Fish Fans MIA; trade reaction in Steeltown
I can't help but think that if the Marlins were the Nationals and vice-versa, seats at Nats Park would be a very hot ticket.
Last year when the Fish went 84-77 and scored 770 runs, and drew only 1.3 million fans, I was astounded at how indifferent the fans in South Florida were to a very entertaining ballclub. This year they're very much in the NL East race as the break approaches and are on track for only 1.4 million. Incredible, although maybe I shouldn't be that shocked. When they won it all in 2003 they only drew 1.3 million.
Good golly, if Hanley Ramirez were a Nat, President Obama would be getting his red on instead of that White Sox cap.
When MLB put a club in Florida - and added a second one later on - I was among a pretty large crowd of skeptics. I felt like the fans down there were likely satiated by the games they got in March during spring training. So far, that seems to be true.
Will a new ballpark get the job done? Time will tell, but there's little to suggest that things will improve that dramatically. At least, once they're in their new home, they'll have an alliterative name - the Miami Marlins, like the old minor league club.
On another note, the fans in Pittsburgh aren't real happy about the deal that sent Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett to the Nats for Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan. Gene Collier, sports columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, wrote about it this morning, quoting one fan whose frustration was palpable.
"He's got a broken @#$%! hand. He's got a bad @#$%! attitude. I don't know what the @#$%! they're tryin' to do around here."
Apparently, Morgan was the consummate team guy and extremely popular with the fan base for his hustle. His numbers weren't that bad either: second on the Buccos in hits & walks, and third in runs scored.
Morgan's attitude will be welcomed in the Nationals' clubhouse, and Sean Burnett gives them a spare - young - lefty if they opt to deal Joe Beimel or Ron Villone.
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Categories (click for archive)Phil Wood |
Been a fan of yours since you wrote for a small paper in pg county. It may have been 15 or 20 years ago. Keep up the good work. I really respect your baseball opinion. =============== I appreciate the kind words, though I don't recall writing for a small paper in PG Cty.
Have to admit, I was quite impressed with the trade. Milledge and Joel were done in DC. Perhaps they'll progress elsewhere but it wasn't going to happen here - so getting anything of value in return was definitely a coup.
Even more impressed that Rizzo and Acta had the fortitude to demote Dukes. I consider it addition-by-subtraction. Although these moves haven;t exactly translated to W's, I'd say things are finally starting to look up. Heck, if you're going to lose 100 games, may as well do it with hussle and professionalism.
Phil,
I have a questions regarding that suspended game that will be played in Houston. Elijah Dukes was on first and I assume the Nats can use a pinch hitter. However, can you only use guys that were on the 25 man during that game and are available? For example, could they put Morgan in for Dukes or can he not even play since he wasn't on the roster during that game? There are a whole bunch of guys that played in that game that are no longer on the current roster: Duke, Wells, Hanrahan, Mock, Cintron, and Flores. 19 players were used in that game.
Guzman, Johnson, Zimmerman, Kearns, Dukes, Willingham, Hanrahan, Belliard, Flores is the current lineup.
Dukes is on first and Willingham is up. After him they have the pitcher's spot (Hanrahan) who they will have to pinch hit for if Dukes doesn't score before the spot in the order comes to bat. Flores is catching and they can't put in Nieves because he was the starting catcher in that game and has been taken out and Bard wasn't on the team then?
So what are the rules of who can and can't play?
Thanks!
Brian ====================== They can use whatever players haven't appeared in the game. It would be too unwieldy to handle it any other way, since a lot can happen to a roster in the weeks between the start and completion of a suspended game. It is theoretically possible for a player to show up as having played for both teams in the boxscore, which will carry the original date for historic purposes. I don't think it's ever happened, but a pitcher could theoretically both win and lose the same game. So yes, Bard can catch and Morgan can replace Dukes.