Division-Watching

[blue911]

You're assuming he won't be traded by the non-waiver deadline.  Ramirez and Hermida will likely be the 1st two to go.

I wonder what Hermida's numbers would look like if his home games were in a baseball park. Whatever the name stadium he plays in has to kill his numbers.

[NatsAddict]

I wonder what Hermida's numbers would look like if his home games were in a baseball park. Whatever the name stadium he plays in has to kill his numbers.

Dolphin Stadium hurts all lefty batters with the 3rd deepest RF line and RF Gap, and the deepest CF in MLB - all  that play into the the prevailing winds (although the bowl design offsets that to some degree) with the heaviest air in in the game.

In some fairness to his defense, it is also the worst place to play OF.  Being a football stadium, the lights are at just about the worst possible height and glare directly into the player's eyes on the majority of fly balls to the OF.  Nearly every visiting OF that has ever played there has complained about the horrible lighting.  That still doesn't explain his throws that leave you wondering exactly where he was intending the ball to go.

[ronnynat]

Damn, whoever said we should sign him was right.  He was terrible in winter ball, didn't have any velocity, but obviously it's come back.

Setback #1 has come for Colon.

Colon goes on 7-day DL
BOSTON (AP) -- Bartolo Colon had a setback in his attempt to return to the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox.

The 2005 Cy Young Award winner, who is pitching for Triple-A Pawtucket, strained his right side. He was placed on the seven-day disabled list Monday and will miss at least one start.

Sucks for him, but it's not very surprising.

[sportsfan882]

The Mets blow a 2-run lead in their last ever Opener at Shea and lose to the Phils 5-2. The Mutts are now percentage points behind us in 5th place. 

[sportsfan882]

Braves lose their second straight game by 1 run in Colorado.

NL East Standings
Florida 4-3
Philadelphia 4-4
Washington 3-5
Atlanta 3-5
New York 2-4

We move from last place to third place in one day without even playing a game. What a sorry division.

[ronnynat]

Braves lose their second straight game by 1 run in Colorado.

See, it happens to everyone.

[NatsAddict]

Some ideas to boost Marlins' bottom line
Fans weigh in with creative ways to market budget-minded team

Dave Hyde | Sports Columnist
April 9, 2008

Judging by the more than 200 e-mails, you're upset the Marlins' $21 million payroll is half the next-lowest baseball team. That's not why most of you wrote, though.

You also don't believe the Marlins are spending "eight figures" on marketing, as team President David Samson said. That wasn't the purpose, either.

The idea was to help. Lend a creative hand. As your friendly neighborhood columnist, I wanted to … oh, wait, that's some other guy.

Let me rephrase that. As someone dismayed the Marlins are saying they won't spend more on players until the $600 million publicly-financed stadium opens in 2011, the hope was to free up some of that eight-figure marketing money for the bottom-sucking payroll.

After all, should a marketing budget be half the players' payroll? Wouldn't it have been decent marketing to pay eight figures to, say, Miguel Cabrera?

And so, strictly with the hope of improving the product, you were asked to come up with some marketable nights so the Marlins don't have to pay C-List bands [The Marlins have really crappy concerts after Saturday night games]. Or to think of a slogan so the Marlins don't have to repeat last year's one of "You Gotta Be Here."

Here are the Top 10 Marlins slogans:

1. "It's Not Over Until The Fat Guys Dance." [Talking about the Marlin Manatees, the male dancing cheerleaders with a mininimum weight of 225# for 5'6" and under, and otherwise 250#]— Lgriff.

2. "Hanley Ramirez Farewell Tour '08." — Erik Siegrist.

3. "Odds of catching a foul ball in Yankee Stadium: One in 20,000.

Odds of catching a foul ball in Shea Stadium: One in 18,000.

Odds of catching a foul ball in Dolphin Stadium: One in 10." — Jeff Weiner.

4. "Winning Games the Old-Fashioned Way — at 1920 salaries." — Jay Harding.

5. "The Greatest Game You've Never Seen." — Jason Montalbano.

6. "Support Your Hometown Team (As It Plays The Marlins)." — Ryan Mackman.

7. "Training Other Team's Stars Of Tomorrow, Today." — Ronald Martin.

8. "Trade Cabrera: $11 million Saved. Fat Man Cheerleaders Instead of Winning Team: $21 million Saved. Publicly Funded New Stadium For 5,000 Fans: Priceless." — Stevan Melamed.

9. "You're Paying For A Stadium — Come and See A Game." — Jason Silver.

10. "Catch The Marlins — No Lines, No Waiting" — Peter Alvarez.

Here are the Top 5 promotions suggested for the Marlins:

1. Medicare Fraud Awareness Night: "For anyone who has not cashed in on one of our most prominent part-time jobs, demonstrations will be given in the parking lot. Fans will learn how to fake car injuries, slips-and-falls in local supermarkets and then bill the government for thousands of dollars with no questions asked." — Tim Gaffney.

2. Wet Zone: "Hire helicopters with a side-mounted water cannon to douse the 100-degreee crowd. Call it the Wet Zone," similar to killer whales splashes at sea parks. — Shamus Hillier

3. Seniors Day: "A no-brainer. Broward's population is half seniors. I am at Century Village, Deerfield Beach. We go to the casinos by bus two times a week. Why not to the Marlins once a month on Seniors Day?" — Fran Rocco.

4. Catch The Miami Marlins Tri-Rail Contest: "For each game until the new stadium opens in 2011, Broward and Palm Beach residents will be selected to receive TriRail passes to future Miami Marlins games. The vouchers could be exchanged at the current game for a free beer to cry in." — Lisa Rabon.

5. How Many Pinstripes Go On That Manatee? In this contest, a pot-bellied Manatee will strut on the dugout. A few fans will guess how many pinstripes a jersey must have to make it big enough to cover up the Mantee. — Dave Goldberg.

Finally, the creativity wasn't just linked to the Marlins. Anna Trujillo of Margate suggested having Marlins pitcher and ex- NBA player Mark Hendrickson have a "Let's Play Two Night." He'd start for the Marlins and finish for the Heat.

"Even if he hasn't played basketball in a while, he can't be worse than who the Heat's putting out there," she said.

Want to help the Dolphins next?

Sun-Sentinel

[tomterp]

Chase Utley tied a major league record yesterday by being hit by a pitch 3 times during the Phillies victory over the Mets.  After reaching 1st base following the final of the 3 beanings, he broke for second on a ground ball to Ryan Howard.  Howard fired to second trying for the double play, and hit Utley in the back with the throw.

See "Utley's painful day"  for the video highlights.

http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080408&content_id=2504301&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[ronnynat]

Chase Utley tied a major league record yesterday by being hit by a pitch 3 times during the Phillies victory over the Mets.  After reaching 1st base following the final of the 3 beanings, he broke for second on a ground ball to Ryan Howard.  Howard fired to second trying for the double play, and hit Utley in the back with the throw.

See "Utley's painful day"  for the video highlights.

http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080408&content_id=2504301&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Yeah, I saw that. I couldn't believe it the third time it happened. It was Delgado who threw the ball and hit him in the back, though. That'd be pretty messed up if Howard did it.

[spidernat]

And he still managed to hit a double.

[blue911]

You gotta give Utley credit, No body armor.

[tomterp]

Yeah, I saw that. I couldn't believe it the third time it happened. It was Delgado who threw the ball and hit him in the back, though. That'd be pretty messed up if Howard did it.

 

[ronnynat]

I don't even think the third pitcher was thrown out. That's one hell of a coincidence. The third pitcher AND the manager should have been chucked at that point, IMO.

[ronnynat]

LOL. It's all good. Too many names to deal with.

[tomterp]

LOL. It's all good. Too many names to deal with.

Some big ol' first baseman dude, whatever.

Maybe it was Howard who hit the grounder, for some reason his name was in mind.

[blue911]

I don't even think the third pitcher was thrown out. That's one hell of a coincidence. The third pitcher AND the manager should have been chucked at that point, IMO.

I haven't seen the video but Utley stands right on top of the plate. Half the time he's hit I swear the balls in the strike zone.

[The Chief]

The first two "hits" didn't even look like they actually hit him to me, just grazed his jersey.  But then again that video was pretty low quality, hard to tell.

[tomterp]

The first two "hits" didn't even look like they actually hit him to me, just grazed his jersey.  But then again that video was pretty low quality, hard to tell.

Right, the first two were nothing.  Maybe the third one was to make sure he felt at least one of them.  Notice how little effort he made to get out of the way of them, too.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

The NL East is absolutely atrocious, currently.

*SIGH* If we even had half a decent pitching staff and the offense could figure out what the stick in their hands can do, could you imagine how we could be taking advantage of this right now?

[blue911]

Right, the first two were nothing.  Maybe the third one was to make sure he felt at least one of them.  Notice how little effort he made to get out of the way of them, too.

I grew up in the sixties, I think Bob Gibson,Stan Williams or Don Drysdale would have got a little effort out of Utley.

[NatsAddict]

Last year, Aaron Boone was hit 13 times, every 17.5 PAs.  In the NL, his career average is every 45.5 PAs - similar to Utley's every 41.6 PAs.

[sportsfan882]

Atlanta is on the verge of losing their 3rd straight in Colorado. They are just as crappy as us.  The only team in the division with at least a .500 record is the Fish.

NL East Standings
Florida 5-3
Philadelphia 4-5
New York 3-4
Washington 3-6
Atlanta 3-6

[NatsAddict]

For the first time all year, the Marlins starters now have more IP than their pen:  37.0 to 36.0.  Hendrickson goes on the mound tonight, so it may not last long.

[tomterp]

For the first time all year, the Marlins starters now have more IP than their pen:  37.0 to 36.0.  Hendrickson goes on the mound tonight, so it may not last long.

C'mon Natsaddict, stop sandbagging.  You've been talking about how bad these guys are all spring, and now that we see them, it's like the reincarnation of Sandy Koufax out there.   

[The Chief]

C'mon Natsaddict, stop sandbagging.  You've been talking about how bad these guys are all spring, and now that we see them, it's like the reincarnation of Sandy Koufax out there.   

Seriously, stop jinxing us with "guaranteed wins"!