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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My bad...

It appears that in my enthusiasm to bestow upon Sean West a lame nickname and photoshop job, I inadvertantly jinxed him. The Fish sent West to Double-A Jacksonville after his latest start, with the intention of giving the left-hander time to work on his secondary pitches. Hitters have been waiting for his fastball, and as Kyle Farnsworth can attest, if all you can depend on is a fastball, then big-league hitters will figure you out sooner or later.

Good luck, Sean. Sorry for screwing up your karma. Hopefully some time in the minors will do you as much good as it did for Ricky Nolasco...

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Week in Review

Overview: The Fish took the finale from the Giants on Monday and wrapped up the home stand by dropping two of three to the Cardinals. This weekend the club swept the Blue Jays in Toronto to finish off a 5-2 week.
Positives: The starting pitching continues to improve. Josh Johnson totaled 16 innings in two Marlins wins while Sean West, Andrew Miller, and Ricky Nolasco each had a quality start. Several hitters are starting to get hot. Chris Coghlan has been excellent in the leadoff spot with Jeremy Hermida, Hanley Ramirez, and Cody Ross driving in many runs.
Negatives: The club blew one in the finale against the Cardinals, ruining the chance to win the series. A two run lead vanished with some base hits and a costly error by Cody Ross. Chris Volstad also posted his worst start in his young career, allowing six runs and ten hits.
Highlight of the Week: Jeremy Hermida provide the team with it's first walkoff homer of the season and his first of his career to take the opener against the Cardinals.
Line of the Week: Sean West's night to remember, his first career victory

W, 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

Looking Ahead: The team travels to Boston for three against the Red Sox starting Tuesday. Hopefully the pitching will be better than the last visit. Fathers' Day weekend there will be massive crowds expected as the Marlins host the Yankees.

(Unfrozen cavemen catcher photo credit AP via ESPN.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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Week in Review

Tall, Dark & Mormon scattered 5 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings while striking out 5 on Saturday in New York.

Overview: The Marlins took 2 of 3 from the Phillies then dropped 2 of 3 in New York, for a quick 3-3 road trip.
Positives: A series win in Philadelphia is always good, and picking up a win against longtime nemesis Jamie Moyer is icing on the cake. Sean West has gotten off to a promising start, going 7 innings while giving up only one run in Friday's loss. The Fish also got quality starts out of Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad, and Andrew Miller this week.
Negatives: Hanley Ramirez left Tuesday's game with a pulled groin, and did not return to the starting lineup until Saturday. It could have been worse, but any injury to Hanley makes me nervous. The Marlins outscored the Mets 10-5, but only won one game over the weekend.
Highlight of the Week: Jeremy Hermida was a triple short of the cycle on Saturday, notching a double, a home run, and 4 RBI.

Line of the Week: There were some good performances this week, but I thought I would highlight Dan Uggla's career numbers against Phillies' RHP Bret Myers:

PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
38	36	14	2	1	5	14	2	9	.389	.421	.917	1.338

Dan went 3-for-4 with a double and a two-run jack against Myers on Wednesday.
Looking Ahead: The Fish will host consecutive four-game series against Milwaukee and San Francisco.


AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

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This is getting old

In the best of all possible worlds, there would be no need for an anti-Bonifacio bandwagon, because he would not be hitting leadoff. But instead, let's quote Joe Frisaro:

Coghlan now has 12 BBs on season. Bonifacio 12 walks. Difference? Coghlan 60 ABs, Boni 204

Also, what a waste of a great performance from future former Marlin Sean West.


UPDATE: Fredi Gonzalez is batting Coghlan leadoff this afternoon. Unfortunately, he moved B-Face into the 2-hole. Where he promptly doubled after Coghlan drew a 10-pitch (!) walk. The universe rarely makes sense, and today is no exception...

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Future Former Marlins 2

Sean West, LHP

Acquired: Drafted in the supplemental first round of the 2005 draft, part of the haul of five pitchers taken by the Marlins in the first round that year, including Chris Volstad, Ryan Tucker, Aaron Thompson and Jacob Marceaux.
Will he live up to the hype? West missed all of 2007 with a torn labrum, so he already has a major red flag. However, he did manage to put together a good year at high-A Jupiter, posting a 2.41 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and .224 BAA over 100 2/3 innings. It looks like he'll spend this year at AA Carolina, where he could springboard himself into the 2010 rotation with a good year. Beyond that is anybody's guess.
How long do we have him? He'll likely be around for awhile, as he has yet to make his big-league debut. There's always a chance the Marlins could deal away a prospect or two at the trading deadline if they feel they need a few pieces for a playoff run, but the odds of that happening are low (the only example I can think of came in 2003, when the team shipped Adrian Gonzalez to Texas for Ugueth Urbina). Baseball America recently ranked him as the 96th best prospect in baseball, and the top pitcher in the Marlins system, so the Fish would have to be given a pretty good offer to give him up, I suspect.
Future Reason for Leaving the Marlins: Let's go out on a limb on this one. West will be traded for prospects to Milwaukee in 2013, but unfortunately none of these guys will be included in the trade.


Image via mlb.com

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