Miami Builds Winning Culture

Billy the Marlin eagerly awaits the 2012
Marlins to take the field.

Despite the overblown hype, the Marlins will be in the playoff hunt all season long


The Florida Marlins - er, Miami Marlins, as they're now known - have been a truly remarkable franchise for more than a decade now.  They haven't been 'remarkable' in the same context as most other 'remarkable' teams, however, in that they're not known for success nor failure.  Aside from their magical playoff run in 2003, the Marlins have practically represented the definition of mediocrity.  Since 2000, local fans have seen five winning seasons and seven losing ones, never winning or losing more than 91 games in a single season.  That's about to change.

Owner Jeffrey Loria finally committed to recruiting star power through free agency this winter with the highly-publicized signings of Mark Buehrle, Heath Bell, and Jose Reyes, three veterans who have impressive track records as all-stars and fan favorites.  The trio carry with them 11 combined All-Star appearances, which is just the kind of publicity Loria is looking for.  Loria wants to make his team a perennial threat in a tough NL East division where four of the teams could easily be above .500.  So far, his work should earn him some immediate rewards, like sellout crowds at the new stadium this season.

A superstar?  Check.  Fast?  Check.  In compliance with
team dress code?  Check.  Jose Reyes got his dreadlocks
cut off earlier this week, selling them online for $10,200
which will go to charity.

But there's also the other point of view; have they done enough to not only attract a formerly-dormant fan base, but to retain it?  Reyes, like the rest of the plagued New York Mets, has had plenty of injury trouble over the last three years, placing his last full season in 2008.  Bell, while superb in five seasons with San Diego, has a well-known large body type that could definitely worsen his aging process, which conventional wisdom would have taking effect soon seeing as he's already 34.  Buehrle has 161 career wins and honorary status with the White Sox, but he is 33 and a definite soft-tosser who, given an aging decline that would decrease the effectiveness of his breaking stuff, could simply get rocked.

I don't think any of those things should be of primary concern right now, though.  Perhaps this change of scenery for three guys who have been with the same team for at least the last half-decade will reinvigorate their baseball competitive juices.  Their actual contributions on the field will need to be of great quality for the Marlins to get far this season, but just being there will help the team enormously.  All three of these veterans come from winning teams as some point.  If you count the one-game NL West Tiebreaker in 2007 between the Padres and Rockies that Bell pitched in as the postseason, then all three of them have played in the playoffs.  That is a key factor for this team, seeing as none of the other core players, like Mike Stanton, Josh Johnson, or Hanley Ramirez, have ever gotten used to anything but playing in a cavernous football stadium where fans struggled to cover the lower deck.  The veterans will show the young guns how a team gets to the promised land known as the MLB Postseason.

Already on the best power hitters in the league, this season
should be a major learning experience for right fielder Mike
Stanton.

The three new arrivals join former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen in Miami, who was the first to hop aboard the Marlins' bandwagon when he abandoned ship on the Sox before the end of the regular season.  As fans know, Guillen's outspoken personality can surely fire up a team.  I believe this competitive fire is also a great fit for the team, and a great find by Loria.  For the first time ever, there is pressure on the Marlins to win something this season.  Even when they've had talented players recently (which they've had no shortage in) in Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham, Ricky Nolasco and Scott Olsen, the team overall has not had the overall discipline to get them anywhere.  Sure, the Marlins never had a great rotation, but committing far too many errors definitely didn't help their cause any, finishing in the bottom four in MLB in errors committed each year between 2006 and 2010.

In 2011, the Marlins earned a valuable lesson.  The team surprised the baseball world with an early 30-20 start, but then the baseball gods wreaked havoc.  They started the month of June 1-19, causing new-found manager Edwin Rodriguez to resign mysteriously.  Florida's chances at the postseason were shrunken beyond visibility, and the team wallowed back into their mediocre ways of old.  Had there been some winning blood on the team, that would not have happened so dramatically.

To say that the Marlins' roster before these upgrades was lacking "winning blood" is nothing personal; it's just that none of the core players on the team have ever been to the playoffs or come close to it.  With the additions of Reyes, Buehrle, Bell, and Guillen, the Marlins are in good shape.  Loria should be pleased with the return on his investments.  After all, he's already accomplished one of his goals; to get his team in the headlines.  With the correct moves he's made, his team should be in the winning column more often than not this summer.

Crosstown Showdown: White Sox 4, Cubs 3

Alfonso Soriano steals his first base of the season,
beating the tag from shorstop Alexei Ramirez

Peavy returns from DL, wins despite ineffective start

CWS leads 2-1

It was yet another one-run loss for the Cubs, who have lost in this fashion in three of their last four losses.  A comeback attempt for the third straight game fell short and the Cubs dropped their second in a row.

The Sox got their first two runs off Doug Davis in the fourth when A.J. Pierzynski tripled home two runs.  The Sox also got a third run in the inning from a squeeze play by utility man Brent Lillibridge.  This play represents the Sox' best attempt to play smallball.  But the truth is that such a play wasn't even necessary in that situation, especially considering Lillibridge's knack for clutch plays this season.

A Starlin Castro RBI single put the Cubs on the board, but the Sox got an insurance run just a half-inning later thanks to an error by trippin' second baseman Blake DeWitt.  Of course, Davis could have prevented the run from scoring by not hitting Lillibridge with a pitch, but the bottom line is the inning should have already been over.

Incredibly, Carlos Pena hit his third homer in as many days, as if competing head-on with counterpart Paul Konerko, who actually didn't homer in this game to end his consecutive-game-with-homer streak at five.  Pena has gathered respect from all of his teammates as the calming influence as well as the defensive leader of this team, and it's great to see him catch fire offensively, too.

Jeff Baker redeemed himself for his big strikeout last night and singled home a run in the rally that knocked Peavy out of the game in the 6th.  Unlike the night before, the Cubs were very patient with Peavy, who had serious trouble locating his breaking pitches and gave Pierzynski a workout behind the plate.  His slider was all over the place, including bouncing in the dirt.  Much of Peavy's success in his career can be attributed to the fact that everything he throws, from his running fastball to his changeup to his slider, is hard, hard, and harder.  He's got a 'hot' heater and a power slider, a lethal and winning combination.  But when he loses control, everything kind of flies off the end.  The result: 104 pitches and 10 baserunners allowed through only 5.1 innings.

The Cubs bullpen was absolutely perfect on this night, throwing three innings and striking out four while allowing no baserunners between rookie Chris Carpenter, Jeff Samardzija, and Sean Marshall.  Unfortunately, the Sox bullpen almost equally as good.  Sox closer Sergio Santos has a save in each of the last two games; he has thrown a total of 26 pitches between the two games, including only three balls, no baserunners, and five strikeouts.  This, this is the definition of dominance out of the 'pen.

Overall, this was a very entertaining series, with intriguing battles between the first basemen and Ozzie Guillen and Geovany Soto's catcher's mask.  The Cubs lost two of three but now head to Kansas City for a weekend series against the Royals who are only one game better than the Cubs record-wise.  They're also only 20-21 at Kauffman Stadium and have the bottom end of their starting rotation going, so the Cubs could capitalize.  After all, the Cubs will finally be playing someone at their own level.


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Crosstown Classic: Round Two

This time the series shifted to the South Side for a three game set.  After a disappointing showing in the first series, the Cubs knew they had to win two here to split the series and maybe some figured out that, no matter what, the Cubs had to win Sunday to take the first BP Crosstown Cup.  For the Cubs to get that Cup, they would also need to win either Friday or Saturday.  If they won Friday and Saturday, they would still need to win Sunday because the tiebreaking rule in this Crosstown Cup is that the team who wins the last game takes the series for the year.

There was another big moment in the Crosstown Classic on Friday, this one going against the Cubs, but not from the White Sox.  Carlos Zambrano gave up four in the first, including a three-run homer to Carlos Quentin, and returned to the dugout attacking at first no one in particular and then Derrek Lee.  Apparently he wasn't pleased that Lee didn't dive down the line for Juan Pierre's leadoff double, because Pierre scored a run and Zambrano thought the team didn't go all out on defense.  He paced the dugout screaming after the 1st inning and came up to Lee and shoved him backwards a bit while verbally attacking him.  Zambrano was suspended indefinitely and placed on the restricted list, not to return until after the All-Star Break.  Some reports have mentioned that he won't return to the mound for the Cubs ever.  Jim Hendry says he will be back, but the public criticized Carlos' decision to go out to dinner with Ozzie Guillen at the Wit Hotel and the night after his blowup.

Paul Konerko hit his 19th homer in the 8th to be the go-ahead run as the Cubs offense was slowed by Freddy Garcia who allowed just two over seven innings.  As the story of Carlos Zambrano swirled around the Chicago sports media community, this game went somewhat unnoticed for a Cubs-Sox game.  Aramis Ramirez hit a home run in this one, his first since June 5th and his longest out of his six home runs this year, flying 418 feet to center.  Sox won 3-2.

The Cubs offense came out stronger Sunday putting up eight runs in their 8-6 victory avoiding a sweep.  A three-run bomb by Tyler Colvin and doubles by Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto made it 6-2, followed by another Paul Konerko homer.  The Cubs extended their lead thanks to an Alfonso Soriano homer and Tyler Colvin RBI single but their comfortable lead wasn't as comfortable after a bunch of hits brought the Sox within two in the bottom of the 9th.  The Cubs closed it, however, and improved to 2-4 on the season against the Sox.

The Cubs have lost the season series two straight years against the Sox and haven't won it since 2007, but the Cubs took away some positives even after being beaten badly Friday and Saturday.  Not that the Cubs could possibly hold any momentum, as they were beaten by the Pirates 2-1 on Monday.