Nobody said it would be easy

No one ever said it would be this hard...

I try to stay positive. But losing really drives me up a wall. Turns to apathy. It's true when brad Pitt says in moneyball " i hate losing even more than I love winning." Let me tell you, I hate hate hate the nationals. I hate that stupid horn that plays when they hit a homer. Their announcers are so biased. Bob carpenter is a sleaze bag. Their radio sucks. The players have this ego. I rather be swept by Atlanta at home then by this stupid team on the road.

I like Redmond and all but man is he really really bad at bullpen management. The Caminero thing was almost as boggling as the marmol thing. What is this guy's problem?

At least Heaney had a really nice night

 

6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K.

No, pessimistic. He was right.

 

I don't know of a realistic world in which this team was projected to be at or above average. It's fair to say they aren't good. That's realistic based on recent past performance on this roster.

 

And that's fine as long as there is a plan to compete by 2016, but let's stop the Ad Hominem pointing of 'pessimism' just because someone points to a likely reality.

I try to stay positive. But losing really drives me up a wall. Turns to apathy. It's true when brad Pitt says in moneyball " i hate losing even more than I love winning." Let me tell you, I hate hate hate the nationals. I hate that stupid horn that plays when they hit a homer. Their announcers are so biased. Bob carpenter is a sleaze bag. Their radio sucks. The players have this ego. I rather be swept by Atlanta at home then by this stupid team on the road.

Pretty much agree with everything you said.

No ... realistic.

I wasn't getting my hopes up until this series was done, and I can't say they were raised at all. Maybe for a few innings in game 2, but that's all.

Success in this series shouldn't have gotten your hopes up. It is, after all, very early in the season.

Success in this series shouldn't have gotten your hopes up. It is, after all, very early in the season.

flip side to that is you really shouldn't get too down because of this series either...It was a tough match up on the road and there were a few good things to take away from this series, particularly if you look at the second game. Course, we also learned that any non-starter not named Ramos shouldn't be on the mound during the 8th inning in a close game, and that someone not named Redmond should be managing the bullpen.

flip side to that is you really shouldn't get too down because of this series either...It was a tough match up on the road and there were a few good things to take away from this series, particularly if you look at the second game. Course, we also learned that any non-starter not named Ramos shouldn't be on the mound during the 8th inning in a close game, and that someone not named Redmond should be managing the bullpen.

 

Thank you! I've been negative about this team in recent years more than many others but I don't understand all the negative comments after this series. The Nationals are a great team, likely one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the National League and a contender for the World Series. Yes, we didn't look good in the series, but there are positives to take away. This team isn't nearly as god awful as it was last season. Yes, nobody should be buying their playoff tickets for the end of this season, but it shouldn't be obscene to believe that the Marlins could improve 12-15 wins on last season's total. Ending this year with wins in the 70s should be acceptable given the train wreck that was 2013, and there are plenty of pieces to look forward to both on the major league roster and in the minors (not to mention the many, many picks we have in this upcoming draft). This pessimism is killing me since I think right now is the most fun Marlins team we've had since the '09 squad.

Don't worry guys, Marmol is going to get plenty more chances! AJ who?

Marlins notes: Redmond counting on Marmol for 'big situations'

The Nationals tagged Marlins' reliever Carlos Marmol with a blown save and his first loss in Wednesday's 10-7 win.

April 10, 2014|By Juan C. Rodriguez, Sun Sentinel

 

The Marlins signed Carlos Marmol with the hope he would serve as their primary setup man. Wednesday offered the former closer an opportunity to show he's up to the task.

 

With the Marlins up 7-6, Marmol recorded the first out of the eighth before hitting pinch-hitter Nate McLouth. A Derek Dietrich throwing error put Marmol and the Marlins in a precarious spot.

 

Manager Mike Redmond had Marmol intentionally walk the hot-hitting Anthony Rendon to load the bases for Jayson Werth. The second pitch of the at-bat landed in the Marlins' bullpen beyond the left-field wall for a game-deciding grand slam.

 

Asked whether he considered using A.J. Ramos to start the eighth, Redmond said: "It's easy to second guess now. I still felt good about having Marmol out there. This guy has closed out a lot of games and pitched in a lot of big situations over the course of his career. That's why we signed him, to come in and take over for the guys we lost. We're going to need this guy to pitch in some big situations and some big games."

 

As far as intentionally walking Rendon, Redmond liked Marmol's chances of throwing Werth some sharp-breaking sliders and inducing a double play.

 

How relievers perform usually dictate their alignment out of the pen. If Marmol can't solidify the eighth-inning bridge to Steve Cishek, Redmond can lean on the righty-lefty tandem of Ramos and Mike Dunn. Another guy that could pitch himself into the eighth-inning role is Arquimedes Caminero.

 

Fresh off his promotion from Triple-A New Orleans, Caminero entered with one out the bases loaded of a 5-5 game. The Nationals already had scored twice to tie it in the sixth. Caminero retired Rendon and Werth to quash the threat and pitched a scoreless seventh.

 

"You play it in your mind on how you want to bring a young kid into a game and that's definitely not [it]," Redmond said. "He picked up right where he left off in spring training. He had a great spring. … If he continues like that we could see him pitching later in games as well."

"As far as intentionally walking Rendon, Redmond liked Marmol's chances of throwing Werth some sharp-breaking sliders and inducing a double play."

So, thus, the first two pitches were fastballs and the second one right down the pike. OK, I guess, Marmol, "he's our guy".

Success in this series shouldn't have gotten your hopes up. It is, after all, very early in the season.

It would have pushed them up a bit because of the fact that this is a very good team (Washington, that is). It would have shown me that we could hang with them, and we didn't. Had quite a few people getting excited because of the 5-2 start.

 

Yes, it is early, of course. We play this same team again in 3 days, followed by the Mariners, then Braves. All 3 game series. Philly first. If we can take 8 of those 12, that'd be really nice. Realistically, I'll say 6 wins, which still isn't terrible.

As I've said, they signed Marmol because they thought he had changed his delivery enough to be effective. With good results in Winter ball. And in ST. And in the 4 previous games.

 

So, never mind the implosion, he's gonna continue to pitch in late, important situations and Redmond seems to be more than OK with that, although for no reason that makes much sense. Referring to his past begs the issue -- "this guy has closed out a lot of games and pitched in a lot of big situations." Who cares? They signed a guy who they think has significantly changed the way he pitches. To reduce walks. Not to mention not plunking hitters. A different, new, improved guy, not the old, useless guy.

 

If they're wrong about his reincarnation as a low-walk guy with good stuff (and nobody disputes that he has good stuff,) it'll probably take about 5 more blow-ups to dump him. See Heath Bar -- 6 blown saves before they dumped fatso as the closer in '12. So, we may as well get used to it -- he's gonna pitch in tight situations. Unless Redmond or someone else revolts, which would seem unlikely.

 

I'm looking forward to 3 or 4 or more Tommy Hutton rants. The next walk or hit batter late in a tight game ought to start that up.

Just after marlins making the playoffs, I would gain as much satisfaction as washington not making the playoffs.

I'm less worried about the pitching, and more worried about this offense coming back down to Earth at some point. McGehee isn't going to hit forever.

I'm less worried about the pitching, and more worried about this offense coming back down to Earth at some point. McGehee isn't going to hit forever.

 

He's 1 for his last 16 with 4 k's.

I'm less worried about the pitching, and more worried about this offense coming back down to Earth at some point. McGehee isn't going to hit forever.

 

Yeah, I got a feeling it's gonna crash at some point and things will normalize. I just hope the young ones with some potential to be long term solutions, like Dietrich and Ozuna, make it through and have breakouts.

Success in this series shouldn't have gotten your hopes up. It is, after all, very early in the season.

As failure in this series shouldn't point to this team being terrible. This series was more bad managing than bad play.

 

Keep in mind, we just threw the back of the rotation against their top 3 (the best top 3 in the game, I might add) and more than held our own. We weren't expected to win, and if it weren't for some bad calls from Red, we could have taken one or two of these games IMO. I am still excited.

Time to hit the f**king reset button today and put that BS series behind us..

Just after marlins making the playoffs, I would gain as much satisfaction as washington not making the playoffs.

hmmmm, reverse team rooting..

I think, best case scenario, is that a guy like Dietrich turns into a super utility guy because he could likely play all 4 infield spots plus the corner outfield spots at least adequately while providing pop off the bench.

I think, best case scenario, is that a guy like Dietrich turns into a super utility guy because he could likely play all 4 infield spots plus the corner outfield spots at least adequately while providing pop off the bench.

 

Best case scenario is Dan Uggla type, but I'll be realistically content if he becomes that utility player.

As I've said, they signed Marmol because they thought he had changed his delivery enough to be effective. With good results in Winter ball. And in ST. And in the 4 previous games.

 

This is not true. He had a decent ERA in spring training but that was pure luck on account of the fact that his WHIP was 1.909. He had a K/9 of 8.6. In other words, spring training did not really show us any signs that Marmol's control has been improved. Sample size is still small in either that case and MLB, but I am not convinced that the Marlins have fixed anything yet. Using him in high leverage roles is idiotic.

This is not true. He had a decent ERA in spring training but that was pure luck on account of the fact that his WHIP was 1.909. He had a K/9 of 8.6. In other words, spring training did not really show us any signs that Marmol's control has been improved. Sample size is still small in either that case and MLB, but I am not convinced that the Marlins have fixed anything yet. Using him in high leverage roles is idiotic.

 

Seriously. He walked 7 in 7 innings in ST so that argument is out the window. He basically had 4 innings where he only walked 1 which was enough evidence for this stupid ass FO/Redmond to put him into a 1 run game despite the fact we have much better BP arms and the dude has a history of blowing games.

Time to hit the f**king reset button today and put that BS series behind us..

I hope so. God does losing piss me off, more than anything.