Week In Review

Overview: The Fish won both games of a short two game set against the Twins and took two of three from the Padres this weekend.

Positives: #MONSTERDONG return, and looks like he's here to stay¹. The club has been playing some surprisingly good baseball. They've won seven of nine and fourteen total in the month of June (eclipsing the previous two months combined).

Negatives: This category has been overloaded for a while. We'll leave it vacant this week.

Line of the Week: Jacob Turner threw a gem and did so in such efficient manner that he actually completed the game. The Diehards approve of a No Closer Necessary ballgame.

W, CG, 9 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 7 K

Highlight of the Week: WalkoffGranny.exe

I always loved the walk-off grand slam because it's usually so unnecessary. This was the quintessential situation. Not only was the game tied, so three runs are absolutely superfluous, but there was only one out. Mathis' fly could have landed literally 100 feet shorter and it still probably would've resulted in a win, however there's nothing greater than the crowd/celebration awaiting at home plate after a game-ending blast.

Looking Ahead: They play one more against San Diego tomorrow. I never understood the four-game set overlapping into the following week. After that they hit the road for three in Atlanta and three in St. Louis.

¹In Marlins terms, so at least until November

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Week in Review

Overview: After a midweek sweep at the hands of the #Barves, the Marlins dropped two of three to the Phillies. But fear not! The season ends on Wednesday, and our suffering will lapse.
Line of the Week: Mark Buehrle got a tough-luck no decision on Friday (though the Marlins would go on to win in walkoff fashion). He has really been the only starting pitcher to perform as the team hoped he would this season, and we would be remiss if we did not at least mention that. His line from Friday:

8 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 115 pitches, 0.300 WPA

Highlight of the Week: All-Star Dad was great, but nothing beats a moon shot from Sr. Monsterdong:

That's 36 for the season, even though he missed a month due to injuries. Unreal.
Looking Ahead: The Fish open a three-game set at home against the Mets today. Don't expect to get one last look at Josh Johnson before the long winter sets in, though. He was scratched from his start today, with no reason given by the team.

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Week In Review

Overview: The Fish got swept in Philadelphia, then took two of three from the Reds.
Postives: The Diehards finally made their first trip to the new ballpark and the team put on a good show, winning 6-4 on Saturday. Stay tuned for a post about the new stadium experience. Two wins over the first place Reds is kind of cool.
Negatives: Everything else.
Line of the Week: Jacob Turner had the best game of his young career, beating the Reds on Friday.

W, 7 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 K

Highlight of the Week: Not much significance to anyone else, but David was super giddy to see the home run sculpture in action when Carlos Lee hit this two-run dong on Saturday.
Looking Ahead: Miami stays home for three versus the Braves and then goes to New York to face the Mets.

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Week In Review

Overview: The Marlins split a four-game series against Milwaukee, then took two of three from Washington. With three weeks to go, Miami is 23.5 games out of first place in the NL East and 12.5 games out of the Wild Card. NBA season can't get here soon enough...
Positives: Even though he's missed 30 games this season, Giancarlo Stanton is only 5 home runs behind Ryan Braun for the NL lead (with 33 to Braun's 38). I weep when I think of how awful this season would have been were it not for Sr. Monsterdong.
Negatives: Too many to list, amirite?
Line of the Week: Good Ricky Nolasco made a cameo Sunday, shutting out the Nats:

9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 121 pitches, .205 WPA

Highlight of the Week: Sr. Monsterdong helped the Marlins shellac Nats' ace Stephen Strasburg on Friday night with this blast to centerfield:

Looking Ahead: The Marlins open a three-game series in Philadelphia this week, then host the Reds for three days starting on Friday. Ted and I will be making our first trip to Marlins Park on Saturday, hit us up on Twitter if you'll be there/want to buy us drinks at the Clevelander.

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Abbreviated Week In Review

The Marlins beat Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals 9-0 on Tuesday, Then they lost four game in a row, including a home sweep by the Mets. Even worse, there were no #MONSTERDONG sightings. We has a sad. Up next is a four game set against the Brewers, then three in Washington.

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Week in Review

Good win today..... twitter.com/HanleyRamirez/…
— Hanley Ramirez (@HanleyRamirez) July 29, 2012

Overview: The Marlins lost 2 of 3 to Atlanta, then took 2 of 3 from San Diego. Oh yeah, they made some trades too. Did you hear about those?
Positives: Everyone had a calm and reasoned discussion regarding the team's decision to give Hanley Ramirez away to whichever team was willing to pay the rest of his salary through 2014. Just kidding, we all lost our collective shit. But it was cleansing, right? No more Twitter bat nonsense, no more celebratory Lo Viste signs after he breaks another 1-for-21 slump or whatever, and no more hand-wringing over whether Ramirez is "finally becoming a leader" or whatever. The Marlins broke up with Hanley, plain and simple. Giancarlo totally treats us better, you guys.
Negatives: The trades of Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, and Omar Infante, while all acceptable to me on baseball grounds, bring up a few questions: Will Beinfest and Hill get screwed as they did in the Cabrera-Willis/Maybin-Miller trade? Why did the farm system get so bare? Is there a major problem in the scouting department? These and other questions deserve their own post, so we'll get to that later. Also, the team is still managing to be totally disappointing while outperforming its massive run-deferential. The team is 47-54, but its run differential (-79), suggests the record should be closer to 42-59, all things being equal. Yikes.
Line of the Week: Nathan Eovaldi, who came to Miami in the Ramirez trade, got the W on Saturday with this line, adding an RBI single.

5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Highlight of the Week: Justin Ruggiano, who might be Cody Ross 2.0, gets the walkoff single on Sunday.
Looking Ahead: The Marlins have back-to-back 4-game series on the road, starting in Atlanta on Monday and Washington on Friday (with a double-header).

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Week in Review

Overview: The Marlins won Monday against Washington and Tuesday against the Cubs, then dropped five straight, culminating in a weekend sweep at the hands of the Pirates.
Positives: Hard to find any at this point. The Marlins are sputtering just ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, meaning some of the team's impending free agents could become trade bait for pieces that can help in 2013. Anibal Sanchez and Carlos Zambrano are the most likely candidates for a deal in that scenario.
Negatives: The Marlins' run differential keeps getting worse, it is up to -71 after Sunday's loss. The team is lucky to be 44-51, which is even more depressing than it sounds at first.
Line of the Week: Nothing sticks out this week.
Play of the Week: I always like a well-executed squeeze bunt, and Rick Nolasco pulled one off on Friday in Pittsburgh.
Looking Ahead: The Marlins return home for three-game sets against Atlanta then San Diego, with an off-day on Thursday.

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Week in Review

Let's never speak of this again... 

Overview: The Marlins dropped two games to St. Louis, then reeled off four wins in a row, the last three constituting a sweep of the Phillies.
Positives: June is over! The Marlins finished the month with three straight wins, but still went just 8-18 for the month. Giancarlo Stanton will rep the Fish in both the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game next week.
Negatives: Have you noticed the Marlins' run differential? The team is -58 runs for the season, giving it an expected W-L of 33-45. With their actual record being 38-40, Marlins fans should take solace in the fact that as bad as this season has gone so far, it could have gone much, much worse.
Line of the Week: The honor goes to the aforementioned Stanton, who hit thusly over the past week:

8/21, 1 2B, 3 HR, 6 R, 6 RBI, .381/.480/.857

Highlight of the Week: It's a Mark Buehrle two-fer. First, he picks of Hunter Pence at first base. Then, he starts an inning-ending double-play by snagging a hit up the middle, saving a run.
Looking Ahead: Miami kicks off a four-game set at Milwaukee today followed by a weekend series in St Louis.


Photo via Fish Stripes

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Week in Review

Overview: The Marlins lost two of three each to Boston and Tampa for a 2-4 week. The team is now 4-11 for the month of June.
Positives: The Marlins scored more than twice in two whole games this week! Coincidentally, they won those two games.
Negatives: The terrible hitting continues, and Ozzie Guillen wants you to know that it's not the coaches' fault:

Nobody gives [hitting coach] Eduardo [Perez] credit when we were doing good. Now they’re going to (expletive) on him because we’re not hitting? That’s a bunch of (expletive). No, blame the players. They were good two weeks ago (with the) same hitting coach.

Hard to argue with that.

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fish_bytes/2012/06/guillen-says-players-not-hitting-coach-are-to-blame-for-offensive-woes.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#storylink=cpy

Line of the Week: The combined performance of the Marlins bullpen on Sunday:

8.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 6 K, 1 BB, 117 pitches

Pitching were Steve Cishek (0.2 IP), Edward Mujica (3 IP), Randy Choate (1 IP), Ryan Webb (3 IP), and Heath Bell (1 IP). Apart from Cishek's blown save, a pretty impressive outing..
Highlight of the Week: From the same game, Scott Cousins tripled home the winning run in the top of the 15th inning.
Looking Ahead: After an off-day tomorrow, Miami visits Boston for three games, then kicks off a homestand with a weekend series against the Blue Jays.

Image via @ThisIsChucker

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Week in Review

Overview: The Marlins were swept twice (by Atlanta and Tampa) for an 0-6 week. They also participated in the MLB Draft, we'll find out in five years or so if they did a good job.
Positives: The Miami Heat winning the Eastern Conference Championship was a nice distraction from the bad baseball the Marlins played this week. Seriously, the only highlight was the Fish wearing the all-whites with the orange cap and stirrups (see above, I'd be happy if this was the only home uni set they ever wear).
Negatives: Too many to list here, but I'll go with the team's terrible situational hitting. The team is 7 for its last 62 (.113) with runners in scoring position. Yeesh.
Line/Highlight of the Week: There will be no weekly awards. You lose every game, you get no kudos.
Looking Ahead: The Marlins host Boston for three games, then after an off day on Thursday travel to Tampa for Citrus Series 2: Electric Boogaloo.

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Week In Review

Overview: Productive week for the Fish as they swept the Nationals and took two of three in Philadelphia
Positives: Giancarlo Stanton won the NL Player of the Month award for May. The pitching has been pretty stellar as of late too. With today's win and a Nats loss, the club is back in a tie for first place. /looks at calendar /reads June Well, it's something.
Negatives: A loss to the Phillies on Friday night kept the Fish from a perfect week. Really, all not that much to complain about. Time for Ozzie to say something stupid again.
Line of the Week: Hanley Ramirez has been red hot at the plate, his totals for the week

12-24, 4 HR, 6 RBI

Highlight of the Week: Carloz Zambrano doing his best #MONSTERDONG impersonation
Looking Ahead: The Marlins head home for three each with the Braves and Rays.

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Week in Review

Orange hat = end of JJ's slump... 

It's a quick one this week, we're busy.

Overview: The Marlins split two-game sets with Pittsburgh and Atlanta, then took two of three in Cleveland.
Line of the Week: Josh Johnson gets the nod for his second quality start of the week on Sunday:

7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 104 pitches, .361 WPA

Highlight of the Week: Jose Reyes stole home on a double steal with Omar Infante on Wednesday. That will win highlight of the week every time.

Looking Ahead: The Marlins return home for a three-game series against the Rockies, then a four-game set versus the Giants.

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Week in Review

Overview: The Marlins took two of three in Houston, then won two of three against the Mets at home.
Positives: Giancarlo Stanton's walkoff grand slam was the best Mother's Day Gift of all. I hope you all did what I did, and tell your mom Giancarlo did that as a favor to you for the holiday. Carlos Zambrano has turned out to be a steal for the Fish. In two starts this week, he gave up just one earned run (and one unearned) in 16 innings. Michael Jong has an interesting piece about Big Z's turnaround at Fish Stripes.
Negatives: Heath Bell's struggles continue; he gave up two runs in the top of the ninth inning Sunday, allowing the Mets to take a late lead. Remember that Emilio Bonifacio regression we've been warning you about for months? It's happening. As his BABIP is back at career norms this season (.320), he is now slashing .240/.333/.248. Ozzie Guillen has moved him down in the batting order, but the Marlins may need to start looking around for a new centerfielder if this persists.
Line of the Week: Carlos Zambrano threw a complete game on Monday, and it was a gem:

9 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 109 pitches, 0.452 WPA

Highlight of the Week: I think we all know who the rightful winner of this award is...

Looking Ahead: The Fish host Pittsburgh for two games, then hit the road. A two-game set in Atlanta is followed by a weekend series in Cleveland, Miami's first interleague set of the season.

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Week in Review

Overview:  An almost perfect week. After falling to Arizona on Monday, the Marlins swept the Giants and Padres in three games apiece.
Positives: Omar Infante's hot streak continues, he is now slashing .325/.352/.651, and I have no idea how. Giancarlo Stanton's power outage is officially over, as he hit four tater tots in the last six games. The Marlins are now tied with Washington for the most quality starts in MLB (21).
Negatives: It wasn't all perfect. Heath Bell blew two more saves, finally convincing Ozzie Guillen to demote him (albeit temporarily). Josh Johnson continues to struggle, giving up 6 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks in his start on Friday. For the season he is sporting an ERA of 6.61. Other than that, though, it's been a good week.
Line of the Week: With the bullpen reeling and in need of rest, Mark Buehrle stepped up with a complete game on Saturday, earning the win in San Diego:

9 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 116 pitches, 0.331 WPA

Highlight of the Week: As mentioned above, Giancarlo Stanton hit four home runs this week, including the moon shot in San Diego below. He also made a nice play with his glove on Sunday.

Looking Ahead: The Fish finish their road trip with a three-game set in Houston starting Monday. After a day off on Thursday, the Marlins return home for a three games against the Mets.

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Week In Review

Overview: The Fish were swept by the Mets and lost two of three this weekend at home to the Diamondbacks.
Positives: Did you see that Heat game yesterday?
Negatives: The team has been ice cold at the plate. Despite that, the club thrice had 1-0 leads they couldn't hold in New York. The Fish are now five games under .500.
Line of the Week: Anibal Sanchez set a new career high with 14 strikeouts Saturday night.

7 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 14 K

Highlight of the Week: Hanley snapped an 0-26 slump with this walkoff single last night.
Looking Ahead: One more game against the Diamondbacks tomorrow before the team heads out for a nine game road trip. That starts with three games each in San Francisco and San Diego.

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Week In Review

 
Overview: The Marlins swept the hapless souls that are the Chicago Cubs, then dropped two in Washington. Sunday's game has been postponed due to weather.
Positives: I know it was against the Cubs, but the team played some all around good ball to sweep that series. Bonifacio somehow is still hitting and stealing bases. And although they didn't get wins, both Zambrano and Anibal pitched pretty good ballgames this weekend.
Negatives: Still no #MONSTERDONG sightings :-( The bats went absolutely silent this weekend, save for a LoMo homer. And the team fell back under .500. But hey, at least we aren't the Red Sox. [laughing hysterically under my breath]
Line of the Week: Rarely do we ever honor a starting pitcher who lost, but the wll is pretty dry this week, and Anibal Sanchez pitched great yesterday.

7 IP, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K

Highlight of the Week: Hanley's huge three run bomb to win Tuesday's game. With bonus super-cool handshakes bro!
Looking Ahead: Day off tomorrow, then three in New York against the Mets before a weekend series back home versus the Diamondbacks.

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Week in Review

Overview: Miami dropped two of three in Philadelphia, then took two of three from Houston. There was also some kind of dust-up involving Ozzie Guillen and Fidel Castro, perhaps you heard about that.

Positives: We now know for a fact that it is possible to hit a home run in Marlins Park:

Negatives: Too many fielding blunders to count this week. Ted will surely have a Tangerine Troops roundup coming in the next day or so. Suffice it to say, this team does not field too well at the moment. Heath Bell in 2012: 2 save opportunites, 2 blown saves. Also troublesome, the Herald reported Sunday that Josh Johnson's velocity is down to 91-93 mph from his usual 95-96. Ruh roh...

Line of the Week: This was Omar Infante's week: 8-21, 2 2B, 3 HR, 6 R, 4 RBI
That was in just five games (he sat out Saturday). I'm really looking forward to selling him high in my fantasy league.
Highlight of the Week: Ramirez hit a game-tying home run on Sunday that would have been out in just about every MLB stadium, even the cavernous Marlins park.
Looking Ahead: The Fish are off on Monday, then host the Cubs for three followed by a weekend series at Washington.

Photo via @KellysPics

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Week In Review: Winter Meetings Edition

I don't think we've ever done a week in review at some point in the offseason, but if there was ever a good time for one, now would be it.

Overview

Marlins sign Jose Reyes
Hanley is upset, or is he?
Marlins sign Mark Buehrle
Miss out on Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson

Positives

A few weeks ago most people were still wondering if the Marlins interest in all of the top free agents was just a publicity stunt. They were proven wrong. The Fish exit the winter meetings with a trio of upgrades. Heath Bar Bell will help the back end of the bullpen and should allow the Marlins to say adios to Juan Leo Carlos Nunez Oviedo. Jose Reyes adds a spark to the front of the lineup. And Mark Buehrle is a big upgrade and rounds out the pitching rotation. Add those three legit all stars to the current team, who were without all stars Hanley and Josh Johnson for most of last season, and it looks like a pretty good ball club.

Negatives

He ended up getting an obscene amount of money, but could you imagine the lineup had Albert Pujols signed for Miami? Reyes-Hanley-LoMo-Pujols-Stanton, wow. So good it will have to stay just a dream. Also, a C.J. Wilson signing could have set up a downright nasty rotation. If the Marlins do not add another starter via free agency or trade, we could be stuck with Chris Volstad in the fifth-starter spot (gulp).

Looking Ahead

It's likely the Marlins aren't done with significant moves. They still could do some trading. One rumor that persists is that the team is looking to unload Ricky Nolasco (mainly because of his contract). I also wouldn't be surprised if the team jettisoned Gaby Sanchez for a starting pitcher (especially if Nolasco is moved). Logan Morrison would take over at first base but the Marlins outfield options would be pretty thin. Of course Cuban defector Yoennis Cespedes is still out there and I wonder if the Marlins have some money leftover from not adding Pujols, might they make a big push for him? We'll see.

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Week in Review: Limping Toward the Finish Line

We can almost go home you guys! Wheeeeee, vacation!!1!1

Overview: The Marlins took two of three from Atlanta then were swept by the Brewers, securing their first last-place finish since 2007.
Positives: None. We're past the point of finding silver linings here.
Negatives: I seem to be the only person on the planet that does not totally hate the Marlins' new logo. The team bid an early adieu to Juan Carlos Oviedo (nee Leo Nunez). Or a two-months-too-late farewell, depending on your perspective. Nonetheless, it is hard not to feel sorry for him. He was caught in a lie he told years ago because he thought it gave him a better shot at becoming a pro baseball player, and that lie only boxed him in more and more as he got older. I hope he can resume his career (with another team, I still don't think he's worth $5 million a year) without too much difficulty, because this seems like a victimless crime from where I stand.
Line of the Week: Javier Vazquez topped the immortal Pat Rapp with his (ongoing) 25-inning scoreless streak on Wednesday:

7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 109 pitches, .385 WPA

Play of the Week: Omar Infante makes Atlanta pay for a two-out error in the bottom of the ninth by knocking a walkoff home run on Monday night:

Looking Ahead: The Fish will host a three-game set against the Nats before packing up for the winter. The team will also interview Bo Porter and Joe Espada for the impending managerial vacancy, but neither seem like likely hires:

Neither man has any experience as a manager in the majors, which is especially curious since team owner Loria said in July the team's next manager "will have to be somebody with experience."

With that in mind, this could be a case of the Marlins interviewing a pair of minority candidates to satisfy Major League Baseball's diversity hiring requirement, so that when the team makes a run at a big name in the offseason it won't face the prospect of a fine from MLB.

Programming note: There will be no Week in Review after the Washington series. Instead, we will begin our roundup of end-of-season material.

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Penultimate 2011 Week in Review

We're usually tired of baseball by mid-September too, Gaby.

Overview: The Marlins dropped two of three two Atlanta, were swept in a doubleheader by the Phillies, then took two of three in Washington.
Positives: The Marlins didn't lose to Stephen Strasburg (despite only scoring once in six innings against him). Javier Vazquez threw his first shutout in ages Friday. On the same night, he moved to the 29th spot in the all-time strikeouts list and Jack McKeon won his 277th game, the most by any Marlins manager. That's about as much enthusiasm as I can muster right now.
Negatives: McKeon is getting a little testy. First he blasts Ricky Nolasco for his role in Thursday's loss to Atlanta ("That's why you’re not a 20-game winner," he said), then he complains about his hitters' aversion to taking walks. "Our guys are allergic to taking walks," he told the Miami Herald Sunday, adding, "They play by the players' association rules: Thou must swing at 3-1 and 2-0."The former complaint was a little harsh, the latter, pitch perfect. Hanley Ramirez underwent shoulder surgery on Thursday, though the Marlins said they still expect him to be back in time for Opening Day 2012. Mike Cameron was released for being a jerk.
Line of the Week: Vazquez' Friday night performance:

9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 104 pitches, 0.421 WPA

Play of the Week: Edward Mujica pulls off an instant classic bullpen prank on Thursday, locking Jose Ceda in the bathroom in Philadelphia's visiting bullpen:

Looking Ahead: The Fish play three against Atlanta starting Monday, then fly to Milwaukee for a weekend set beginning Friday.

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