August 2, 200322 yr I don't really know what I'm trying to say here, so I might ramble. JUst letting you know in advance. Does anybody have the same feeling as me? The feeling that this team is in a word, "unstoppable"? That's how I feel at this point. Like there is not team that can stop us from accomplishing what we need to do. Like every piece that needs to fall in place as of late has. The rotation hasn't given-up more than 2 ER in ANY start since the break except for Dontrelle's against ChiTown. The pitching has just been out of this world. The offense (despite last night) has hit well enough to overcome great pitching. We have a playoff caliber team. And like Peter Gammons said, "If the Marlins make the playoffs, don't be suprised if they go deep. With their pitching, they could go far." If one thing this team is going to be based on, it's pitching, and that has come through. If they can continue this, and the offense can keep scoring runs, we will win a lot of games, and we will make the post-season. Baseball in South Florida is exciting for the first time since I was 8-years-old, when I couldn't take it all in. As a fan, this is my first real playoff race experience. And man is it a blast. This team is doing exactly what last years Angels did. When a hitter fell off, another one picked them up. The pitching is outstanding. And most of all, they have confidence and they have heart. Can the Florida Marlins make the playoffs? Can they pull a "Jack McKeon" and make the post-season with a second half team rally? They are most definately talented enough, and have the confidence. Will the Phillies ever LOSE to give us the chance to take over!? We can only hope the answers to those are yes. South Florida deserves a winning team. They deserve a playoff race. They deserve a sports team other than football to be in the playoff hunt. Let's just hope that's what we will get. I'm not sure what the real meaning of this was, and if someone can tell me what the point of what I just wrote is, please let me know.
August 2, 200322 yr There are three teams I personally feel may be able to stop us. Houston, San Francisco, and Colorado. Houston scares me because we don't do very well against them. San Francisco scares me because we will be on the road and they are very good at Pac Bell, same goes for Colorado and Coors Field. We are miserable at Coors Field. The challenge will be to overcome these few roadblocks left, and I think we can do it. :thumbup
August 2, 200322 yr South Florida deserves a winning team. You're totally right. And the this team now CAN win, as we all know. :thumbup And the current attendance figueres also show how good the team is. hopefully the Phillies will realize soon that WE are gonna get the wild card! and then: :cheers
August 2, 200322 yr We can take Houston if we put our minds to it. Colorado is dead in the water at this point, they are about to fall down to the bottom of the Wild Card. No need to fear them. San Fransisco is very possible, we haven't fared bad against them. We better have 100+ Gs of fans the 23rd-25th of Spetember against the Phils at home!
August 2, 200322 yr The thing that scares me the most is that the team might start playing down to the competition after this tough stretch. We are about to start facing some losing teams, I just hope the team doesn't take these games for granted.
August 2, 200322 yr Rockies = Spoilers at Coors. It will be a very crucial point since we don't do well on the road against the west. But I think we have what it takes to go all the way and take the WildCard from the Phillies.
August 2, 200322 yr Author We can take Houston if we put our minds to it. Colorado is dead in the water at this point, they are about to fall down to the bottom of the Wild Card. No need to fear them. San Fransisco is very possible, we haven't fared bad against them. We better have 100+ Gs of fans the 23rd-25th of Spetember against the Phils at home! 100K!? That's 33K fans a game... WOW... This is a new team, CapeFish. THIS team can take Houston, whose pitching isn't that good (although we made Redding look like Sandy Koufax). Colorado is roadkill. San Fran is our only real threat. After this series, we go to St. Louis to face them. If we can take advantage of their horrible pitching and win the series/sweep, that's puts them at the bottom of the WC as well. After that is the Brewers, and they pose NO threat. Then the Dodgers come here (I have tickets for the 14th) in a four game series, which I don't know if that's good or bad. Then after LA we had the PADRES (whew) at home. Then it's the road series against the Rox and Giants. But after that, we have the Pirates and Expos. This month seems to me like it will be pretty good to us...
August 2, 200322 yr We better have 100+ Gs of fans the 23rd-25th of Spetember against the Phils at home! Damn, I need an airplane :banghead
August 3, 200322 yr The MArlins are playing supreme baseball. It doesnt get any better than this, they are getting all the little things done and getting them WHEN they need them. That is how you can tell a team is on a role, just look at Cabrera's double play ball the other night that turned out to score 2 runs with Cabs on first because Spivey made a wild throw to 1B (where Hillenbrand, a 3B, was...). Lucky? Good? I think the Good create their own luck... I dont see any of the teams here listed as a threat to us. The Rockies are pretenders - they will be gone in a month. The Astros have got their hands full trying to win the Central - and I think they will - and the Wild Card is still out of their reach. They are 59-51 while we are 60-60. The Giants are so far in 1st in the West (they owe us...) that I dont see them factoring into our WC hopes other than a spoiler. In fact, I hope that they and the Braves keep winning (except against us) so that way the others in their division dont catch us. And as far as matchups go - neither of those 3 teams mentioned are unbeatable. We got the tools, I think even most of us fans dont realize it yet. The only team we should be concerned with is the Phillies. The D Backs could get hot, but they are not scoring runs - but with Mondesi, who knows. The team in second in the Central (Houston, St. Louis, Chicago) should also be a concern. But looking at those teams, the winner of that division could possibly have a worse record than us. I think the Astros have the best team there; Chicago will make a solid run but will fall short and St. Louis has a long way to go I feel due to too many key injuries - they should break down.
August 3, 200322 yr There are three teams I personally feel may be able to stop us. Houston, San Francisco, and Colorado. Houston scares me because we don't do very well against them. San Francisco scares me because we will be on the road and they are very good at Pac Bell, same goes for Colorado and Coors Field. We are miserable at Coors Field. The challenge will be to overcome these few roadblocks left, and I think we can do it. :thumbup The Astros dont really scare me that much there pitching hasnt proved itself,the rockies dont scare me either i think they'll fade as the season goes on there not much too worry about,what scares me is the Giants which u said and the Cubs, both teams have great pitching but for some reason we dont fare well against the Cubs whether its at home or at wrigley..lets see what happens i just want the phillies to lose a couple.
August 3, 200322 yr The rotation hasn't given-up more than 2 ER in ANY start since the break except for Dontrelle's against ChiTown. Pavano got rocked against the Phils.
August 3, 200322 yr Author Pavano got rocked against the Phils. Forgot about that game. probably because we won it anyway...
August 3, 200322 yr I guess what scares me most are the Marlins themselves. We've got some dead weight on this team. Almanza and Phelps: If I didn't follow this team closely I'd often wonder if they were still on the roster. AA has an ERA over 6(6.12) for the year, he's pitched twice since the all-star break, he's given up 8 earned runs in 2 innings of work. T.P. has pitched better, but we still don't see much of him, July 4th was his last outing in a close game. We have 9 more active pitchers, 5 starters, & Looper, Bump, Tejera, and Urbina. I feel quite fortunate that we got Urbina in the trade and Bump and Tejera have pitched well lately. But how long does it last? Will these pitchers tired in the last 2 months of the season. Hopefully the addition of Spooneybarger will come at just the right time. Still it worries me. I'm enjoying the current success, but will the staff be paying for it in the coming weeks? We got some bench players that don't contribute much either, I think that we know who they are. It's not as much of a concern as the pitching staff though. IMO, if we don't tire out, we should be in fine shape for a "Wild Card" run.
August 3, 200322 yr Author I guess what scares me most are the Marlins themselves. We've got some dead weight on this team. Almanza and Phelps: If I didn't follow this team closely I'd often wonder if they were still on the roster. Tommy Phelps is dead weight!? :lol We have 9 more active pitchers, 5 starters, & Looper, Bump, Tejera, and Urbina. I feel quite fortunate that we got Urbina in the trade and Bump and Tejera have pitched well lately. But how long does it last? Will these pitchers tired in the last 2 months of the season. Hopefully the addition of Spooneybarger will come at just the right time. Still it worries me. I'm enjoying the current success, but will the staff be paying for it in the coming weeks? Guys don't just tire out, shrivel up and die at the end of the season. Urbina will keep being lights out, because he's been that way his whole career. So will Looper. In In Bumps young career, he's been amazing. Barely unhittable. The only pitcher that can be questioned if he can keep it up is Tejera. He has the stuff to keep it up. I don't know if it's the new gotee or something mcKeon is putting in the water jug, but if he keeps it up it's just like trading for a Sullivan.
August 3, 200322 yr I guess what scares me most are the Marlins themselves. We've got some dead weight on this team. Almanza and Phelps: If I didn't follow this team closely I'd often wonder if they were still on the roster. Tommy Phelps is dead weight!? :lol He didn't mean it as a bad thing I don't think, just he never plays. The biggest reason Phelps isn't playing is because he is an innings eater and our pitching's been so good we haven't needed an innings eater.
August 3, 200322 yr I guess what scares me most are the Marlins themselves. We've got some dead weight on this team. Almanza and Phelps: If I didn't follow this team closely I'd often wonder if they were still on the roster. AA has an ERA over 6(6.12) for the year, he's pitched twice since the all-star break, he's given up 8 earned runs in 2 innings of work. T.P. has pitched better, but we still don't see much of him, July 4th was his last outing in a close game. We have 9 more active pitchers, 5 starters, & Looper, Bump, Tejera, and Urbina. I feel quite fortunate that we got Urbina in the trade and Bump and Tejera have pitched well lately. But how long does it last? Will these pitchers tired in the last 2 months of the season. Hopefully the addition of Spooneybarger will come at just the right time. Still it worries me. I'm enjoying the current success, but will the staff be paying for it in the coming weeks? We got some bench players that don't contribute much either, I think that we know who they are. It's not as much of a concern as the pitching staff though. IMO, if we don't tire out, we should be in fine shape for a "Wild Card" run. is this the Rex from ESPN.com boards?
August 3, 200322 yr I guess what scares me most are the Marlins themselves. We've got some dead weight on this team. Almanza and Phelps: If I didn't follow this team closely I'd often wonder if they were still on the roster. Tommy Phelps is dead weight!? :lol We're seeing the same relief pitchers almost every night. I wish that we saw more of Phelps, but we don't. Tommy has pitched 3 times since the all-star break, don't you think that he could have pitched a couple of times more. What are we saving him for? I guess that we need him for long relief, spot starting. Perhaps "dead weight" was too strong of a phrase for T.P.. My point was, Will we have a tired relief staff for the stretch run? That's my main concern. I feel like we could utilize him more.
August 3, 200322 yr Author We're seeing the same relief pitchers almost every night. I wish that we saw more of Phelps, but we don't. Tommy has pitched 3 times since the all-star break, don't you think that he could have pitched a couple of times more. What are we saving him for? I guess that we need him for long relief, spot starting. Perhaps "dead weight" was too strong of a phrase for T.P.. My point was, Will we have a tired relief staff for the stretch run? That's my main concern. I feel like we could utilize him more. Whenever Urbina and Bump need their days of rest, Tejera and Phelps are in. That's their roles and they know it. If we're going to be competitive, we need our best pitchers pitching. That's what playoff contending teams do.
August 3, 200322 yr Phelps is our long reliever and we haven't had any long relief situations lately. It also hurts Phelps that he is not the only long reliever on the team.
August 3, 200322 yr Guys don't just tire out, shrivel up and die at the end of the season. No some go in the middle of the season, Tim Spooneybarger comes to mind for an example. I'm not saying that this will happen, but right now it's my biggest concern. More of a concern than some other team getting hot. Just my opinion.
August 3, 200322 yr Guys don't just tire out, shrivel up and die at the end of the season. No some go in the middle of the season, Tim Spooneybarger comes to mind for an example. I'm not saying that this will happen, but right now it's my biggest concern. More of a concern than some other team getting hot. Just my opinion. Mark Redman
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