May 26, 200818 yr I for one cant wait till the Johan Santana-Andrew Miller matchup, cause im pretty sure wer gonna get the games b4 and after that
May 26, 200818 yr I have this image (pure fantasy but what the heck we just won two !!) of Luis Gonzalez standing up on the charter flight to New York tonight and reading the piece aloud over and over to a plane full of Marlins. deffinately, something that will get them pumped up for this series. just became a little more interesting now.
May 26, 200818 yr What a flamer. He'll be fired soon enough. how lovely to see that someone else uses the term flamer......love it and i agree
May 26, 200818 yr It'll be a tough game for the Marlins rolling into Shea after today's double header. But maybe Willie's big mouth will give the team enough extra fuel to kick the Mets' teeth in with a little something extra.
May 26, 200818 yr What a flamer. He'll be fired soon enough. how lovely to see that someone else uses the term flamer......love it and i agree
May 26, 200818 yr I'm pretty sure he didn't mean that the Mets are gonna run us over, he mentioned LA too who have been playing well lately and has a better record than them also. I find it hard to believe that he thinks that two teams who have better records than his club are going to pad the Mets' record, especially with how poorly their last road trip went.
May 26, 200818 yr I'm pretty sure he didn't mean that the Mets are gonna run us over, he mentioned LA too who have been playing well lately and has a better record than them also. I find it hard to believe that he thinks that two teams who have better records than his club are going to pad the Mets' record, especially with how poorly their last road trip went. i agree but regardless how ridiculous and stupid is this guy? i can't wait for jacobs tonight.
May 26, 200818 yr OH NO HE DIDN'T I suggest we crush them, grind them into tiny pieces and blast them into oblivion! Oblivion, you say?
May 26, 200818 yr You would have thought Willie had learned to keep his mouth shut after his last apology, but I guess not.
May 26, 200818 yr I'm gonna be up there next week and can't wait to bury a Hanley Ramirez jersey under the new Shea stadium. That would be priceless! :thumbup
May 26, 200818 yr Well, here's a little more fuel... Marlins smell a bit fishy by Dan Graziano/Star-Ledger Baseball Columnist Monday May 26, 2008, 3:00 AM I don't believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy or the 2008 Florida Marlins. The Marlins are in town tonight to play the reeling Mets, who could take a lesson from a visiting team that has been more than the sum of its parts. In spite of a baseball-low $22 million payroll, Florida is in first place in the National League East, making it one of the surprise feel-good stories of the first third of the season. But the bubble will pop. This isn't another surprise Marlins World Series run in progress. The 1997 Marlins had Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, Gary Sheffield and a $50 million payroll. The 2003 team had Josh Beckett, Derrek Lee, Pudge Rodriguez and a $49 million payroll. These Marlins are a rabbit -- destined to fade badly in the second half of the race as the better all-around horses take control. A look at their underlying statistical numbers reveals the kind of weaknesses that portend a steep fall. There are three things right now that make the Marlins look like a first-place team. The first is their record, but on May 26 that's utterly meaningless. Any fan of either New York team need look no further than last year for proof of that. Besides, the Marlins are 8-1 against the Nationals. And no matter how good they look at Shea Stadium, the Nationals stink. The second is the Marlins' bullpen, which has been outstanding so far this year. Florida ranks third in the NL in relief pitching ERA, behind only the Phillies and the Dodgers. Closer Kevin Gregg is 10-for-11 in saves while a setup corps that features Matt Lindstrom, Renyel Pinto and Justin Miller has been stellar in front of him. The third is the power in their lineup. The Marlins rank second in the league in home runs behind the Phillies. Second baseman Dan Uggla leads the way with 16. Former Met Mike Jacobs has 11. And Hanley Ramirez, who may be the best all-around offensive player in the league, has nine. But home runs are all they have. Despite their home-run ranking, the Marlins are 10th in runs scored. They're 16th in walks, first in strikeouts and 11th in the all-important category of on-base percentage. Those numbers paint the picture of a bunch of all-or-nothing swingers who have some big old slumps coming. And the bullpen? Yeah, it's been great, but it's also been overworked, because the Marlins' starting pitching is terrible. That three-game sweep last week, in which they beat Arizona's Micah Owings, Brandon Webb and Dan Haren with Mark Hendrickson, Ricky Nolasco and Andrew Miller? Impressive, but almost certainly a fluke. Florida ranks 14th in the 16-team National League in starting pitchers' ERA and 16th in innings from their starting pitching. Kudos to Gregg and the gang if they can hold up all year behind a mess like that, but I wouldn't bet on it. One more thing before we go: The Marlins can't play defense, either. They're last in the league in team fielding percentage, and only the Pirates have made more errors. There are defensive problems all over the field, but if you're going to single out Ramirez for his brilliant offense you also have to mention that he may be the worst defensive shortstop in the league. "Our guys know what's coming. They're not oblivious to it," manager Fredi Gonzalez told The Palm Beach Post this weekend. He was speaking of a schedule turn that finds the Marlins beginning a 10-game trip to Queens, Philadelphia and Atlanta. He was not speaking of the inevitable correction due the Marlins' win-loss record over the remainder of this season, because he doesn't believe in it. He's a good manager who believes in his team and is proud of what it has done. Should the Marlins be proud of what they've done so far? Yes. Should they be excited at the possibility of spending the summer in a pennant race? Of course. Should the Mets be ashamed that a team whose payroll is $116 million lower than theirs is so far ahead of them in the standings? You betcha. But the Marlins are a first-place team that can't get innings out of its starting pitching, can't play defense and can't score without a home run. That may be a feel-good story so far, but it's hard to feel good about the Marlins going forward. NJ Star Ledger
May 26, 200818 yr Well, here's a little more fuel... Marlins smell a bit fishy by Dan Graziano/Star-Ledger Baseball Columnist Monday May 26, 2008, 3:00 AM I don't believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy or the 2008 Florida Marlins. The Marlins are in town tonight to play the reeling Mets, who could take a lesson from a visiting team that has been more than the sum of its parts. In spite of a baseball-low $22 million payroll, Florida is in first place in the National League East, making it one of the surprise feel-good stories of the first third of the season. But the bubble will pop. This isn't another surprise Marlins World Series run in progress. The 1997 Marlins had Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, Gary Sheffield and a $50 million payroll. The 2003 team had Josh Beckett, Derrek Lee, Pudge Rodriguez and a $49 million payroll. These Marlins are a rabbit -- destined to fade badly in the second half of the race as the better all-around horses take control. A look at their underlying statistical numbers reveals the kind of weaknesses that portend a steep fall. There are three things right now that make the Marlins look like a first-place team. The first is their record, but on May 26 that's utterly meaningless. Any fan of either New York team need look no further than last year for proof of that. Besides, the Marlins are 8-1 against the Nationals. And no matter how good they look at Shea Stadium, the Nationals stink. The second is the Marlins' bullpen, which has been outstanding so far this year. Florida ranks third in the NL in relief pitching ERA, behind only the Phillies and the Dodgers. Closer Kevin Gregg is 10-for-11 in saves while a setup corps that features Matt Lindstrom, Renyel Pinto and Justin Miller has been stellar in front of him. The third is the power in their lineup. The Marlins rank second in the league in home runs behind the Phillies. Second baseman Dan Uggla leads the way with 16. Former Met Mike Jacobs has 11. And Hanley Ramirez, who may be the best all-around offensive player in the league, has nine. But home runs are all they have. Despite their home-run ranking, the Marlins are 10th in runs scored. They're 16th in walks, first in strikeouts and 11th in the all-important category of on-base percentage. Those numbers paint the picture of a bunch of all-or-nothing swingers who have some big old slumps coming. And the bullpen? Yeah, it's been great, but it's also been overworked, because the Marlins' starting pitching is terrible. That three-game sweep last week, in which they beat Arizona's Micah Owings, Brandon Webb and Dan Haren with Mark Hendrickson, Ricky Nolasco and Andrew Miller? Impressive, but almost certainly a fluke. Florida ranks 14th in the 16-team National League in starting pitchers' ERA and 16th in innings from their starting pitching. Kudos to Gregg and the gang if they can hold up all year behind a mess like that, but I wouldn't bet on it. One more thing before we go: The Marlins can't play defense, either. They're last in the league in team fielding percentage, and only the Pirates have made more errors. There are defensive problems all over the field, but if you're going to single out Ramirez for his brilliant offense you also have to mention that he may be the worst defensive shortstop in the league. "Our guys know what's coming. They're not oblivious to it," manager Fredi Gonzalez told The Palm Beach Post this weekend. He was speaking of a schedule turn that finds the Marlins beginning a 10-game trip to Queens, Philadelphia and Atlanta. He was not speaking of the inevitable correction due the Marlins' win-loss record over the remainder of this season, because he doesn't believe in it. He's a good manager who believes in his team and is proud of what it has done. Should the Marlins be proud of what they've done so far? Yes. Should they be excited at the possibility of spending the summer in a pennant race? Of course. Should the Mets be ashamed that a team whose payroll is $116 million lower than theirs is so far ahead of them in the standings? You betcha. But the Marlins are a first-place team that can't get innings out of its starting pitching, can't play defense and can't score without a home run. That may be a feel-good story so far, but it's hard to feel good about the Marlins going forward. NJ Star Ledger Bias Much? Truly sad reporting. This defenitively needs to be kept around, and brought back up when the Mutts are passed by the Nationals and end up in the cellar in the east, which let's face it will be happening some where around this weekend.
May 26, 200818 yr That isn't reporting, that's a column. Same difference, it is still a piece of bias garbage that was published.
May 26, 200818 yr That isn't reporting, that's a column. Same difference, it is still a piece of bias garbage that was published. It is not the same difference. This is his opinion. Of course it's biased, but it's not supposed to be anything but biased.
May 26, 200818 yr That isn't reporting, that's a column. Same difference, it is still a piece of bias garbage that was published. That's an insult to journalism.
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