The Miami Marlins thread

[flippedoutpunk]

It's Miami. The only "sports" that matter are NASCAR & the U.

 

this is an entirely accurate statement. Even Miami heat games are bad attendance-wise. Sports outside of football don't seem to catch on in the south.

 

also to be fair the attendance was listed at 30,169. Not too shabby for Miami but 7k short of a full house.

Edited April 14, 2012 by flippedoutpunk

[nitetrain8601]

this is an entirely accurate statement. Even Miami heat games are bad attendance-wise. Sports outside of football don't seem to catch on in the south.

 

also to be fair the attendance was listed at 30,169. Not too shabby for Miami but 7k short of a full house.

 

The Heat don't draw well, especially for a team with 2 of the top 5 players in the league and another arguably top 15 player. I mean, that team is a championship contender year in and year out. In Miami, everyone is about party first, then make plans around that. They work their 9-5, and then plan to go out around 9 or 10. If the Heat game starts at 6, they'll go there until the party at Mansion or Liv starts. Same goes for every other sport minus football, but even attendance has weaken for the Dolphins and for the U.

 

The people down there who actually want to go to games can't afford it. Their ticket prices are completely jacked up. In Miami, there's Rich and there's Poor. No in between.

[Balta1701]

The Heat don't draw well, especially for a team with 2 of the top 5 players in the league and another arguably top 15 player. I mean, that team is a championship contender year in and year out. In Miami, everyone is about party first, then make plans around that. They work their 9-5, and then plan to go out around 9 or 10. If the Heat game starts at 6, they'll go there until the party at Mansion or Liv starts. Same goes for every other sport minus football, but even attendance has weaken for the Dolphins and for the U.

 

The people down there who actually want to go to games can't afford it. Their ticket prices are completely jacked up. In Miami, there's Rich and there's Poor. No in between.

But now that they have a modern ballpark, I'd assume they've got the quality luxury boxes and high priced sections, and marketing designed for them, so that they can make due selling to the rich as long as they get some of the others in there.

[flippedoutpunk]

Heath Bell sucks ass.

[flippedoutpunk]

aaaaanddddd LoMo drops the ball...

[jeffro2525]

This Marlins start to their season is much like the Sox start to last year...can't help but think of Pierre's drops in big time situations last year watching Morrison drop that ball.

[LittleHurt05]

That's the second time Heath Bell has blown a Zambrano start. He better watch his back in the dugout.

[flippedoutpunk]

Morrison's offense and awesome twitter account do not make up for how horrendous he is on defense.

[caulfield12]

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?g...houmlb_miamlb_1

 

Marlins blow another lead, this time a 4-1 margin, behind Heath Bell and 3 errors in one inning. Astros, the worst team in baseball....end up winning 5-4 in Miami.

 

Things will not be so rosy for Ozzie when he returns on Tuesday.

 

 

After Bell logged a quick out, Jose Altuve doubled to right-center and ended up at third on Emilio Bonifacio's bobble. Travis Buck delivered an RBI single and Jordan Schafer reached on catcher's interference. With two outs, J.D. Martinez delivered an RBI single and Carlos Lee tied it with a single to right.

 

Randy Choate relieved Bell, and induced a fly ball to left by Brian Bogusevic. With the wind swirling, Logan Morrison tried to cradle the ball, but it dropped for an error, giving Houston the improbable lead.

 

 

Loved the comments in the story thread, especially the one about signing Juan Pierre to be a defensive replacement, lol.

 

 

What the f uck were these guys doing during spring training: everybody is totally off: hitters and pitchers with some exceptions. What was Mr. St Claire doing? Mr. Perez? That fu cking ugly thing in the CF never will work if these guys don't take the swings they MUST take, Mr. Perez. Who is going to teach Mr. Stanton to hit breaking balls? Mr. St. Claire: how come Mr. Bell is throwing only 91-92 mph, how come Mr. Zambrano walks 6 and says in an interview that walks don't matter.

What the f uck is this: a baseball team or a circus?

 

 

commenter 16 minutes ago

logan buy a new glove

 

 

I mentioned it before,my friends; No team can have injured players as outfield players. LoMo is arguably the worst outfielder in this team when healthy; playing injured is a joke. This is totally on the management. The team is winning by 3 runs in the 8th, take the idiot out of the game. Move Coghlan to LF and bring Kearns to RF. Coaches are paid to do the obvious moves but still manage to screw things up.

 

2 people liked this. Like Reply

 

Jacksonvillain 28 minutes agoin reply to SouthFL_Go_Fish

This is why we should have signed Pierre for utility outfield.

 

Edited April 15, 2012 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Very good article by Rick Morrissey on Guillen.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11852551-41...a-surprise.html

 

 

Didn't know he has a Guillen book coming out soon, perfect timing for that one.

 

Also didn't realize Ozzie claimed he was drunk/hung over when he interviewed with KW twice in late 2003.

 

Funny that Morrissey is doing interviews with Russian radio stations, but the story was so huge last week...and will pick up again Monday/Tuesday when Guillen returns to managing again.

 

 

[Texsox]

I agree. Previous examples (John Rocker) support this statement.

 

Now change it from simply a vile statement to it being an expression of political feeling. Doesn't that make it much, much harder?

 

Balta, if a minimum wage front counter person at McDonalds was chasing away customers by making pro-Castro comments, wouldn't the store fire him? Should a manager or player be afforded more protection for their speech?

[Kyyle23]

Ha, those end of article comments are awesome, its like reading a Soxtalk gamethread last season(with the exception of wanting Pierre as a defensive replacement)

 

 

I had no idea LoMo was a bad defensive player. I thought he was supposed to be the total package

[caulfield12]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/15/2748...n-of-miami.html

 

My parents watched Guillen get turned into a piñata last week, an uneducated man groveling after wading into political waters over his head, and it brought back bad memories of punishment for speech, so they didn’t want him fired, either, even as it got them called communists by loud and angry neighbors. I can’t help but wonder, strong as my conviction can be sometimes, if my opinion might be different, or dissolved completely into intolerance, if I had come to find my mother in tears over what Guillen had said.

 

But context matters here. It always should, no matter how high the flames have climbed. Guillen didn’t take sides with Castro’s policies or tyranny. He marveled at Castro’s ability to stay alive while surrounded by people who wanted him dead. He did this in his second language and even changed “I love Castro” to “I respect Castro,” a rare self-filtering for him, though that seemed to get lost in the subsequent hysteria.

 

The Marlins, very white at the top, can’t dare explain the nuance of this because everything around them is so volatile and, besides, what’s the point? But marveling at the old dictator still being alive isn’t nearly the same as being pro-Castro. This was a bombastic, flippant man who has always been rewarded for being bombastic and flippant saying something bombastic and flippant. And he’s allowed to marvel at Castro’s longevity, as many people do, in every city but the one that built his team a stadium because, well, the logical truth in what he’s saying gets engulfed by this emotional one:

 

It is so very crushing for his customers to remind them that Castro has outlived the parents and grandparents who fled him.

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/15/2748...l#storylink=cpy

Edited April 15, 2012 by caulfield12

[fathom]

This Marlins Park is just a terrible ballpark. It's a joke how deep it is.

[sunofgold]

Somebody just hit a HR for the Marlins. That statue went off but doesn't seem showy enough to me. Needs to have lights or something. Not sure if it makes noise, hope that it does.

[HuskyCaucasian]

This Marlins Park is just a terrible ballpark. It's a joke how deep it is.

I love big parks. I think it adds a little more strategy to the game rather than relying on big thumpers.

 

(the walls will be brought in by the start of the 2014 or 2015 season.

Edited April 15, 2012 by Athomeboy_2000

[greg775]

Bill Maher blasts those who blast Ozzie.

Interesting take.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/14/b...kusaolp00000003

[southsider2k5]

Bill Maher blasts those who blast Ozzie.

Interesting take.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/14/b...kusaolp00000003

 

Bill Maher about Ozzie Guillen on HuffPo? Not even worth a click.

[StrangeSox]

Bill Maher about Ozzie Guillen on HuffPo? Not even worth a click.

 

[southsider2k5]

That too.

[iamshack]

Ahh lighten-up...at least he brings a different perspective...the problem begins when people actually take him seriously.

[caulfield12]

Marlins Foundation donates $150,000; Ozzie Guillen salary (around $75,000) to be given away next

 

BY ADAM H. BEASLEY

[email protected]

The Marlins Foundation donated more than $150,000 to three local charities over the weekend, and the ballclub says another round of significant gifts is in store once the team decides how to best use the salary manager Ozzie Guillen lost during his five-game suspension.

 

Before Friday’s game against the Astros, the Marlins presented a check for $50,000 to Shake-A-Leg Miami, a watersports facility for children with physical, developmental and economic challenges.

 

A day later, they gave $100,000 to the Miracle League of Miami-Dade for the construction of a park. The Marlins Foundation also donated $4,200 to the Jackie Robinson Foundation on Sunday, 65 years to the day after Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier.

 

These donations were in the works before Guillen’s now-infamous remarks praising Fidel Castro. Guillen later apologized for the comments, and was suspended for five games by the organization.

 

Marlins president David Samson said last week the team will donate Guillen’s salary for those games to a yet-to-be named human rights charity.

 

Guillen returns from suspension Tuesday and will be back in the dugout for the Marlins’ home game.

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/17/2752...l#storylink=cpy

[caulfield12]

Still, there are hints that his remarks have done some damage, both in terms of perception and the franchise’s bottom line.

 

Last Friday, Preferred Care Partners — a Miami-based Medicare health plan — notified the Marlins that it wanted the company’s signage removed from the stadium’s right-field wall “until this situation runs its course.”

The Marlins declined repeated requests for comment.

 

On the whole, then, the Marlins have to be pretty pleased with how Guillen’s return was received. The surprisingly light crowd didn’t break into any “Fire Ozzie” chants, and there were no signs condemning the Venezuelan-born skipper in the stands.

 

But Preferred Care’s president Justo Luis Pozo’s letter to the Marlins was a serious reminder of the consequences of Guillen’s words.

 

Pozo explained that Cuban Americans make up a strong share of the health plan’s membership, and many of them were wronged by what he called Guillen’s “irresponsible and inconceivable conduct.”

 

“For them, the atrocities and oppression of the Castro regime over decades are not intellectual, theoretical or abstract notions,” Pozo wrote. “They are realities that have destroyed a once-vibrant and free country, divided families, and that has shaped their generation.”

 

The letter did not specifically request a refund for the removed advertisements, and Pozo did say he hopes to work with the Marlins in the future. Preferred Care had previously agreed to sponsor Josh Johnson bobblehead night, set for June 27.

 

As for Guillen, he met with reporters three hours before the first pitch, saying his suspension was “a tough couple of days,” but that he was heartened by the support he got from friends and colleagues. “Obviously, some people are still going to be upset,” Guillen said. “I don’t think I’m going to change, but I won’t be talking about things that aren’t my business. I hope this mistake makes me a better person. I know to be careful about what you talk about.”

 

As of Tuesday evening, the Marlins still had not announced what they plan to do with the salary Guillen lost during his suspension; Marlins President David Samson said last week it will go to a charity focused on human rights.

But one Cuban American group has already made it clear it wants no part of the Marlins’ money.

 

The Cuban Liberty Council, a prominent organization dedicated to promote liberty and democracy in Cuba, declined an invitation to meet with Guillen, and circulated a letter last week condemning his remarks.

 

“They have not offered us any money, but if they had, we would not have accepted it,” said Ninoska Pérez Castellón, a founding member of the CLC and influential Spanish-language radio talk show host at Radio Mambí, WAQI-AM (710). “The Marlins have a serious PR problem on their hands. There is no connection between his brain and his mouth.”

 

Other Cuban groups have been more willing to accept Guillen’s donation, although he knows that alone won’t rehabilitate his battered reputation. “When you hurt somebody, you’re not going to solve the problem with money,” added Guillen, in his first year with the Marlins after a World Series-winning stint with the Chicago White Sox. “You solve it with acts.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/18/2754...l#storylink=cpy

Edited April 18, 2012 by caulfield12

[Texsox]

Guillen said. “I don’t think I’m going to change, but I won’t be talking about things that aren’t my business. I hope this mistake makes me a better person. I know to be careful about what you talk about.”

Not a chance in hell

[southsider2k5]

Not a chance in hell

 

Been there. Done that.