Ricky Nolasco

Yesterday before the game i was thinking to myself and i quote "If Ricky gets out of the 5th and allows 4 earned, we'll be good." Well he pitched 6 and allowed 3 runs, but impropably, Maholm actually pitched well and was able to stop the vaunted fish offense, so in a first this year the fish pitched well enough and didn't win the game.
But for the wider picture, Nolasco pitching well proves that he could be the 3rd starter in a rotation, staving for stability. Past Olsen and Hendrickson, its like a desert island. Nolasco? Miller? Badenhop? Vanderhurk? Many will develop to be great pitchers but for now they are the biggest obstacle towards the Marlins winning.
in 58 and 1/3 IP Hendrickson andOlsen have allowed 21 ER, for a 3.24 ERA while the other starters have pitched 41 and 2/3 innings allowing 44 ER for an ERA of 9.51. This disparity is the downfall of the Marlins and hopefully at least Nolasco will buck the trend.

Issues

The problems with last years team are still around. Last in the league in walks and ERA, but 2nd in Home Runs. top five in runs and middle of the pack in errors. But things like not getting pitchers out of the 5th and 6th will make things worse later in the season

Replacing #24

People say that replacing the offense that Miguel Cabrera took with him to the Detroit will be nearly impossible. I find that to be a greatly overblown statemet. As good as Cabrera is he is still only one player. 36 dingers and 116 or so ribies is a lot of offense, but, there is a lot of talent in the Marlins line-up in 2008 and collectively they will be able to pick up the slack that Cabrera left.
Jacobs, Willingham, Hermida, Cantu. These men will be hitting between the 3 hole and the 6th spot all year. To me the key in replacing Cabrera's offense is not the HR and RBI aspect of it. It is the OBP and XBH aspect, and for that there can be nothing better than a healthy Jeremy Hermida. It is proven that when Jeremy is healthy he can get on base, he hit over .300 for the second half of the season in 07 and his plate discipline is among the best in the team, but, he has a realibility issue. Jeremy has been injured for a substantial time since he was called up in 06. When healthy, he gets on base as much as anybody in the game.
The run production side of it, falls under the responsibility of Jacobs and Willingham. Both can be productive in the right circumstances, Jacobs as a 3 hitter and Willingham hitting clean-up.
Mike Jacobs' skill set is a beautiful fluid swing, he can hit balls far and wide. But his issue is making contact. So far this year he has hit 2 homers both had been solidly hit balls. With Hanley and Uggla batting in front of him and Willingham behind him he will get opportunities to drive runs in and to get pitches to hit.
Josh Willingham proved last year that he can drive runs in, this year with pretty much the same line-up hitting in front of him and one more year of ML experience he has the capability of driving in a 100 runs.
Cantu, the replacement, the only downside to Cabrera's tenure with the Marlins was his shoddy and often lacksadaisical attitude towards playing defense. That is the only way in which the team has improved this off-season by picking up Cantu. Defense at 3rd base is greatly better for it and if he can hit .280, 20 HR and 80 RBI with the contributions of the others, the offense will be fine.
Coming Soon: The Pitching Rotation

Opening Night With the Ft. Myers Miracle

So tonight I found out that Francisco Liriano was making his first rehab start for the Ft. Myers Miracle on ther opening night and decided that since it's only about 20 minutes away and that tickets were only $7 that I would go with my friend Steve. The game was scheduled to start at 7:05, but as per tradition the skies opened up about an hour before the game and the start was delayed about 10 minutes or so. The Miracle got off to a good start with Liriano retiring the first hitter, giving up a double, but then striking out the next two batters to end the inning. Ft. Myers responded with 2 runs in the bottom frame but that lead wouldnt last as Liriano was a little shaky in the top of the second walking the leadoff guy, giving up a hit, making a throwing error on a bunt that led to a run, and allowing one more run to score before the inning was over. After that point, Liriano settled down and began to look like the phenom that he was, allowing only 1 hit in the next 3 innings while striking out 6. In the top of the 6th however, Liriano got the first out then allowed 2 consecutive hits putting runners on the corners with only 1 out. Take into account that his pitch count was getting high, that was all that was needed to make the decision to take him out, his final line was 5.1 ip, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 8 k. After being removed from the game, the pitcher releiving Liriano promptly gave up a few hits and allowed his 2 inherited runners to score, and then allowing 4 more runs the next inning. After 7, it was Sarasota-8, Ft. Myers-3. A scoreless 8th inning and no runs allowed in the top of the 9th led up to a chance for the Miracle to not only get a win, but to get Liriano off the hook. I know that scoring 5 runs to tie it in the bottom of the 9th doesn't happen often (although I do remember that Atlanta scored 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth on their home opener to tie it against Pittsburgh just a few days ago) but for some reason I felt like it might happen. Of course that feeling quickly went away as the first 2 batters were quickly retired, but an 0-2 count that turned into a walk, followed by a 4 pitch walk let a little bit of hope come back. The next batter got down 1-2 before getting a hanging curveball and blasting it over the left field fence bringing Ft. Myers to within 2 runs. The comeback would not be completed though, as the next batter grounded out to the 3rd baseman ending the game. While the Miracle didn't win (and I'll admit I was somewhat rooting for them) Liriano looked decent and I'm hopeful that he will make it back to the bigs soon and be effective. The final line was:Sarasota - 8 11 1Ft. Myers- 6 8 1-Danthecardsfan

My Brother's Yankees Prediction

The Yankees win!!! With the Yankees on pace for 162 wins and Mariano with 162 saves the Yankees are the front runners in the AL East .With Boston starting the season in Japan made their odds really low of winning the World Series again. When the Yankees started their season in Japan none of our players had a remarkable season. that’s the year with Jeter going 0-32. But this year is completely different we have a new manager decent amount of young players and a manager that knows how to coach them. With Melky hitting the 1st home run of the year and 2 great plays in the outfield it’s a new young look. Not forgetting our number 6 hitter Cano but potentially hitting 3rd by the end of the year. They have to do what they do and don’t forget Duncan he is going make big changes. I don’t have to talk about our veterans we know they’ll produce like Jeter, A-rod, Giambi, Posada, Abreu, Matsui, Daman etc. No big changes there. But what’s going to decide how we do for once is not the bullpen with Joba, Mo, Farnswoth and new pick up LaTroy Hawkins .But our starting rotation is definitely the question mark and pitching wins championships. Lets just hope the young pitchers come thru getting at least 15 win like Ian Kennedy, and Phil Hughes because Wang pretty much already proved himself winning 38 wins last 2 years more than anyone in the ML. Andy and Muss will be fine. This team has to win a world series in the last year of the baseball cathedral Yankee Stadium. With my predictions of us winning the A.L East with 104 wins and we are winning

Season Predictions

AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Detroit Tigers
AL West: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California
AL WC: Cleveland Indians

NL East: New York Mets
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers
NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers
NL WC: Philadelphia Philles

World Series: Detroit Tigers in 6 over the New York Mets

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander

NL MVP: Prince Fielder
NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy

Reflections on Opening Day.

Washington 3/30/08

The Washington Nationals, Ryan Zimmerman hit a Walk-Off homer to win a 3-2 game against the Atlanta Braves, this seemingly innocuous headline that'll be seen in every newspaper in the nation will harken to America that it's pastime has returned. But to me this has much more meaning than just being a score to a game.

A walk-off homer in the first game of a franchise in its new ballpark may not be a very significant. event, but the fact that Ryan Zimmerman hit it. The homer to win the game, against the perennial power in the NL East, in a new stadium, on opening day, by a franchise's premier player looks like an omen if i've ever seen one. Everything that goes around comes around. In the near future sometime the Nationals franchise will be vindicated and they'll be at the top of the league.

This harkens a new dawn for an ever failing franchise, with a bright future and hope for prominence.