Marlins and Dodgers Angels and Demons
Since the blockbuster movie 'Angels and Demons' came out this past weekend (and it is quite entertaining) I figured I'd pay a little tribute to it with a recap of the last series against the Dodgers. Here's how it works: I'll pick out a few players/umpires who had a positive or negative impact on the outcome of the game (from a Marlins standpoint of course) and put their picture next to either a demon or an angel. I know it has nothing to do with the movie, but you wouldn't appreciate me spoiling it for you, now would you?
Friday Night
The Marlins blew their 3rd three run lead in the last four days, and with a little help from first base umpire Ed Rapuano, the Dodgers held on for a 6-4 win.
For those who haven't seen or heard yet, (I only saw the highlights, but they were pretty clear that Rapuano was wrong) Uggla was trying to bunt the tying run to second base in the 8th inning, and was hit by the pitch. After home plate ump Joe West awarded first base to Uggla, Joe Torre asked for an appeal, and Rapuano overturned West's ruling and sent Uggla back to home plate, ruling that Uggla didn't pull the bat back. Fredi popped out of the dugout to argue and was ejected. Uggla struck out a few pitches later and yelled at Rapuano. Then in the top of the ninth, Bonifacio legged out an infield hit--or so he thought--but Rapuano ruled him out at first. I have yet to see a video of that play, but all the reports I read on it indicated that Boni did indeed beat out the throw. That was crucial because the next two Marlins walked, and they might have had the bases loaded with no one out...But it's a moot point now. I just can't believe that this week alone the Marlins had everything happen with Rapuano, an overturned home run (though that was the correct call) etc...they just CANNOT catch a break. Meanwhile, the Mets won 2 games when Beltran scored from third base in the ninth inning after he stole third both times--but he was OUT on both attempts, yet ruled safe. I'm sure the calls will even out over the course of the season, but it is really annoying when a division rival is winning games due to bad calls, and your favorite team isn't being given any help from the umpires.
Saturday Night
Let's start off with this:
I could not watch ANY of the Marlins game because it was not shown on MLB Extra Innings. It is actually a pretty rare occasion for me to not have any obligations on a Saturday night and it figured that on the first one I had in a while, the game wasn't shown of the baseball package. I knew that because it started at 6:00 the first hour was going to be blacked out because of FOX's 4-7 exclusive window, and it wasn't televised at all in Florida, but they couldn't have joined it in progress with the Dodgers feed? Really Directv? Really? I was quite upset over this for a few minutes, but then moved on to other plans, like going to see Angels and Demons (which did inspire the concept of this blog, so I guess in a roundabout away it was a good thing?)
Andrew Miller got the win (no, that isn't a typo) and Matt Lindstrom saved the 6-3 lead. So:
Take a screen shot, because you shouldn't expect to see anything like that on a regular basis.
Sunday Afternoon
I was determined to catch every pitch of this game. I hadn't seen a Marlins game since last Monday night, so I was ready! I turned the phone off, shut the blinds, locked the doors, turned my computer off, I didn't even want an incoming e-mail to interrupt the game....
2 Koronka throwing errors and a homerun from the Dodgers backup shortstop later, it was 6-0 in the third inning. So much for that. Cody Ross broke up Kershaw's no-hit bid in the eighth, then later hit one the most meaningless grand-slams you will ever see. But it was a good game for Ross, and hopefully he is running into another one of his hot streaks.
There was some good and bad to come out of this game however. The good: John Kornonka will never again pitch for the Marlins as they designated him for assignment after the game. Thank God, because if your team is relying on Koronka to win big rubber games against good teams more than once in the season, you are going to have a loooong year. Good riddance. So the angels and demons from yesterday are:
So as you can tell from the pictures, it was a pretty crappy day all-around for the Fish. I couldn't find a picture of Hayen Penn as a Marlin, so the of his as an Oriole will have to do.
Hayden Penn pitched 2.1 scoreless innings yesterday, striking out 5. So why is there a demon next to him you ask?
Because I think the Marlins will give him a start to replace Koronka this weekend against the Rays based on his performance yesterday. That is NOT a good thing. Hayden Penn was always a starter when he pitched for the Orioles; All you need to know about how (in)effective he was for them (other than his horrific HR/IP [15:75] ratio that I have already documented) is that his 5 strike-outs yesterday were a new career HIGH for him. Granted, he didn't pitch too many games for the Orioles, but still. 5 punch-outs is a career best performance? YIKES!!! I think Penn's act yesterday, and he was good, was a complete aberration and should be taken as such. Throwing him out there against the defending AL Champs who have a powerful lineup would NOT be advisable. We shall see, but I would prefer either Badenhop or another minor-leaguer over Penn.
In other news, the Marlins have recalled Alejandro De Aza back to the team! Anyone who reads this blog knows I am a De Aza fan and would like to see him get a chance to play regularly. Although he is probably only going to be here until Amezaga's knee heals, but I hope he plays well when he is given the chance.
As far as the 'Jeff Conine Award' this week, even though I should give it to Andrew Miller because he was the only Marlin to record a win in the last 7 days, it's going to Ramirez for the second week in a row. I need to see more than 5 innings from Miller before I can call him the player of the week. Hanley had a hit in every game of the week (and so did Bonifacio) until yesterday when he had his 13 game hitting streak snapped. Ramirez is the only Marlins regular who is hitting over .300 (.343). Time to get the bats going guys...
So now the Diamondbacks will be in 'Land Shark' Stadium for 4 games. The Marlins need to start winning series again, and if they can't take 3 of 4 against the 14-23 last place Diamondbacks at home...then it will be time to start worrying. It's one thing to lose 2 of 3 to the best team in the league with one close loss being helped out a lot from bad calls by an umpire, but if they drop 3 of 4 to a struggling Arizona team that has its best pitcher on the DL and has already fired its manager, then serious evaluations and changes will have to be made. I don't expect that to happen. If the Fish are 4-3 on this homestand when they welcome the Rays over Memorial day weekend, I will be OK with that. It all starts tonight with Nolasco, who like the rest of the team, needs to get back on track and start winning.
P.S. Go see Angels and Demons. It's a great movie!
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