Know Your Marlins - July 29-Aug 1

[Frayed Knot]

When you lose the season series to the Marlins you lose faith in the Mets
When you lose faith in your team you run the risk of your children becoming Yankee fans
When your kids become Yankee fans you are forced to enter the witness protection program.
When you enter the witness protection program you move to Idaho and assume a new identity.
When you assume a new identity in Idaho your neighbors are likely to be white supremacists
When you neightbors are white supremicists you find yourself participating in neo-Nazi tupperware parties.
DON�T participate in neo-Nazi tupperware parties, switch to winning series against the Marlins for a change.


Having said all that, the Miami Marlins are, in my view, the best team I�ve seen all year (and, no, I�m not joking). Sure, they may be last in the NL in runs scored (by SEVENTY!!) in BA, in OBA, in Slugging (hell, they got shutout in three straight games vs Milwaukee last week), and have the worst record in the NL, but that doesn�t stop them from being a count-working, clutch-hitting, tough pitching, opportunity-taking team whenever I�ve seen them, who have gone 8-3 against the Mets even while missing Giancarlo Stanton for most of those games and going 10-21 against the rest of the NL East.
Their RS/RA is -112 against everyone else, but +19 against the Mets
They�ve hit .314 against the Mets vs .233 overall
They OBA .362 against the Mets vs .292 overall
They slug .400 against the Mets vs .337 overall
And they hit Harvey like he�s some chump [.333/.365/.391] as opposed to his usual self [.192/.236/..275]
We�ve lost the last five straight to them back in early June and, as mentioned, are 3-8 this year and that�s after winning two of the first three.

So through all this bad hitting and lack of run scoring at least their hitting coach is a Florida native, has classy NYY breeding, is well-respected within baseball, popular with his fellow coaches and players, and has great hair ... oh wait, NONE OF THAT is true (except the Florida native and good hair parts).
It turns out that hitting coach Tino Martinez was a source of conflict both with the players and the rest of the staff which led to his resignation on Sunday amid �published reports that outlined patterns of verbally abusive behavior� towards some of the young Miami hitters and was often �at odds with manager Mike Redmond, the staff and a number of players�.
Tino�s view is, not surprisingly, a bit different. He claims that the most controversial tidbit which had Tino grabbing the neck of (since demoted IF-er) Derek Dietrich as merely grabbing him by the shirt and the torrent of four-letter words more akin to tough love. You know how it is ... Neck/shirt-collar, verbal abuse/constructive criticism; to-MAY-to/to-MAH-to.
Tino was apparently owner Jeffrey Loria�s personal hire (and doesn�t that kind of move usually work out well?). Prior to this, Tino�s only �coaching� experience following his 16-year career was as the always popular �special assistant� with the Yankees.


Recent changes to the roster.
- Marcell Ozuna, the AA call-up who was such a pain in our collective asses earlier this year (.438/.455.594 vs Mets -- .265/.303/.389 overall), was demoted and DL�d last week.
Also DL�d was Chris Valaika (.219 elsewhere, .400 vs Mets)
Derek Dietrich and Casey Kotchman have been DL�d as well
- Up are recent high draft picks Christian Yelich (1st round - 2009) and Jake Marisnick (obtained from the Jays in the massive Reyes/Buerhle deal). Those additions have sent Justin Ruggiano & Juan Pierre to part-time duty.


Likely starting cast of characters:
C - Jeff Mathis / Rob Brantly
1B - Logan Morrison
2B - Donovan Solano
SS - Adeiny Hechavarria
3B - Placido Polanco / Ed Lucas
LF - Christian Yelich
CF - Jake Maransick
RF - Giancarlo Stanton




Monday 7:10
Hefner vs Jacob Turner (3-3; 2.49; 1.19)
Turner shut the Mets out for 7 innings back in late May

Tuesday 7:10
Wheeler vs Nathan Eovaldi (2-1; 3.54; 1.21 - over 7 starts)

Wednesday 7:10
Mejia vs Henderson Alvarez (1-1; 2.64; 1.21 -- over 5 starts)

Thursday 12:40
Harvey vs Tom Koehler (2-6; 4.67; 1.30 -- 12 starts + 6 relief outings)
1 start plus 1 relief vs Mets this year - 4 runs on 7 hits over 10 innings.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Marlins will be without batting coach Tino Martinez, who quit yesterday after being accused of verbally abusing struggling Marlins batters.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/sports-mlb/20130728/Marlins-Tino.Martinez.Resigns/

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Yes, as FK pointed out. (See? I read your KTEs, buddy.)

One correction: Ozuna was indeed sent down... under anesthesia, when he underwent thumb surgery on Friday to repair the likely season-ending-- and gross-- avulsion fracture he suffered last Monday, while making a diving catch.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, the Ozuna timeline was a bit weird.
First I heard he was sent down and it was several days later that he was DL'd and reported as likely done for the season. Would be pretty sneaky of the Marlins to demote him and then DL him in order to save on ML service time. Of course it would also be typical of a Loria-owned team but also illegal or at least subject to arbitration/union-action or of flat-out litigation so he probably is still accruing ML service days as he heals.

[Zvon]

Ha. Loved the open. Great job, ty.

[seawolf17]

So we'll win the first three and then get no-hit on Thursday. Got it.

[Frayed Knot]

Prior to the comeback last night I made a grouchy reference during the IGT about how bad the late innings have been for the Mets in games vs the Marlins this year.
So I went back to look at the specifics of all the games we've lost - and it was even worse than I remembered. I mean, yeah, a lot of the losses had to do with our lack of scoring (at least we miss Jose Fernandez in this series) but check out how each of the eight losses have gone this season.


April 5th -- Marlins 7 - Mets 5
Marlins scored 5 in the 7th and 1 more in the 9th

April 29th -- Marlins 4 - Mets 3
Mets take a 2-1 lead into the 9th but can�t hold it, then score in the top of the 15th but manage to give up two to lose it

April 30 -- Marlins 2 - Mets 1
Mets take a 1-0 lead into the 9th but never get an out and lose on a Wild Pitch

May 31 -- Marlins 5 - Mets 1
Marlins score 4 in the 7th and 1 more in the 8th

June 1 -- Marlins 8 - Mets 1
Our only real blowout loss to them and even here the Fish got half their runs in the 7th inning

June 2 -- Marlins 11 - Mets 6
Looks like a blowout but the Mets were up 6-4 until the Fish scored seven runs from the 6th thru 8th innings

June 8th -- Marlins 2 - Mets 1
You remember this one: the Marlins scored single runs in the 3rd and [u:2n75z5xi]20th[/u:2n75z5xi] innings while the Mets were busy leaving [u:2n75z5xi]22 runners on base[/u:2n75z5xi] including 15 from the 9th thru 18th innings.

June 9th -- Marlins 8 - Mets 4
Another one where the game was closer than the score as the Marlins got one to tie it up in the 8th and then a 10th inning Grand Slam to win it