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Rank relief: The Miami Marlins have lots of problems

April 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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Jon Rauch stares at Todd Frazier’s bases clearing double

The Marlins were able to win one of the four game series against the Reds and were tied today going into the 7th.  Then Jon Rauch showed up for work.  He didn’t land in a great situation, coming into the game with the bases loaded courtesy of Alex Sanabia.  The bases were loaded via a walk and two hits.  Rauch came in to face Brandon Phillips, who has been lights out this season.  The following ensued:

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The damage was bad.  Only two outs, 2 singles, 2 doubles, and one walk.  Both Phillips and Bruce had long at bats by extending them via foul balls.  This seemed like another relief situation that Mike Redmond just didn’t care after the Reds scored a few runs to take a lead they would not relinquish.  Miami did score three more runs in the 9th so if Rauch could have gotten Frazier out, they may have tied it.  Of course, if the Reds were only up 3, we may have seen Aroldis Chapman instead of Manny Para.  Word is Rauch is thinking of getting another tattoo to commemorate the events.  I haven’t confirmed yet.

 

Filed Under: Florida Marlins Tagged With: ,

Rank relief: John Maine is the sacrificial lamb for Jeffrey Loria

April 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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John Maine turns to watch Todd Frazier’s hit clear the wall.

Not too many people would have picked the Marlins against the Reds even with rookies Tony Cingrani and Jose Fernandez on the mound.  The Reds tagged Fernandez for 5 runs through four innings and then they decide to send John Maine in.  John Maine did not pitch well.  here is what he did in the 5th:

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Here’s the talley:  3 singles, 4 walks, and 1 wild pitch.  It was about to get really ugly, but Joey Votto grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the inning.  On the intentional walk him almost hit Devin Mesoraco in the head twice…impressive.  The core was 5-1 before the 5th and 9-1 after.  You’d think that’d be it for Maine.  Nope.  They ran him back out for the 6th inning.  He still did not pitch well.

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This isn’t as bad, but a walk and a home run put another 2 on the board for the Reds.  He did strike out the side though.  Just a little hiccup in between.  I get that the Marlins were saving their bullpen, but these were two brutal innings.

Filed Under: Florida Marlins Tagged With: ,

Mark Buerhle is Bryce Harper’s latest Upper Deck Kill

September 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Bryce Harper rookie wrecking derby rolls on.

Today he absolute shits on lefty Mark Buerhle, launching a parabola into the upper tank at Nationals Stadium. The Nationals stole an 8-7, 10-inning win from the Marlins.

Harper is raking like he wants that Rookie of the Year trophy above his fireplace.

I’m sorry that Harper is filling is up this page so much. Actually I’m not. When he homers, we pin it here. This is because he’s the greatest 19-year old home run hitter of our lifetime.

Filed Under: Florida Marlins, Washington Nationals Tagged With: , ,

Bryce Harper shows us that Marlins Park can play small at times

August 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last night we saw what just might come to be known as “The Bryce Harper Hat Trick”.

Home Run. Monster Home Run. Ejected from the game.

The 8-4 win snapped the Nationals 5-game losing streak.

Here’s a video look at career home runs numbers 13 and 14 for Harper, who surpassed Mickey Mantle in home runs by a 19-year old. At the same time, no one can convince me that it wasn’t a different ballgame back then. Still, it’s neato that Harper is mentioned in the same breath as The Mick.

Filed Under: Florida Marlins, Washington Nationals Tagged With: ,

Bryce Harper Posterized Mike Dunn for Career Bomb Number 10

August 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Bryce Harper caught a hanging curve from Marlins lefty Mike Dunn and added an exclamation mark on the Nats 10-7 come from behind victory.

I was actually watching on my iPhone when Harper connected, and it was hard to tell where the ball was going. Until I saw the fans sitting directly behind home plate. Watch their reaction. They knew it was a monster bomb off the bat. In fact, pause the video when Harper connects; right about when he’s ready to shuck the bat like it’s a disposed tool. Look at the spectators mouths fly open. This is a ‘holy shit’ bomb that was hit to an area of the park that baseballs don’t really frequent.

Filed Under: Florida Marlins, Washington Nationals Tagged With: , ,

Reinvented Carlos Zambrano

May 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

As I sat and watched Carlos Zambrano string together inning after inning against the Washington Nationals yesterday, I couldn’t help but think about the guy who we heard had major mechanic troubles at the tail end in Chicago. He was left for dead, but I think the baseball society would officially declare him “back” as of right now.

I remember hearing tales of a bad delivery that was putting too much pressure on his elbow. That ‘Big Z’ was a candidate to break down at any moment. And then he got hit and threatened to retire. That seems like forgotten history now.

From the SweetSpot article I linked:

For Big Z, this has been equal parts reinvention and renewal. The beefy right-hander’s fastball has lost yet another tick, sitting around 89 instead of 90, and as much as you can place faith in Pitch F/X’s ability to properly pigeon-hole off-speed offering, it looks like he’s relying on his splitter more now than he did in his days in Wrigleyville.

Perhaps more significantly, his ratio of ground balls to fly balls is higher than it’s been since 2003, something a lot more important for his future than a nice dip in his ratio of home runs to fly balls: If he allows fewer fly balls in the first place, it’s going to be harder for more people to hit home runs at all. Regression monkeys will no doubt despair over an FIP or xFIP a run higher than his current ERA, fearing what that portends for the future, but I’d suggest that if, two months ago, you’d get an ERA anywhere between 3.80 and 4.00 from Zambrano every fifth day, the Fish would still be down with this deal.

So he isn’t the power pitcher he was back in his heyday, back when he was the best Venezuelan import among the Cubs’ highly-touted power arms in the early Aughties. But he is the guy who has actually delivered while the other, more famous guys like Mark Prior and Kerry Wood tried and failed and broke down. He’s the one who’s still here, having pitched 500 more innings than the now-retired Wood, or 1,200 more than Prior, the man with the so-called “perfect mechanics.” He’s the guy from the 2003 Cubs with the most career WAR, though that might be seen as a case of setting the bar low.

In layman’s baseball terms, a guy who was has thrown his fastball some 66.8% of the time over the course of his career is throwing it just 40.6% of the time right now. He’s living around 89 MPH rather than the 93 MPH that he became known for.

And suddenly I began thinking of what I read in Sunday morning’s Ne w York Times. It’s quite possible that Zambrano’s arm is a mess inside but he’s hanging on a little longer for more paychecks or more glory or whatever.

The Marlins held on for a 5-3 victory yesterday afternoon. For the moment, all is on the upswing for Zambrano for the time being, and my Memorial Day burgers turned out great (Trader Joe’s patties with a special touch of seasoning and sauce). The Bullish Zambrano lives to fight another day as a member of this large baseball world fraternity we’re all part of.

Filed Under: Florida Marlins, Washington Nationals Tagged With:

VIDEO: Giancarlo Stanton Vandalizes his Home Stadium & Jamie Moyer with a Granny Bomb

May 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

When you’re getting ESPN alert text messages to let you know that ‘ESPN MLB – Giancarlo Stanton hit HR of LF video board knocking off portion of digital display at Marlins Park’ (I actually got the text twice, for some reason) you know it’s a bomb you better get to a computer and see somehow.

Giancarlo didn’t disappoint, taking old man Moyer’s pitch to Biscayne Bay on this full count offering.

Moyer has now pitched in 50 big league stadiums. I can guarantee you he’s never seen a swing destroy things like that in any of them.

As for Stanton, love this guy. He’s obviously playing on a bad wheel and it doesn’t matter. He’s just that good. Mammoth power down in Vice City where he fits right in. What a time to live and die in Miami.

Filed Under: Colorado Rockies, everyone digs the long ball, Florida Marlins, Old Pitchers Tagged With: ,

Examining Bill James 2012 Mike Stanton Projection

January 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I love me some Mike Stanton. Anytime there is a power hitting corner outfielder with youth on their side, there’s a good chance I’ll feel the exact same way about them as I do Stanton. The tape-measure video game bombs, the build, he’s got it all right now. It could be said that Mike Stanton makes our world a better place.

I knew that I was onto something with Stanton about the middle of last year, and here’s the story with it. I’m in a fantasy league where we score categories beyond the typical 5 x 5 ROTO metrics. The added categories are walks, OBA, OPS, and slugging. There’s an owner in the league that has won the league every year until finishing second last season.

I was enchanted with Stanton heading into last year’s draft and I was lucky enough to snag him in the middle rounds. It’s a keeper league, so a guy like Stanton was worth the flier over aging outfielders that were available.

That consistently successful owner came knocking at my door in the form of one text message after another with hopes to land Stanton. He told me anyone from his roster was available, but the guy he consistently asked for was Stanton. This was a condition I was not willing to accept. When this particular owner is that hot for a player, something is up. It’s like when Billy Beane saw something in Scott Hatteberg; when this guy picks up an aging player for a few weeks there’s always more perceived value in that said player in our league from that point forward.

Stanton went on to have a nice season and bigger things are in store. He’s already receiving early consideration for 2012 NL MVP; so I figure it’s time to see what Bill James sees coming for Stanton this year in that loaded Marlins lineup.

Bill James 2012 Mike Stanton Projection:

150 Games Played, 532 AB, 145 hits, 32 doubles, 4 triples, 39 HR, 88 runs, 103 RBI, 73 BB, 160 K, 5 SB, .273 AVG, .366/.568/.934

Last year Stanton posted a .356/.537/893 slash line, which is beautiful for a guy who was in his age 21 season. Mr. James is expecting Big Mike to go out and bash at a clip that is exponentially more productive than last season, which as a Stanton fantasy owner I would happily sign up for again.

If he can just stay completely healthy, Stanton is going to have an opportunity to do huge things in the Florida lineup where he’ll probably be hitting in that five slot to begin the year and work his way right into being a 22-year old cleanup hitter.

What’s not to love about this guy?

Filed Under: Bill James, Florida Marlins Tagged With:

Marlins Offer Albert Pujols a 10-year Contract

December 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I was thinking about something this morning on my drive into work. I really want Albert Pujols to leave the Cardinals, thus increasing the chances he stays in St. Louis. If Albert leaves the Cardinals, I think the Reds clearly become the front-runner in the National League Central. Let someone else worry about Pujols putting up a career year in the form of lifetime stats against them (see Pujols’ career stats against Cincinnati).

It looks like things are moving closer to a reality. ESPN breaks the news on this one:

The Miami Marlins have made a 10-year offer to the biggest fish on the free-agent market, first baseman Albert Pujols, baseball sources told ESPN the Magazine’s Buster Olney on Tuesday.

It is unclear what the monetary figure of the offer is, and a key question is whether the Marlins would agree to include a no-trade clause in their offer. The club did not offer shortstop Jose Reyes such a clause, which Pujols had with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Marlins’ latest offer is an increase from the nine-year proposal made in their first meeting with Lozano.

Well this news makes me happy. I know it makes Danny Lozano happy. I just want my Reds to have a run at things in 2012. I’m not scared of a baseball team from Miami that will be in full panic mode come July. Go ahead Albert, sign down in South Beach with your superstar Dominican buddy Reyes. Similar paths worked out well for Lebron.

Let me also add that there’s just no way a legend like Pujols should ever play for a franchise like the Marlins. And he’ll be back in St. Louis even if he has to take fewer years or money. It will be interested to see what happens now that the Marlins have put a little pressure on the Cardinals.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins, Free Agency, St. Louis Cardinals Tagged With: , , ,

Reds bring the Heat in Miami

August 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

[Box Score]

[Cincinnati.com] [The Real Mccoy]

Last night’s win said an awful lot about the character of the Reds. But before I talk about the game, I just want to talk about my state of mind as a fan right now.

It’s been really hard to maintain this blog this season. For anyone that has ever written about sports on the internet, you realize that if there is emotion involved–it’s not an easy thing all of the time. The Reds performance this year has really complicated me writing about baseball on this blog. So if anyone wonders about the future of Diamond Hoggers and the amount of writing that will be done on here; the show will go on as always and the tempo will pick up.

The Reds can’t stink forever, and I’ve been preparing to get married in September. Losing 15 pounds and planning a wedding has been some work albeit minimal. But baseball is what I love and on any random summer night it’s easy to remember why I love it.

Last night was one of those games. Hell, I even fired up the post game show on 700 WLW last night (too much Jimmy Buffett talk, not enough baseball but oh well) and watched Little Big League on Netflix as I was falling asleep. After games like last night, I’ll let it be baseball season until December!

A lot of Reds fans who my relationship has been in a stalemate with suddenly crept out of the woodwork last night as the Reds battled back on the road from a 5-2 deficit. Everything seemed to happen by design. Yonder Alonso hits a bomb to get things going a little bit, and then Jay Bruce (hitting 3rd in the lineup) hits a bomb to right field to cut the deficit to 5-4.

Nick Masset came in and promptly shit his pants as he’s so often done this season and gave up a sac fly to Emillio Bonifacio in the bottom of the 8th to seemingly end the game.

Dusty Baker makes a Dusty Baker move in the 9th inning. He allows Paul Janish to lead off, and even listening to the radio I’m wondering what the Hell a .217ish hitter is doing leading off when we need one base runner. The Reds would bail their manager out from there; as Joey Votto pinch hit and had a Joey Votto at-bat where he fouled off a few tough pitches and got the full count walk, his 93rd of the season. Brandon Phillips did the same, had a tough at bat and ended up fouling off a few pitches until he got something he could handle and singled to center.

From there you’ll see the highlights below that took the Reds home winners down in the Miami humidity.

I think the reason people are so happy is they feel in a lot of cases that the Reds have given up just because this season is over and so many of us have given up our hopes and expectations we had. While this time last summer was a magical time in our lives, we’re left adjusting at the present time and wondering how to feel. Last night the Reds reminded us that meaningless baseball on a summer night can still be great because it is baseball.

And soon enough the boys of summer will be giving way to another sport. So we best enjoy it for all we can for another few weeks here before we say goodbye for another long winter.

This has been a really weird season. I’m not sure what it is. But it’s not unlike any other baseball season I’ve lived through despite having it’s share of ‘blah’ moments. There are points when the season seems a few days long and then when you think back to the beginning parts you can’t believe that this is the same season at all.

It’s the puzzling life of being a baseball fan. We all go through it and there is no exact psychology that fits a textbook of how to do it correctly. You just exist, you take it in, you watch. You try to draw conclusions or deductions or similarities to past seasons. If we’re honest with ourselves, baseball is so unique that while many players and teams are patterned after their past, in some ways every day is statistically unique and unpredictable. And that is what keeps us hooked.

You never know when the Cincinnati Reds–who you had thought had ‘quit’–score four in the 9th to win the damn thing. God I love this game.

Top Plays:

Yonder Alonso’s 2nd home run of his career

Jay Bruce hits a Ricky Nolasco hanging breaking ball into the seats

Dave Sappelt’s double to the wall ties the game in the 9th

Alonso puts the Reds ahead with a 2-run double

Potpourri

-Due to another damn hurricane, the Reds and Marlins will play a doubleheader today.

-Ricky Nolasco passed Dontrelle Willis as the all-time strikeout leader in Marlins history last night.

-It was about a year ago that I wrote this about Jay Bruce. I don’t know if it’s ever been more true.

-It was about a year ago on a Sunday, the Reds were playing the Marlins. And they took over first place for good. We were there.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Trader Jack McKeon is back

June 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

For all the things that change as the years go on, Jack McKeon returning to manage the Marlins and be in baseball as an 80 year old should be one that comforts us all.

Jim Bowden has worked with McKeon in the past. If you read his post about him, you’ll learn that Jack McKeon is a lot more than just a guy who has held a few managerial posts. This guy is a rare artifact in the game of baseball. A rich and genuine baseball man that understands the game at it’s roots. And he’s arguably going to be closing out a Hall of Fame career.

It’s funny because when I was younger–I would have never understood how Baseball could have a guy who was once a Manager that would also later be a front office guy. As a kid and a young adult, guys were either typecast to be either: A) Manager or; B) Front Office GM.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized there are hybrid types. Few can do it well, but Jack McKeon could probably succeed in any operation he’s asked to do around a baseball field.

With all the catastrophe, calamity and distraught that goes on in our world today, Jack McKeon returning to the field to manage at 80 years old (making him the oldest man to do it other than the legend Connie Mack) should be something that restores a bit of innocence to the game. He’s one of the grand old grandpappies of baseball. And I’m happy to see him back whether it lasts only the remainder of this season or into next.

Enjoy it folks, you’re seeing a legend who is before his time.

Filed Under: Florida Marlins Tagged With: ,

Wow! Brian Sabean would like to maim Scott Cousins

June 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

“If I never hear from Cousins again or he never plays another game in the big leagues, I think we’ll all be happy. He chose to be a hero in my mind, and if that’s his flash of fame, that’s as good as it’s going to get, pal. We’ll have a long memory. Believe me, we’ve talked to (Mike) Matheny about how this game works. You can’t be that out-and-out overly aggressive. I’ll put it as politically as I can state it: There’s no love lost and there shouldn’t be.” [Extra Baggs]

Filed Under: Florida Marlins, San Francisco Giants Tagged With: , , ,

Game 28, 2011: Marlins 9, Reds 5

May 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

[Box Score]

[Cincinnati.com] [Fish Stripes]

Observations

It’s always kind of neat to see what happens in the game that occurs directly after you’re there late the night before. This Reds game started at the 4:00 PM ET hour, which if you follow the Reds you realize that it’s the first Reds game in many years that didn’t start at 1:00. The reason for this was the Blind Pig Marathon in downtown Cincinnati. And being in downtown on Saturday night I can tell you that Fountain Square, and all the city area are absolutely looking great. It really makes me miss living in Cincinnati. What a friendly, peaceful city to live within. My fiance and I talked for a long time about getting jobs there and just moving there before we started having kids. But nonetheless summer is on it’s way in the Queen City and if you are one of the lucky people that has a chance to be part of it, take full advantage. I remember back in 2004 and 2005 when I spent all summer in the ‘Nati. It was good times.

The Reds aren’t playing good ball right now, and especially not on Sundays. It was an overcast day at Great American Ballpark but the ball was flying out like it was midsummer.

Hanley Ramirez hit a bomb that got the Marlins on the board 2-0. Jay Bruce answered right back with a 2-run sky kissing shot to right center in the bottom half of the inning. But Mike Stanton, Greg Dobbs, and Emilio Bonifacio would follow with huge, damning blows to the Reds and Bronson Arroyo.

Don’t forget that Brandon Phillips also homered in this game to tie it at 3. If the Reds (who have the 2nd ranked offense in the NL right now) can just get Bruce, Votto, Phillips, Stubbs and someone clicking in left field (needs to be Heisey for a while) they can start to outscore their brutal pitching staff.

The Reds got a rally going in the 9th, it seems that they always do. They battled to load the bases up for Joey Votto–and Votto represented the tying run. I actually tricked myself into believing they had a shot because Leo Nunez hasn’t blown a save this year for the surprisingly tough, upstart Marlins. Votto politely tapped out and the Reds comeback fell short as it did on Friday evening.

Top Plays

Hanley Ramirez’s 1st home run of the year

Mike Stanton’s gun shot home run WOW

Bruce with the answer early (5)

Heisey with some fireworks in the 9th

Potpourri

*It was my sister’s 17th birthday. I remember the game I was watching the night she was born. No one is still in the league from that day.

*Despite being out late Saturday night in commute home from the Reds game, I got my butt up early yesterday morning to go Morel hunting with my father. Honestly, so glad that I did it. It was a good exercise hiking through the woods and I actually found a few of these elusive little bastards. If you live by a woods, this is a perfect time of year to find a few and cook those guys up.

*I am SO GLAD the Reds don’t have an off day today. I’m sure they are too. They need to get the “W” at home tonight.

*We’re the new sponsor of Jason Heyward’s B-R page. More upcoming on this when B-R gets their you know what together.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins

Game 27, 2011: The Reds incredible comeback win v. Josh Johnson

May 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

[Box Score]

Last night I had to continually remind myself that I was excited to see Josh Johnson throw. The Reds got a few good bats on the ball, but only a few. This guy is the best pitcher in baseball right now, and to see him live was a work of art. It was hard to tell how good his stuff was moving for the angle that we were sitting at during a lot of the game, but guys just didn’t square stuff up and he did his thing wracking up a few K’s. He should have been 4-0, but the Reds would have other ideas.

Most of the time, when a guy enters a game with an ERA just a hair over 1, it’s going to rise. With Josh Johnson, it’s the opposite right now. Johnson’s ERA after the game is right around 0.90, which is mid-90′s Greg Maddux territory. If he can keep it there for a while, one of my important fantasy teams can hang in things for a little while longer. And by ‘hanging in things’ I mean that we’re going to be in 8th place instead of last.

To close out the topic of Johnson, he was as advertised.

See this guy? Well, he makes the blog because he took a line drive from Mike Stanton’s friggin’ bat right off the front of his forehead, and he survived it! I’m not kidding you, the ball hit his forehead, popped about 40 feet straight in the air and into another fan’s hands. I honestly cannot believe the guy survived this. They carried him off for an inning or so, and he stumbled into a wheelchair. But I saw him later back in his seat. No word on whether or not he woke up dead (I know, you can’t wake up dead).

Thumbs up buddy. You are the fan of the game on this night. Godspeed to your brain pan.

Second time that I’ve seen Aroldis Chapman throw live. As soon as I told my fiance that he hadn’t given up a run all year long, sure enough, he walked them loaded and he was no longer unscathed. Anytime you can see 99, 101, 100, 101, 99, 101 like it’s nothing live and in the flesh; it’s pretty cool. He cannot become a starter soon enough for my liking.

101 Miles Per Hour, live. I was there. And here’s all the proof.

The Marlins rolled with 6 infielders for a play. Count them up, six. Chris Coghlan came in from center field, switched gloves on a mound visit, and the Marlins pulled off a stroke of genius that could have been disaster had Ramon Hernandez have gotten the ball into the outfield.

I’ve got video of this, and as soon as YouTube stops acting a fool, you’ll get to see the play unfold. First time I’ve seen this in a ballgame in my life, either live or on TV. And if you were in the restroom or are a female, you missed it forever.

In the end, it was one of the longest of the longest games I’ve ever seen live. And probably the 4th time I’ve seen an extra-innings game live. I had hopes of this one going 15 or 18 innings and seeing something really whacky, but I’ll settle for a nice walk-off win courtesy of Edgar cold as ice Renteria with 2-out in the bottom of the 10th.

Couldn’t have happened without big hits from Gomes, Heisey, and Janish. And of course Brandon Phillips.

And I’ve got to throw this song in the post. Fitting because it was a big Reds home win. But according to one of my sources that used to work for the Reds, the fellas have a habit of ripping this track in the home clubhouse after wins. So, Dolla Dolla bill ya’ll in honor of the type of win that made the 2010 season special, and the type of win that the Reds will need to make a habit of for a special year in 2011. Get it going, Reds!

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, Dispatches, Florida Marlins
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