Marlins Fans: Who’s Your Mike Dunn? And Stat Wrap

I think every fan has two players they hate on their team.  Hate could be strong, but they drive you crazy with their existence.  When they do well, they lucked into it. When they do poorly, you’re sure to catch it.  One of these players actually warrants your…let’s call it skepticism.  They aren’t particularly good.  With twenty-five roster spots, every team has one.  The other actually isn’t that bad, but sure seems like it to you.

Mike Dunn would fall into the second category for me.

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He’d given up just 2 ER all year in ten appearances heading into yesterday.  His career ERA is 3.56.  But much like how it seemed that there was a six year window where if I ended up with Marlins tickets, Ricky Nolasco was starting that day, if I’ve been watching a closely contested Marlins game these past few seasons, Mike Dunn was on hand to ruin it.  Last year, he was almost bad enough to fill the “earned dislike” spot.  This year, he’s given up earned runs in three games.  That’s it.  But I watched two of them, and paid admission to the third.

So, we ask Marlins fans, in the comments here and on social media, who is your Mike Dunn?  Who makes you wince whenever you see their name in the lineup, or walking in from the bullpen, regardless of the fact that it was probably actually the right decision?

Yesterday, David Phelps was unavailable. So you probably wanted Barraclough for the 8th- someone had to pitch the 7th, Dunn is more experienced than Wittgren or Ellington, and had been used less of late.  But I was in a rage before he threw one pitch of that catastrophic inning.  So again, who brings that out in you?

The game itself was an exciting one from start to finish, with an entire game’s worth of stellar pitching following one action packed inning of offense to start the day off. After giving up two homers, six hits, and 4 ER in the first inning, Tom Koehler did what Tom Koehler does: make adjustments, and be a straight up gamer the rest of the way. Something that’s even easier to do when your teammates give you a boost the way Justin Bour did in the bottom of the first- crushing a game tying grand slam to deep center to answer Chicago’s early onslaught.  Unfortunately, Mike Dunn pitched part of the 7th, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Miami Marlins 5-4 Friday night at Marlins Park.

And now we Stat Wrap:

• Chicago won despite committing two errors and having 9 runners LOB.
• The Marlins had one hit until the 7th inning, and just two the entire game.
• Of course, the Marlins also had four runs after the 1st inning.
• Justin Bour hit his second grand slam of the month/season/his career.
• In the first inning, Tom Koehler gave up six hits and 4 ER.
• For the next five innings, Koehler threw a one-hit shutout.
• Unfortunately, the Cubs had an eight inning, one-hit shutout.
• Mike Dunn earned the loss after walking two, hitting one, and giving up a hit.
• In relief of Dunn, Brian Ellington and Nick Wittgren tossed 2 2/3 IP of hitless, scoreless baseball.