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Kensing Traded to Nationals; Marlins Acquire Kyle Gunderson
Logan Kensing won’t be making the trip to Chicago – the Marlins traded him yesterday to the Washington Nationals for minor league reliever Kyle Gunderson.
Gunderson will be assigned to A Jupiter, where the righty will continue to develop in the hopes of one day getting into the Marlins bullpen. Gunderson currently has a 2-0 record with a 2.84 ERA in 5 relief appearances.
Kensing, however, had fallen out of favor this season giving up 8 runs in 7 1/3 innings pitched. Last season he posted a 4.33 ERA with a 3-1 record as he provided crucial relief throughout the season coming back from injury.
Marlins Swept; Offense in Dive
With their 6th straight loss, the Marlins fall to 11-7 in the NL East and are starting to be labeled “fakes” by the media. The Phillies rolled into town struggling but leave as if riding on rockets. Now, the Marlins must go on a 6 game road trip and venture through NY to see the Mets and off to Chicago to see the Cubs.
It could get worse.
The starting pitching is there, but the bullpen is lost, the defense is showing glaring cracks and the offense is becoming a gimmick. Don’t take my word for it – take MarlinAddict’s. He calls it the Randy St. Claire effect, named after the “Natinals” pitching coach. The Marlins are 6-0 against the team which lost its “O”, appropriately. But when you look at the offensive numbers, you can see the Marlins are taking a nose dive against the rest of their opponents.
This is a troubling stat. Changes need to be made to this lineup – the Marlins started the year off hot and are now on the opposite side of things. Fredi Gonzalez made a huge mistake letting Lindstrom throw 38 pitches on Friday night and it set the tone. The Marlins may have been able to stop the bleeding if not for that move and who knows how this weekend series would have played out? Still, the fact remains that the Marlins are not playing small ball – since they can’t put the ball in play – and they don’t have the firepower to play the long ball consistently enough.
With a struggling bullpen this puts the Marlins in the middle of the league – not on top. So, are we looking at fool’s gold? If the Marlins offense doesn’t make a drastic turnaround soon, like now, then yes. The question is, how long until the front office makes a coaching change?
The LaRoche Brothers Help Sweep Fish; World Champs next
Adam LaRoche gets four hits and little brother Andy has an RBI sac fly sealing a 7-4 series sweeping win Wednesday Afternoon.
Marlins get swept at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates for the fourth time in the Steel City (1994, 2003, 2004 the other times).
The Fish bats came alive this afternoon with 10 base hits and Wes Helms’ RBI double in the fourth snapped an 0-7 skid with runners in scoring position.
What might have been the game changer was a bad throw by Ronny Paulino in an attempt to catch Nyjer Morgan stealing third. The ball skipped past Emilio Bonifacio’s glove and into left field, scoring Morgan. Ok so Morgan gave the Bucs the lead with an RBI single before trying to swipe third, but could the Marlins have crawled back from a 5-4 deficit?
Needless to say Philadelphia comes to town this weekend with Josh Johnson facing Brett Myers Friday night. Keep in mind the Marlins had a winning record against the World Champs last season at 10-8.
Here’s what others are writing about:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/baseball/marlins/sfl-jorge-cantu-marlins-s042209,0,658965.story
He saw Dr. Lee Kaplan in South Florida today and was diagnosed with a bruise in his left wrist. He is day to day, which means he could return to the lineup as soon as Friday.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/marlins/content/sports/epaper/2009/04/21/0421_marlins_notebook.html
“One candidate could be left-hander Sean West, who is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA for Class AA Jacksonville. He allowed two hits and struck out nine batters in six innings April 15.”
Marlins Lose to Pirates; Lose Miller to 15 Day DL
The Marlins crashed back to earth tonight with a loss to the Pirates, making their record 11-2 on the year. Still, it was the injury to Andrew Miller, starting his 2nd season as a Marlin, that could prove costly.
According to reports, Miller has an aggravated oblique injury that was not allowing him to keep his velocity in the 91-94 MPH range, instead having his fastball sputter along at around the high 80’s. The question remains, who will get the call up to replace his spot in the rotation?
And, is this a real injury or something devised to take some pressure off of the young lefty for the Marlins?
Marlins Sweep Nats; Cody Ross Does it Again
We got to find a good nickname for Cody Ross. The guy is having an unbelievable start to the 2009 season.
Today Ross goes 3/4 with a home run in the 8th inning and a 3-run double to untie the game in the top of the 9th. The runs lead to the Heat’s 11th win as Matt Lindstrom entered the game in a save situation and shut down the Nationals.
Poor DC fans. They must really hate the Marlins right now who have absolutely owned their franchise going back to last season.
This Marlins team is playing amazing baseball. It is hard to believe because even as a fan, you expect your team to win. I actually expected that this franchise should have been in the playoffs last year and held them to the same standard this year. But what they are doing right now is darn near unfathomable.
They take on the Pirates next and the trend could easily shift the other direction as perhaps the tendency would be to overlook their opponent. Yet you get the sense that this team is focused and won’t allow that to happen. They have great clubhouse chemistry and even the knew guys look the part – both Gload and Bonifacio are filling in nicely.
The Marlins have the league’s top record and they way their starting pitching has been they will have a great chance of getting a win each day out there. The Fish are swimming.
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