I couldn't agree with you more JJ needs to be a Marlin for life, and the longer this organization lets this go without being resolved, you get the feeling he will be like others, maxed out on his team-controlled years, and then dealt to someone for more prospects. I believe there is one reason, and one reason only that Hanley got the long-term and that was race. The Marlins know that in the future their fanbase will be 80-90% Hispanic, and having Hanley be the "face of the franchise" is just good business, even if JJ is as deserving or maybe even more. Its not fair, but its reality, and nothing will ever change it.
That interesting, I never thought of it from that angle. That's a pretty good possibility. Also because Hanley plays everyday, where Johnson comes on the field once every fifth day. Obviously pitching wins games, but from a fan point of view I can go see my hero everyday. That = more tickets, not just more tickets every fifth day. I'm talking about at the new ball park over time of course.
It will be interesting to see the choices made as the stadium opening gets closer. I am still skeptical that Loria will change colors and open up the checkbook for a better team.
I was very very impressed with him yesterday, great pitching duel with him and Burnett, both pitched great! this is what i like about inter league play, we get to see players we dont pay attention to. I hope next year yankees get to play the cubs again. I hate seeing Yankees-Mets every year though, its would be more special if it was once every two years or something, but the money is in Yankees-Mets,
JT baseball has mandated that certain matchups will happen year-in and year-out, Mets/Yankees, Florida/Tampa Bay, White Sox/Cubs.....etc. That is not going to change, because MLB has deemed them very good for the gate & TV. What you discuss is one of the problems with ESPN & MLB Network, they focus too much on Yankees/Red Sox/Cubs/Dodgers and ignore players like Josh Johnson. You don't know that he has the 3rd lowest ERA in the NL, yet has worked the MOST innings of anyone in MLB.....now did you ? That's because ESPN & MLB don't deem him worthy enough to talk about, even though he is one of the best pitchers not only in the NL, but it could be said he is one of the 3 best pitchers in all of baseball. If he isn't chosen for the All-Star Game Joe Torre is an idiot.
I feel where you're coming from on the Yankees-Mets thing. I'm SICK of playing Tampa Bay every season myself. We only get to see a few AL teams every year, why do we have to waste two series on the same one?
Hey I'm with you on that one. It's an unfair advantage for teams because they don't play the same teams the same number of times, not to mention home/road splits. MLB should cut out the yearly rival games.
If we have a 1 run lead I know he's going to nail it down. If the lead is 2 or more I know he is going to be insanely poor and give up runs. If I'm a reliever on the team, a good one anyway, I go up to my manager and tell him I want to close games. We just can't keep giving Matt the ball.
i think he's best in the role he had last year as a set up guy. i just don't think he has the make up to be a closer. having said, i hate closer politics. if any other reliever struggles that bad he gets pulled. i also think some guys might be better in certain situations. i don't understand why the same guy has to get the ball all the time to pitch the ninth.
I'm not a fan of closing games with different guys. What it does is makes it so no-one has a role, and no-one knows when they may pitch. It makes it harder for guys to have any sort of rythme, and much harder on the manager. In an ideal situation you want that one lights out reliever on your team as the closer, theres a reason the game has evolved that way IMO.
I can understand the rivalry aspect for some teams, but to tell you the truth I couldn't give a crap about Tampa. I don't consider them a rival at all.
Well its becoming that way for us thought.....the Marlins have lost 15 of the last 18 against the Rays. That makes me hate them, and want to knock the snot out of them when we play them next weekend in St. Pete.
I want to knock the snot out of every team we play The only team I really care about beating more than another is the Phillies and to a lesser extent the Braves.
yeah i don't care what MLB does...But as a FAN i would rather see the Yankees play other NL teams instead of the Mets, its unfortunate because baseball is a business and MLB will make more money with yankees-mets then they would Yankees-Brewers, but as a fan i would love it if the yankees played the Cubs, Cardnials, Brewers, ect... Throw in the Diamondbacks one year, hell throw in the Dodgers, i would loved a Dodger-Yankee game this year instead of Yankees-Mets...wow mlb dropped the ball, It would be nice, i would love to see Yankees-Soriano, A-rod vs Pujols. Torre vs his Old Team, the team that basically slapped him in the face, its perfect, he comes to the stadium where he faces Jeter, Posada, Arod, PERFECT MLB PERFECT...but no, we get Yankees-Mets agian...Yankees won the series, big deal...Yankees have always been the dominate NY team...no offense to the Mets, but Yankees are NY's team... Why are the Jets-Giants games so important to the fans? because they play each other in a real nfl game once every four years... Forget the money aspect, as a fan, if we played the mets once every 2 or 4 years, it would make the games mean more... As a fan, it would be better if MLB spread these out...but they never will. Also, Joe Torre is not the manager of the All Star game, isn't it Charlie Manuel?
But the Yankees (as well as everyone else) does get to see all the other teams, once every 3 years. Next time we play you guys will be 2012 and it will be in NY
but you do not see my point, i would rather see the mets once every three years also. It gets old seeing them every year.
Looks like we're going to be back at .500 barring a Lindstrom meltdown. Some people still don't think we are a good team, but forget them. Rich and Tommy were just saying that every team we have played in the month of June has been above .500 (except Baltimore) and we've had a great month.
ldnsklnfkldsnfkjnkwledniolmfqwkjlonckldncncdbkwldnckljdendc WTF LINDSTROM. Can we just flat out release his sorry......arm? Ugh. He disgusts me.
Okay I know we hate Bonifacio and all, but you gotta admit he is pretty ****ing fast I mean come on first to home?
This should have been an *** wiping, one inning with a double and a single. Hermida should have stayed put, but w/e a win is a win.
Second place, Mets lost today. Back to our winning ways, we just suck against Tampa Bay for whatever reason. Looks like we called this one right, at the start of June we said we'd end it in either second or third place depending what other teams do. Hopefully we have a good month of July now and keep ourselves in position to win this division.
In defense of Bonifacio he is hitting pretty well recently and his swing seems much better. When he can get on base he IS dangerous, he just needs to get there. Also he has a great glove....its his arm that fails at life.
We could actually go into the all-star break in first place. How great would that be? If not for that stretch of games where none of our pitchers 3 through 5 could seemingly get passed the 4th inning, we're running away with this. No excuses of course, just saying we are better than our record would indicate at this point in the season. It took some poor play and injuries by other teams, but we also played our asses off this month. We deserve to be where we are, even though some will try and say we won't be here at the end of the year.
Yeah. I like the way Bonifacio has been swinging lately. I don't mean just that he's been getting hits, I mean his actual swing has changed. Earlier he was throwing an uppercut at the ball popping it in the air. He still swings up, but he's lessened the amount and now hits the ball on a line. His K numbers have gotten better over the season, and he does have a great glove he just rushes his throws. I know he's made some terrible plays this season, but he can be a weapon if he could just do what he is capable of doing.
I'm like 15-20 minutes from the stadium (without traffic) I mean with its about 40-50 minutes but you know what I mean. Its a lightening delay. The storm passed over my house without a drop of rain, it shouldnt be too bad.
Good to bounce back with a win. Miller has really pitched very well as of late, he could finally be growing into the pitcher everyone thought he was when he was drafted.
Sucks to lose 2 of 3 but the good news is JJ pitched solid in his loss. Any run support and thats a game a team can win. The GREAT news is Volstad looked amazing today.