Weekend Roundup

Ed. note: This will be our last Weekend Roundup of the Spring, as the team has been sending many of its scrubs and minor leaguers back to farm. As such, the beat writers are focusing less on the no-name players and more on the few positional battles in camp. Ted and I will be doing the same starting Monday. Enjoy you weekend.


Logan Morrison focusing on rest of spring, by Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald:

The Marlins have little doubt that Morrison, who ranks among the organization's top prospects, will blossom into a mainstay for them -- a sure-fire member of the 2012 Marlins' lineup when they move into their new, Little Havana ballpark.

They love his swing. Scouts compare him to former top-hitting first basemen like Mark Grace and Tino Martinez.

But with spring training half over, it has been a hard March for Morrison.

Marlins prospect Petersen still learning from McGwire, by Juan C. Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel:

"His [outfielder Bryan Petersen] swing is there," [Mark] McGwire said. "The biggest thing is talking to him about the mental part of the game… The other day when we played them I think he was 0 for 4. I said, 'Dude, those were really good at-bats. You faced two tough left-handers. You stuck your nose in there, you took pitches. You worked the count. You might not have gotten any hits, but those coaches over there see that.'"

Hensley making Marlins' rotation bid, by Joe Frisaro of MLB.com:

"The biggest thing about coming into this camp is, I was going to have to throw strikes if I was going to make this team," [Clay] Hensley said. "If you go out there and aren't throwing strikes, you're not giving yourself a chance."

Adding Mike Lowell would be smart move by Florida Marlins, by Greg Cote of the Miami Herald:

Acquiring Lowell would be seen as a smart move if it were one of those mid- to late-season trades made for the stretch run, a deal for an extra bat, for veteran leadership. So why not have all that for the whole season?

Marlins' Brett Carroll takes aim on larger role, by Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel:

Andre "Hawk" Dawson, a 2010 Hall of Fame inductee, had one of the most powerful wings in the game with 10 or more assists in eight seasons.

"Brett [Carroll] knows you got to use it to strengthen it by long-tossing and taking infield," said Dawson, who works with the outfielders as a Marlins special assistant. "He's very proud of it and likes to show it off."

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Week in Review

These embraces between our middle infielders may be an endagered species, with Dan Uggla acknowledging he might be traded this offseason

Overview: The fish took two of three in St. Louis before splitting a four-game set with the Reds. They finished the week 4-3.
Positives: The starting pitching has shown up again with four quality starts, including a surprising but encouraging outing from Sean West. The team also came through with some late heroics on back to back nights in Cincinnati to win in come from behind fashion. To emphasize how poorly we've done in Cincinnati in recent years, those were Fredi Gonzalez' first wins in Great American Ballpark.
Negatives: 4-3 weeks just won't cut it anymore. If the team wants to get a postseason berth they will need to reel off a significant winning streak. The offense by in large has been quiet, scoring just over three runs per game this week.
Highlight of the Week: I'm going to give a double shot of love to Brett Carroll who gave us two web gems. First was a leaping grab on Thursday. And who doesn't love a runner being gunned down at third from right field?
Line of the Week: Leo Nunez had a very unconventional save against the Cardinals on Wednesday night. He hit the first two batters he faced (forcing in a run) and then got a huge double play to end the game.

S, 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 2 HBP

Looking Ahead: The Fish have three each at home with the Phillies and then the Mets.

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Snake Revenge: Stage One Complete

I was going to write a post yesterday evening about how we needed to avenge our last series with the Diamondbacks, which was most assuredly awful. We managed to win game one of a doubleheader after nearly blowing it, but lost the other three games in the series. In each of those losses we had a 2- or 3-run lead as late as the seventh inning but coughed each one up due to a collapsing bullpen and some guy named Mark Reynolds, who sounds like he should be sitting in a cubicle next to me, instead of being a major league baseball player. This was also shortly after Arizona fired there manager and was playing poorly before the series. Lucky for them, we were a slump-buster at that point in the season.

But that was then, and this is now. Just last week we overcame our longtime nemesis, the Somali Pittsburgh Pirates, with an assist from the motivational writings of Adam Smoot. Now we shall take down these D-backs, or better yet, let them take down themselves. Good God their bullpen is awful. Last night they coughed up a seven run lead and it only took them two innings to do so. Not only did they give up the lead, they allowed us to double them up 14-7, to eliminate any chance of the Marlins bullpen returning the favor. Two errors and shoddy fielding also helped out the Arizona pen in getting their job done.

I don't think much motivational writing is needed. Marlins, if you're reading, just wait for strikes, don't get yourself out, and put the ball in play. That should increase our chances of winning above 100%. Thanks! Stage two is tonight with the resurgent Ricky Nolasco taking on ::looks up pitching matchup:: Dan Haren. Uh oh, forgot about Danny. The D-backs pen could get the night off.

(image via daylife.com)

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Introducing Sean West

Sean West introduced himself to the baseball world last night, notching his first career W against the Giants while pitching eight scoreless innings. Sure, he was facing the Giants, who think it's a good idea to bat Bengie Molina (!) cleanup,¹ but how many shutouts have you thrown lately? Anyway, since Sean is clearly in need of a nickname (as is everyone else named Sean), we will now refer to him as El Unidad Grandito.

Why El Unidad Grandito? Ted said one of West's pitching coaches used to call him Little Unit, after Randy Johnson, who happened to be his counterpart last night (Sean is 6'8", two inches shorter than the Big Unit). So we Hispanicized the name, since he plays in Miami and everything. Besides, I'm pretty sure he doesn't want share a name with a euphemism for a small penis. Why is he superimposed over some fire, you ask? Well, because fire is awesome, of course.

Honorable mention goes to Brett Carroll, who picked up his fellow rookie by hitting his first career ding dong off the Unit in the second inning. Hitting your first home run is awesome, doing it against one of the five best LHPs to ever play the game is icing on the cake. Nice job, rook. Now go pick up Dan Uggla's drycleaning.


¹Molina's OPS+ so far this year: 75

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Marlins Sweep Away Nats

And the first save of the season is recorded by Matt Lindstrom Brett Carroll. A good start by Chris Volstad and a huge 3-RBI double by Dan Uggla gave the Marlins a 5-2 lead heading into the later innings. In the 9th though it was Uggla combining with closer Matt Lindstrom in an attempt to throw the game. Lindstrom walked two (including Adam Dunn with the bases loaded¹) sandwiched around a fielding error by Uggla. With the lead cut to 6-4 and the bases load with only one out, Stormy² was able to K Josh Willingham. On the next pitch Austin Kearns laced a liner into left that Carroll lunged and caught after first being frozen. It was a tough play with the game on the line and it was a huge out to record the win and the sweep. I'll leave it at that for now but stay tuned as we will have two new features to debut during tomorrow's off-day.

¹ In retrospect, the walk wasn't the worst thing in the world. It was a long at bat, and if a strike was thrown it may have ended up as a go-ahead grand slam.
² I've heard this used as Lindstrom's nickname a couple times and if it indeed is, then so far it's fitting. The end to this game was like running for cover in a thunderstorm.

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