Know your Fishies - April 5-7 at CitiField

[Frayed Knot]

The Marlins, as you all know, were stripped down by slimy owner Jeffrey Loria of everything that wasn�t nailed down over the last 9 months and are now reduced to Giancarlo Stanton, a few past their sell-date vets, plus a bunch of guys you never heard of who are being paid $10.75/hour plus dental.
As such their goals this year are fairly modest: like learning each others� names ... personally shaking the hands of each of their few dozen remaining fans prior to home games ... scoring a run maybe.

They actually did score a run this season - just one mind you - during their opening sweep-age in Washington. They pitched all right, giving up just 2, 3 & 6 runs to the Nats, but that still leads to an 0-3 start.


Friday - 7:10 PM -- Hafner vs Alex Sanabia

Saturday - 1:10 PM -- Niese vs Ricky Nolasco

Sunday - 1:10 PM -- Aaron Laffey (although that's not official yet) vs Jose Fernandez



Alex Sanabia ® - Made 12 ML starts in 2011 including 3 times against the Mets [2-1; 4.05] - but then just 2 ML starts last season while spending most of the year at AAA

Ricky Nolasco ® - Held the Nationals to just 3 hits over 6 innings in their opener but lost the game due to his team getting shut out.
5-8 with a 5.13 ERA vs the Mets in 22 starts since 2006
Wright [.397 w/6 HRs in 63 ABs] & Muffy [8 hits w/3 2Bs in 25 ABs] have good numbers off him, while Ike [3-fer-20] and Tejada {2-fer-12} not so much


Jose Fernandez ® - One of the top minor league prospects in all of baseball but one who has yet to pitch above A-ball. The call-up of the 20 y/o Cuban defector is expected to be more a temporary promotion to fill in for injuries as opposed to a permanent call-up
Last season, split between the low-A Sally Lg and high-A Fl Sta Lg, he was a teenage domination sensation going 14-1 with a 1.75 ERA, 158 Ks, 35 BBs and 89 hits allowed in 134 IPs. Reports say to expect a lot of heat mixed in with a variety of El Duque-like (Duquensian?) changing of speeds and arm angles.

C - Rob Brantly
Part of the booty from Detroit in last July�s Anibal Sanchez & Omar Infante trade, the now-23 y/o lefty-swinger hit well in Miami last year [.290/.372/.460] over the first 100 ABs of his ML career

1B - Casey Kotchman
Once the favorite son prospect of the Angels (literally in a sense as his dad was their scouting director) the now 30 y/o Kotchman has only occasionally fulfilled those projections and is now searching for �it� in his 6th organization since 2008
.220/.280/.333 during a full season in 2012 for Cleveland
** except that Kotchman now goes to the DL with a hamstring pull. One-time Phillie utility knife Greg Dobbs is the likely replacement

2B - Donovan Solano
25 y/o Columbian debuted out of the Marlins system last May and did quite well, albeit without much power, over nearly 300 ABs -- .295/.342/.375

SS - Adeiny Hechavarria
A RHB Cuban who turns 24 next week, he made his debut with Toronto last year [.254/.280/.365 in 126 ABs] and then was shipped to a more familiar climate as part of the massive Reyes et al deal in the off-season.

3B - Placido Polanco
How the mighty (and mightily annoying) have fallen. The career .299 hitter is now, at 37, with a bunch of guys half his age while trying to hang on in his 16th ML season.

LF - Juan Pierre
Now 35 y/o and in his 2nd tour of duty with Florida/Miami, he�s put together a nice little career for himself to date and is, in fact, only 67 career hits behind Joe DiMaggio. Bet most of you wouldn�t have guessed that coming in.

CF - Chris Coghlan
The 2009 NL RoY has seen injuries and poor play actually reduce his playing time each year since. His .321/.390/.460 line in 504 ABs in his RoY season has tumbled to a combined .236/.303/.349 in barely 700 ABs in the three years since.
30 y/o career utility man Justin Ruggiano will split the time there and it was his solo HR which provided Miami with this season's run

RF - Giancarlo Stanton
I proclaim that �Don�t Let Him Beat You� is to be Giancarlo�s unofficial nickname for this season since that�s what every pitching coach is going to tell every one of his pitchers.


Names you will actually know:
Jon Rauch - Made one appearance so far this year: 1.1 IP, 1 run/2 hits allowed
John Maine !!!!!! - Isn't in the rotation nor has he appeared in a game yet but is listed as being on the active roster

[Edgy MD]

Frayed Knot wrote: LF - Juan Pierre Now 35 y/o and in his 2nd tour of duty with Florida/Miami, he�s put together a nice little career for himself to date and is, in fact, only 67 career hits behind Joe DiMaggio. Bet most of you wouldn�t have guessed that coming in.

Every time somebody seemingly pedestrian approaches or passes DiMaggio, it's supposed to be a jaw dropper, or some symbol of all that is wrong with America. The guy retired early, rather than face the specter of continuing to play as his role declined. That's the price. Heiniie Manush has more hits than you.

[MFS62]

Since Marlins are fish, you might have said they were scaled down by the owner. But we commend you for resisting that temptation.
Good job.

Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

I canceled an end of month trip to Miami to catch the Mets. Bummer. Man do I love the new Marlins stadium.

[dinosaur jesus]

Another name you might actually know: manning the Marlins' bullpen phone is former Met and legendary bel canto singing instructor Dr. Reid Cornelius.

[batmagadanleadoff]

[Frayed Knot]

MFS62 wrote: Since Marlins are fish, you might have said they were scaled down by the owner. But we commend you for resisting that temptation. Good job.

I should have said that they were gutted like ... well like a caught Marlin.

[Zvon]

Good job, thank you.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I was going to say that Castro doesn't look right in a Fish shirt, and then I checked out the rest of them. Nobody looks right in a Fish shirt.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Nice work Knayed Frot.

Finding Marlins Loving DBs/BSs was a more arduous task than for the Padres:

[Edgy MD]

That's probably tee'd up for a celebrity fashion rip job by Perez Hilton or some other professional snark machine, but outside of the highly indictable shark hat, I like that look right there. And I'm the furthest thiing from a Drew fan.

I mean, it's a mess, but it's a comfortable fun eighties mess. I've danced with that girl. I think I went to Reggae Sunspassh 1988 with that girl.

Wasn't Alyssa Milano a Marlin-lovin' big shot before she was a Dodger-lovin' big shot?

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Edgy MD wrote: Wasn't Alyssa Milano a Marlin-lovin' big shot before she was a Dodger-lovin' big shot?

I got the impression she was trying pass-off as a Mets fan at some point; roughly around the same time she launched her Mets clothing range. I bet if you asked AM to name 5 current Dodgers she'd come up short.

[Frayed Knot]

I think who she's a fan of has often depended on who she's fucking that particular week.