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When you lose the season series to the Marlins you lose faith in the Mets
When you lose faith in your team you run the risk of your children becoming Yankee fans
When your kids become Yankee fans you are forced to enter the witness protection program.
When you enter the witness protection program you move to Idaho and assume a new identity.
When you assume a new identity in Idaho your neighbors are likely to be white supremacists
When you neightbors are white supremicists you find yourself participating in neo-Nazi tupperware parties.
DON’T participate in neo-Nazi tupperware parties, switch to winning series against the Marlins for a change.
Having said all that, the Miami Marlins are, in my view, the best team I’ve seen all year (and, no, I’m not joking). Sure, they may be last in the NL in runs scored (by SEVENTY!!) in BA, in OBA, in Slugging (hell, they got shutout in three straight games vs Milwaukee last week), and have the worst record in the NL, but that doesn’t stop them from being a count-working, clutch-hitting, tough pitching, opportunity-taking team whenever I’ve seen them, who have gone 8-3 against the Mets even while missing Giancarlo Stanton for most of those games and going 10-21 against the rest of the NL East.
Their RS/RA is -112 against everyone else, but +19 against the Mets
They’ve hit .314 against the Mets vs .233 overall
They OBA .362 against the Mets vs .292 overall
They slug .400 against the Mets vs .337 overall
And they hit Harvey like he’s some chump [.333/.365/.391] as opposed to his usual self [.192/.236/..275]
We’ve lost the last five straight to them back in early June and, as mentioned, are 3-8 this year and that’s after winning two of the first three.
So through all this bad hitting and lack of run scoring at least their hitting coach is a Florida native, has classy NYY breeding, is well-respected within baseball, popular with his fellow coaches and players, and has great hair ... oh wait, NONE OF THAT is true (except the Florida native and good hair parts).
It turns out that hitting coach Tino Martinez was a source of conflict both with the players and the rest of the staff which led to his resignation on Sunday amid “published reports that outlined patterns of verbally abusive behavior” towards some of the young Miami hitters and was often “at odds with manager Mike Redmond, the staff and a number of players”.
Tino’s view is, not surprisingly, a bit different. He claims that the most controversial tidbit which had Tino grabbing the neck of (since demoted IF-er) Derek Dietrich as merely grabbing him by the shirt and the torrent of four-letter words more akin to tough love. You know how it is ... Neck/shirt-collar, verbal abuse/constructive criticism; to-MAY-to/to-MAH-to.
Tino was apparently owner Jeffrey Loria’s personal hire (and doesn’t that kind of move usually work out well?). Prior to this, Tino’s only “coaching” experience following his 16-year career was as the always popular “special assistant” with the Yankees.
Recent changes to the roster.
- Marcell Ozuna, the AA call-up who was such a pain in our collective asses earlier this year (.438/.455.594 vs Mets -- .265/.303/.389 overall), was demoted and DL’d last week.
Also DL’d was Chris Valaika (.219 elsewhere, .400 vs Mets)
Derek Dietrich and Casey Kotchman have been DL’d as well
- Up are recent high draft picks Christian Yelich (1st round - 2009) and Jake Marisnick (obtained from the Jays in the massive Reyes/Buerhle deal). Those additions have sent Justin Ruggiano & Juan Pierre to part-time duty.
Likely starting cast of characters:
C - Jeff Mathis / Rob Brantly
1B - Logan Morrison
2B - Donovan Solano
SS - Adeiny Hechavarria
3B - Placido Polanco / Ed Lucas
LF - Christian Yelich
CF - Jake Maransick
RF - Giancarlo Stanton
Monday 7:10
Hefner vs Jacob Turner (3-3; 2.49; 1.19)
Turner shut the Mets out for 7 innings back in late May
Tuesday 7:10
Wheeler vs Nathan Eovaldi (2-1; 3.54; 1.21 - over 7 starts)
Wednesday 7:10
Mejia vs Henderson Alvarez (1-1; 2.64; 1.21 -- over 5 starts)
Thursday 12:40
Harvey vs Tom Koehler (2-6; 4.67; 1.30 -- 12 starts + 6 relief outings)
1 start plus 1 relief vs Mets this year - 4 runs on 7 hits over 10 innings.
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