monkeys walked in and out of her office... then, when I went downtown to my formal interview, the girl at the front who signed me in, pulled up my file from the computer and said "That's funny, we haven't interviewed you yet but the computer is saying you've already been hired, hmm," Of course I shrugged my shoulders and said "Hmm, how strange." ...THIS is Bobby's story... bring him on already! Uh, I hope you ment something else by the term "monkeys" other than what I think you meant. I, too, think it's disingenuous to go through this process when they already have someone in mind; it's insulting to the minority interviewee when they're not getting a fair shake, they're only being interviewed to satisfy a rule. That being said, this rule wouldn't be necessary if minority candidates were actually considered for openings in the first place.

If you're looking for an auto, there are some certified on ebay right now, actually a lot of certifieds. Prices are a bit inflated right now because of his MLB debut, but expect them to go down a bit if he struggles and/or is sent down. The Elite Extra edition has a high run, so they are his most affordable- picked one up for $2 before the start of the season.

I've gotten Mike the past two years of ST. I think because he is so dedicated and focused on performing on the field, he just doesn't before the game. Everytime I've gotten him, it's been after the game. +1 on the comments about Strasburg. Howsever, if you've got Boras as an agent and are constantly told how awesome you are, once in a generation talent and that sort of thing, you're bound to get an attitude about yourself and "the little people." Shame.

It's unfair to try to compare division rivalries with IL rivalries. And the only way this would ever be a rivalry is if we played each other in the WS, and then it would only seem like a rivalry to the team that lost. And I gotta chuckle at the Rays "new fans" remarks. I would agree that divisional rivalries are the most intense because of the amount of games played, thus a Marlins/Rays rivalry would never be elevated to that level. However, because generally people follow a particular sports teams due to geographic proximity, there is a natural propensity to dislike another team close to your home team's terrirtory. White Sox/Cubs and Yankees/Mets fans generally loathe eachother and are in seperate leagues. The effect is obviously magnified when both teams are in the same city and lessened the further away they are. The irony of bandwagon fans is not lost on me, Bronco! The point is, I'm not a Rays fan and I've been to more Rays games than many Rays "fans." Since they haven't followed the team from the start and experienced the 10/12 losing seasons and all-time 43.2% winning %, they have no perspective.

While I think Maddon's done a good job managing the Rays, his comments about rivalries is assinine. If rivalries need more proximity, then the Rays will never have a rivalry because the Marlins are the closest team to the them. Most of the "classic" rivalries are close in distance because most are in the NE where the major cities are closely packed. Still, I'd like to point out that one of the biigest, all-time rivalries (Cubs/Cardinals) are another 20 miles apart than Miami/Tampa. Didn't stop them. Personally, I think he's wrong- I think people do look forward to the Citrus series. There are a lot of Marlins fans statewide that just can't make it down to Miami all that much, but Tampa is "doable." The Rays have a lot of "new" fans that jumped on the bandwagon in '08 and think Tampa sports are superior to South Florida's. Give it time, and this rivalry will grow; never to the Yankees/Sox level, but it will be more than it is provided they don't break it down before then. I think Maddon's been drinking the Jim Leavitt juice (see UCF/USF, a natural rivalry between close schools with programs both on the rise, but he thought the Bulls were above the Knights and didn't renew the series). I can understand the rationale for doing away with Interleague- it deprives a team of an extra series against all of your divisional opponents. However, I think it just makes the series you do have against them more important and it does allow the fans a chance to get to see teams and players they wouldn't get to see otherwise. Perhaps they scale it back to a home and away vs your territorial rival, and then 1 home and 1 away with whatever team(s) work based on where their last played series is. That should free up 1 or 2 extra series.

So, I just got 3 of them today at a local Publix (Tamarac, FL). The bags cost $2 each. I am very excited! The manager actually remembered my request, and the next time they were getting a delivery, he told me they'd put aside a few for me. They have them in stock all the time down here at the new one on Sample and at the new new one on University (used to be Albertson's). Probably didn't have to wait. The one on University, that's the one that's fairly close to the stadium, right? Do you have an address for eithe rof these locations? I think he means the other university drive, or at least much further north on the same one. That Publix is in Coral Springs. Yeah, wayyyyyyyy further north. Ah. I was born in Miami, but have lived my whole life in Central Florida, so I only know the area well enough to get from our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale to JRS.

So, I just got 3 of them today at a local Publix (Tamarac, FL). The bags cost $2 each. I am very excited! The manager actually remembered my request, and the next time they were getting a delivery, he told me they'd put aside a few for me. They have them in stock all the time down here at the new one on Sample and at the new new one on University (used to be Albertson's). Probably didn't have to wait. The one on University, that's the one that's fairly close to the stadium, right? Do you have an address for eithe rof these locations?

i'm just curious which of the Top 3 Prospects you all think will have the most impact on their team by the end of the year.

Every year there's talk about meeting up at one of the Rays games, lets try to set a section and a time, it can even be during the game as we'll have plenty of seats to chose from, for a meet and greet. My plans for now are to attend at least Friday and Saturday anyone else going? Unfortunately, this is the second year in a row we're going to miss the Tampa series, however, we are going down the following weekend to see the Miami series! Go figure.

This series really puts a dagger on the call up excitement, at least for me... JUST WIN BALL GAMES! im glad to see that bonifacio is back and hope and hopefully he can wreak havoc. He'll have to get on base first, something I'm not convinced he'll be able to do at the ML level; her barely was in the minors.