May 21, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Delmon Young (3) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the fourth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins were shutout for the ninth time in the 2013 season on a 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.  Cliff Lee was brilliant on the mound for the Phils tossing a complete game and allowing only 3 Marlins hits on the night.   Not only could the Marlins muster just 3 singles, 2 of those never left the infield.

Just to make matters worse, Marlins starter Kevin Slowey left after the fifth inning due to a back injury.  Slowey had limited the Phils to only one run to that point, scattering six hits and walking none while recording six strikeouts.  After having surrendered 11 earned runs in his two previous starts, it appeared that Slowey was returning to the form he had displayed earlier in the season before the injury struck.

On offense the Marlins only threat occurred in the second inning when they loaded the bases on a single by Marcell Ozuna followed by a walk and hit by pitch.  That is as far as it went though with Lee inducing the next hitter, Nick Green, to ground into a double play and then getting a pop out to end the inning.   The double play was the Marlins’ 47^th hit into on the season which ranks them second in the National League behind only the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Derek Dietrich and Miguel Olivo had the other two Marlins hits on the night.  The Marlins now have a team batting average of .222 on the season and an OPS of .599.  That .599 OPS would rank in the top 10 of all time worst OPS by a team if the season ended today.

Cliff Lee improved his record to 5-2 while Slowey dropped to 1-5 on the season.

Up Next: The Marlins will travel to Chicago for an interleague series with the White Sox this weekend.  The Friday starter will be Tom Koehler (0-2) for the Fish and John Danks (0-0) making his season debut for the White Sox.

April 29, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins relief pitcher Mike Dunn (40) against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins avoided a sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks by picking up a 2-1 win on a nail biter of a final inning.  Regular closer Steve Cishek was brought in to seal the victory, but after allowing a couple of baserunners he was removed in favor of Mike Dunn.  Dunn was able to pick up the final out and preserve the rare victory.  The Marlins are last in the league in saves and Cishek has not been at his best all season. Could there be a change at the closer position coming soon with Mike Dunn taking over? Vote on the poll at the bottom of the article or leave us a comment.

Dunn pitching well in any situation for Marlins – Marlins.com

Left-hander Mike Dunn does not have a defined role in the Marlins’ bullpen this season. Other than closer Steve Cishek, nobody does.

Miami Marlins: Logan Morrison drops in before starting rehab assignment – Sun Sentinel

In uniform with the Marlins’ Sunday: sidelined first baseman Logan Morrison.  He was just visiting, but Morrison is inching closer toward wearing Marlins’ colors every day. Monday, he’ll begin a rehab assignment with Class-A Jupiter. He can stay on rehab as long as 20 days, but he can be activated from the disabled list as soon as May 30.

Former Marlins OF Cody Ross reflects on the surprising 2006 season – Palm Beach Post

The Marlins go into the tonight’s game 11-31 – the same record they had in 2006 after 42 games. In their 43rd game, the 2006 team started a four-game winning streak and went on to play competitive baseball into September. That team was 73-71 on Sept. 11 and 74-73 on Sept. 15 before finishing with a 78-84 record.

How Much Longer Can Miami Marlins Hold Christian Yelich Back? – Rant Sports

In a number of ways, the question of whether the Miami Marlins can continue to keep top prospect Christian Yelich down in the minors has a rather obvious answer.

Double trouble for Marlins’ offense – Marlins.com

Scoring runs hasn’t been the only problem at the plate for the Marlins. Staying out of double plays has been another.

Here at Marlin Maniac:

The Great, The Bad, and The Ricky Marlins Recap: Miami Marlins (11-32) vs Arizona Diamondbacks (25-18) 5/19/13

What a game! The best part was I got to see it live at Marlins Park. After driving 3 ½ hours from Orlando to catch the entire Arizona Diamondback series this was a nice way to end my trip. So, without further ado welcome to The Great, The Bad, and The Ricky. Here is the quick recap– The Great: we avoided a sweep by winning this game 2-1; The Bad: the Bottom of the 9^TH; and The Ricky: a great performance by Ricky Nolasco.

Down on the Farm Miami Marlins Daily Report: May 18th

After enjoying a ton of success in Double-A with the Suns, Flynn is still trying to find his groove in New Orleans. While Flynn has not been a flop in AAA, he has been nowhere near as dominating in AA ball. He owns a 3.99 ERA and a 3.81 FIP and has struck 30 in 29 2/3 innings, but he has also allowed 27 hits.

Arizona Diamondbacks @ Miami Marlins Game Preview: Sunday, May 19th 1:10 PM EST (Game 44)

The Miami Marlins cannot get the Arizona Diamondbacks out of Miami any faster. The Diamondbacks applied a major drubbing on the Marlins and Kevin Slowey on Friday and saw a first pitch of the game home run catapult them to a 1-0 victory in a pitchers duel.

Faith, Hope and the Plight of the Miami Marlins Fan

Sports fandom is a weird thing, it is like religious faith, really liking a band and a love affair all at once. Sports fans sacrifice so much of their time, sanity, emotion and even money in order to support a team. Marlins fans have been jerked around so much since the fire sale in 1997 that it has hard for us to still believe.

McCarthy Shuts Out Miami as Marlins Lose 1-0 on Leadoff Home Run

Marlins starter Tom Koehler put on a great show in his third career start on Saturday night, but the bats were too cold to pull out a win as the Miami Marlins lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0.

Tom Koehler Sparkling Performance Against Dbacks- A Pitch F/X Analysis

One of the reasons that I love baseball is the variety of outcomes and styles that it provides fans. Fans of pitching can see a start by a power pitcher like Jose Fernandez and breakdown how he did it.

May 1, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins left fielder Juan Pierre (9) connects for a base hit during the second inning against the New York Mets at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Upon hearing that his obituary had been published in a New York newspaper, Mark Twain famously wrote, “the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”  I have a feeling that Juan Pierre must know exactly how Twain felt reading of his own demise.

The early part of the season has served to confirm the worst fears about 2013 Miami Marlins – that they truly are as bad as they looked on paper coming into the season.   Naturally, the focus of the fans and media has quickly turned to how this team will improve in future seasons.  It helps us avoid having to deal with the disaster the Marlins have become on a nightly basis.  The Marlins have also done their part to fuel this sentiment by promoting several of their better prospects way ahead of schedule.  Recently, I have seen several items on the Internets about the Marlins future lineup, for example this one by our own Daniel Z. on Marlin Maniac and another over at Fish Stripes.

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that Pierre is the struggling veteran who needs to be pushed aside ASAP so that Christian Yelich can be called up to take his spot.  Pierre’s dismal early season numbers, currently .241/.289/.278 (wOBA .257), have been cited as the proof of his career’s final plunge into the abyss.  But is Pierre really done?

After a difficult April, things have changed for JP in the month of May.  The Marlins called up veteran right handed hitting OF Matt Diaz on May 2^nd and Mike Redmond has quietly taken advantage of his availability to utilize Pierre as a platoon player since then.  The results have been overwhelmingly positive for Pierre, to say the least.  Take a look at the Marlins top 3 hitters for the month of May:

I think the decision to bench him becomes a bit tougher now that you are talking about benching the Marlins’ top offensive player this month for an unproven rookie.  I know that Pierre has no future with this team, but don’t the Marlins still have the responsibility to try to win games by putting the best available lineup on the field this season.  Of course, I am skeptical that Pierre can keep this up, but he did hit .329/.374/.405 (wOBA .343) against RHP just last season so there is a possibility that he can.  If nothing else, keeping Pierre in the lineup builds up his trade value so that the Marlins can at least get a middling prospect for him at the trade deadline.

Yelich is raking in Double A to the tune of .319/.390/.659 (wOBA .456) and the power he is showing is exactly the element most sorely needed on the Marlins.  However, he only has 105 plate appearances above Single A and currently has a strike out rate of 25%, which would surely rise when facing major league pitching.  In addition, delaying the promotion of Yelich will almost certainly ensure his eligibility for salary arbitration is delayed for a year (not that the Marlins front office appears to understand how this works).

I want to see Yelich up as much as anyone, but delaying the inevitable a bit may be the best course of action.  Bringing him up now is probably not going to make the Marlins a much better team, especially when it would mean replacing one of your few positive contributors.  Besides, Yelich still appears to have some room for development so why not do it in a situation with not as much pressure.

Now if only Yelich could show he can play third base:

May 14, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Homer Bailey (left) greets catcher Ryan Hanigan (right) after defeating the Miami Marlins 6-2 at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins offense, as usual, brought a knife to a gunfight last night as the Cincinnati Reds shut them out for a league-leading seventh time this season.  The Marlins managed to bang out 11 hits which established a club record for a game in which they have failed to score.  The problem is that 10 of those hits were singles and only one came with a runner in scoring position.  By contrast, the Reds also had 11 hits, but 5 of them went for extra bases including 2 home runs from CF Shin-Soo Choo.

The Marlins are last in the league in slugging percentage, trailing the second to last Los Angeles Dodgers by a wide margin, and it showed in the results last night.  The lone extra base hit was a double from the bat of rookie Derek Dietrich who has been the club’s hottest hitter since being called up last week.  Dietrich’s double came with nobody on base and 2 outs in the fifth inning and the Reds quickly induced a fly out by Marcell Ozuna to end the inning and the threat.  The Marlins got 2 hits each from Dietrich, Greg Dobbs and Rob Brantly, but none of them was at the opportune time to plate a run.  Dietrich would eventually strike out looking to end the game with 2 men on in the bottom of the ninth on a nasty slider from Reds’ closer Aroldis Chapman.

Alex Sanabia would make it through six innings for the fifth time in his 8 starts this year, but would give up all four Reds runs along the way.  Sanabia was tagged for 9 hits including the 2 home runs by Choo and also walked 3 Reds hitters.  He now has 23 walks to 25 strike outs on the season in 45 innings pitched to go along with 56 hits allowed.  Sanabia’s inability to strike batters out means he would need to severely limit his walks to have any chance at success and he is obviously not doing that.  As Ehsan Kassim pointed out yesterday here at Marlin Maniac, Sanabia’s time in the rotation may be coming to an end soon.

Mike Leake (3-2) went 6 and 2/3 innings for the Reds and was credited with the win while, obviously, Sanabia (2-6) took the loss for the Marlins.  Sanabia is now tied for the league lead in losses.

Up Next: In what should be the best matchup of the series, Jose Fernandez (2-2) takes the mound for the Marlins facing South Florida native Mat Latos (4-0) for the Reds.

May 12, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Miami Marlins catcher Miguel Olivo (21) during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Dodgers won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Over the last several years Major League Baseball has used the occasion of Mother’s Day to promote breast cancer awareness by having players prominently wear or use assorted pink items on the playing field.  It started with players using pink bats and has progressed to wrist bands, shoes and protective gear.  This year MLB decided to change the actual baseball by making all of imprinted logos pink and changing the color of the stitching from the usual red to pink.  Obviously it is a worthwhile cause, but some of the Marlins think things have gone too far:

Not all Miami Marlins are tickled pink about Mother’s Day baseballs – Palm Beach Post

Marlins players will swing pink bats and wear pink wristbands and pink shoes at Dodger Stadium as part of an annual Mother’s Day tradition by Major League Baseball to raise awareness of breast cancer. Today, there’s a new item being added on the field during games — baseballs with pink stitching and logos.

Love and support from Redmond’s mom never ceases – Marlins.com

Opening Day brought back so many memories for Patti Redmond. The mother of Marlins manager Mike Redmond, Patti has been there every step of the way in her son’s baseball career. From Little League through high school, college and the professional ranks, she has been Mike’s biggest supporter.

Plenty of Marlins have moms in crowd for LA finale – Marlins.com

Big league players go through their share of ups and downs, but Marlins outfielder Juan Pierre says a constant is the unconditional love of your mother.

Miami Marlins: Dodgers’ manager Don Mattingly says Jose Fernandez reminiscent of King Felix – Sun Sentinel

Dodgers’ manager Don Mattingly compared Marlins’ 20-year-old right-hander Jose Fernandez to Seattle Mariners ace and 2010 American League Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez.

Miami Marlins’ Tom Koehler Dominant in First Start of 2013 – Rant Sports

Miami Marlins reliever turned starting pitcher Tom Koehler proved that he could handle a spot in the rotation with his dominant performance on Mother’s Day. It was his first start of the 2013 Major League Baseball season and the second of his very young career.

Marlins prospects: Charlie Lowell arrested, Andrew Heaney nears return – Fish Stripes

Prospect Charlie Lowell was arrested this week for battery by strangulation. Marlins 2012 first-round pick Andrew Heaney has yet to play a game in the 2013 minor league season due to injury.

Here at Marin Maniac:

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Miami Marlins (11-26) vs Los Angeles Dodgers (14-21) 5/12/13 Recap

Welcome to another edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Marlins recap. Let’s jump into this with a quick recap. The good: our young hitters are starting to hit; The bad: we lost 5-3; The Ugly: not hitting in the clutch and today’s bullpen. Let’s jump right in to the full recap.

Miami Marlins @ Los Angeles Dodgers Game Preview: Friday, May 10th 10:10 PM EST (Game 36)

The Miami Marlins will seek to end their three game winning streak and get back on track on their 10-game road trip. The Marlins continue on further west to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight.

What? The Miami Marlins Are NOT Last In Attendance?

Based on my own low expectations for the team coming into the season, continued outrage against the villainous owner and the depressing yet entertaining tone of stories I had seen written recently (here and here), I assumed that the Marlins were last in baseball in attendance.  As a matter of fact, I expected that they would be last by a wide margin.