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Nolesmarlins’ Power Rankings Week 3

April 24, 2007 By jonnylons Leave a Comment

1. Boston: They are number one with a bullet by a hair over the Mets because of the way they just absolutely dominated the Yankees. The balance of power appears to have shifted in the AL East. (LW:7)

2. NY Mets: The Mets are the class of the National League, but they’ll have to settle for the Wild Card if they can’t beat the Braves. (LW: 1)

3. LA Dodgers: They are going to have one heck of a fight with the Dbacks and the Padres this year, but they should prevail on the strength of their pitching. Imagine how good they will be when they get Schmidt back to form. (LW: 4)

4. Detroit: Gary Sheffield has had a horrendus start. It would be a shame for all concerned if they had to cut him, but this team still made the World Series last year without him. (LW: 2)

5. Atlanta: One of the NL’s best offenses. Tim Hudson is back in a big way, which is not good news for the NL East. (LW: 9)

6. San Diego: They are neck and neck with Tampa Bay and Colorado with having the worst uniforms in baseball. They should go back to the brown pinstripe ones they had in the early 90′s. (LW: 6)

7. Minnesota: Maybe it won’t be a two team race after all. (LW: 8)

8. Cleveland: Travis Hafner would win the MVP this year if it weren’t for Arod. However, the Indians should finish the season better than the Yankees. (LW: 3)

9. Milwaukee: If this winning keeps up, Milwaukee will become baseball crazy by July. They just need to stay healthy. (LW: 16)

10. NY Yankees: Only here because of Arod. No excuse for this team to be below .500 with the talent they have. (LW: 17)

11. Oakland: Their excellent starting pitching will be key in their battle with the Angels to win the AL West. (LW: 14)

12. Baltimore: They probably won’t even challenge for the division if the Red Sox keep it up, but the Wild Card could be within reach. (LW: 18)

13. ChiSox: Buehrle’s no-no was a sweet one. But he is going to have to be that good every time he pitches if the bats remain asleep. If, and thats a big if, the bats do wake up they might challenge for a playoff spot. (LW: 20)

14. Arizona: 3-7 in the last 10 probably signifies that this might not be their year. (LW: 5)

15. LA Angels: Losing Howie Kendrick for a little bit doesn’t help, especially since the injury bug doesn’t seem to be biting the A’s. (LW: 10)

16. Florida: 6 game losing streak doesn’t help but Dan Uggla just caught on fire. Big series against the Braves this week. (LW: 12)

17. Houston: This recent hot streak has brought them to second place in their division. (LW: 21)

18. Cincinnati: It’s weird seeing Junior in right field. (LW: 13)

19. Toronto: Just can’t seem to take the proverbial next step. They probably need a decent midseason acquisition to compete with the Sox for the AL East or win the Wild Card. (LW: 11)

20. St. Louis: They had a decent run that ended with a World Series title last year but the Cards might not be competitive for a season or two. (LW: 15)

21. Pittsburgh: Adam Laroche is killing this team. He is their at first base. (LW: 19)

22. Texas: Just another American League also-ran. This would be a decent time for them to come together because this is a fairly week division. (LW: 23)

23. Seattle: Felix Hernandez going to the DL is unfortunate. (LW: 22)

24. Colorado: Remember when Coors Field was sold out every night? They could do it again if they actually get a winner there. (LW: 24)

25. SF: Believe it or not, this crappy team is actually above .500 (LW: 29)

26. Philly: Ryan Howard will turn it around, hopefully when its way too late. (LW: 26)

27. TB: B.J. Upton should be in the lineup every day. (LW: 25)

28. KC: What were they thinking when they signed Gil Meche? (LW: 28)

29. Gnats: Well they wore off their welcome in DC rather quickly… new ballpark next year should help, though. (LW: 30)

30. Cubbies: Too bad Dlee has to play on this crappy team. Lou Pinella just looks perfect in a cubs uniform. (LW: 27)

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Obermueller to make Marlin debut

April 22, 2007 By jonnylons Leave a Comment

will make his Marlin debut in the final game of this series against the Washington Nationals as today’s starter. The 30 year old journeyman pitcher will get his first MLB start since 2005 when he pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Obermueller had a solid spring training, but was not able to crack into the rotation and instead was optioned to AAA Alburqurque. He was recalled yesterday in order to shore up the Marlins starting pitching, which has seen not only Josh Johnson go down to start the season, but also has been placed on the DL.

For the Isotopes, Obermueller is 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA. In his last start he gave up one run in seven innings.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:

Marlins Snap Losing Streak

April 22, 2007 By jonnylons Leave a Comment

The Marlins won 9-3 tonight as they beat the Nationals on the heels of another late inning loss this season, this latest one coming on 14 innings from last night.

The Marlins got tons of hits, including a homer from Hanley Ramirez and a MLB first home run for Jason Woods, who took over 1B for the ailing Mike Jacobs.

Miguel Cabrera, who took BP this afternoon, sat out and Aaron Boone replaced him in the lineup.

The Marlins rode for 5 innings on his way to his second win and got four solid innings of relief from Matt Lindstrom and Randy Messenger. Scott Tyler, the recent callup from AA Carolina, did warm up in the pen but did not make his MLB debut quite yet.

The win snaps a six game losing streak and helps the Marlins regain some footing. Hopefully, this will help the Marlins get their bearings back and start a streak in the other direction.

Filed Under: Game Day

Nolesmarlins’ Power Rankings Week 2

April 17, 2007 By jonnylons Leave a Comment

OK boys and girls, time for Power Rankings Version 2.0. Lots of movement this week.

1. NY Mets: They only keep this spot because nobody else has shown a strong case to supplant them. Once Carlos Delgado wakes up their lineup should easily be the scariest in the National League. (Last Week: 1)

2. Detroit: Most complete team in the majors. Solid starting pitching, one of the best bullpens in baseball, great young hitters, great veteran hitters, excellent coaching stafff… need I say more? (Last Week: 6)

3. Cleveland: Taking two out of three from the Angels in Milwaukee (uhh why?) shows me that these guys may be something special (Last Week: Incomplete)

4. LA Dodgers: 8-2 in their last 10 games. I think that justifies a decent rise in the rankings (Last Week: 11)

5. Arizona: Came back to earth slightly, but still a very talented team. (Last Week: 3)

6. San Diego: Their FO is the undisputed king of putting together a bullpen. (Last Week: 7)

7. Boston: Looks like the AL East may be theirs for the taking due to Toronto and NY’s injury woes. (Last Week: 12)

8. Minnesota: They are good, but the AL Central is going to be a two team race. (Last Week: 5)

9. Atlanta: To be completely honest, they may be pretty good, but they didn’t really impress me this weekend against the Marlins. (Last Week: 4)

10. LA Angels: Bet they can’t wait for Colon to come back… (Last Week: 2)

11. Toronto: That buzzing you hear is the sound of the dreaded injury bug. (Last Week: 8)

12. Florida: It helps if you throw strikes. If not for , this team would be 8-4 (Last Week: 10)

13. Cincinnati: I’m really liking their new uniforms. Can’t wait to see Josh Hamilton in that lineup. (Last Week: 17)

14. Oakland: Marco Scaturro’s walkoff was pretty cool… it’s not every day that someone gets the best of Mariano Rivera. I have a hunch these guys are going to have a hot month soon. (Last Week: 15)

15. St. Louis: If they weren’t in the NL Central, they would finish below .500 (Last Week: 13)

16. Milwaukee: Better than I expected. They finally have a rotation beyond Ben Sheets. In a weak NL Central, that might be the difference (Last Week: 19)

17. NY Yankees: On the bright side, at least these pitchers were injured early so they have time to recover before the stretch run. (Last Week: 9)

18. Baltimore: Don’t be too impressed by their recent successes, those 7 wins came against such powerhouses as Tampa Bay and Kansas City. Nonetheless this is the biggest chance they have had to make the playoffs in this decade. (Last Week: 26)

19. Pittsburgh: Seem to have taken the next step. (Last Week: 20)

20. Chi Sox: They just don’t scare anybody anymore. (Last Week: 14)

21. Houston: Nice turnaround, but don’t expect it to last. (Last Week: 27)

22. Seattle: Safeco Field is the most underrated ballpark in the majors. Felix Hernandez would look great in a Marlins uniform. So would Ichiro, by the way. (Last Week: 23)

23. Texas: That would be pretty cool if Gagne had a comeback year. (Last Week: 22)

24. Colorado: Light years away from competing due to the quality of this division. (Last Week: 21)

25. Tampa Bay: Whats up with Kazmir? They won’t go anywhere without him. (Last Week: 25)

26. Philly: Seeing this team down here makes this fish fan very happy. (Last Week: 18)

27. Cubbies: In the past 100 years has there been anything more pathetic in the entire world than the Chicago Cubs? (Last Week: 16)

28. KC: Well at least they still have those sweet fountains in the outfield and some of the best barbecue in the country. Cheer up, Kansas City… some day the Royals will be good again. (Last Week: 25)

29. SF: Yuck (Last Week: 28)

30. DC: That shutout of Atlanta was pretty nice. (Last Week: 29)

Sorry they came out so late this week, but unlike those waterheads over at the big websites I don’t do this for a living.

Filed Under: Power Rankings

Marlins’ Pitching Has Wins Walking Away

April 17, 2007 By jonnylons Leave a Comment

The talent is there, but the execution simply is not. The Marlins starters last season put on quite a show, grabbing double digit wins for all 5 starters – 4 of them being rookies.

Yet, this season is off to a rocky start. Don’t think so? Sure, the Marlins are 6-6 and some of those losses could easily be wins if not for dodgey reliever, . Still, take a look at some of the stats put together by our own MarlinAddict:

           Pitches  Strikes  %Strike  BBSanchez      108       54     51%      6Lindstrom     28       15     54%      2Pinto          4        2     50%      0Messenger     16       10     63%      0Gregg         26       14     54%      2  Totals     182       95     52%      8

Those stats are from last night’s starters against the Astros. You can’t expect to beat very many teams by throwing only 52% of your pitches for strikes.

Of course, giving a hitter another chance like the Marlins did to Ensberg last night didn’t help either.

Three of our pitchers have WHIPs over 1.8 (Sanchez, Olsen, Mitre). The Marlins are last in the league with a 1.62 WHIP as a team. It comes down to throwing strikes and having better command of your pitches. The most obvious case is , who is all but unserviceable these days. Rick Kranitz is stressing, for example, that Olsen use his fastball more in the early part of the game and to just go after hitters.

Kranitz, credited for a lot of the success for the young staff last season, has his work cut out for him this season. He has to teach the pitchers to overcome bad habits and help guide them into growing as professionals. Right now, simply throwing strikes is hurting the Marlins chances to win games.

Filed Under: Commentary, Starting Pitching Tagged With: , , ,
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