June 11, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Josh Johnson (55) throws during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Sometimes, when you’re stuck in the middle of the wrong kind of streak, you start thinking about what you can do to shake the curse. Think of the lengths that caddy Romeo Posar (Cheech Marin)went to to shake up Roy McAvoy (Kevin Costner) in Tin Cup; moving his loose change to the other pocket, etc. Ultimately, what Cup had to do was relax and clear his mind.

Maybe opening the roof last night was the trick.  Maybe Josh Johnson channeled Nuke LaLoosh and was wearing his girlfriend’s garter belt under his uni. Most likely, however, is that he was able to relax and trust his arm and his mechanics.

Either way, he had an outstanding performance last night, limiting the visiting Red Sox to one run in seven innings.  Giving up one earned run and one walk, he fanned seven, moving his ERA to 4.27 for the season. His fastball was on the high side of his average, tapping 95, and with good movement.

Fortunately, he had run support early in the game.  A leadoff triple from Jose Reyes and a sac. fly from Donovan Solano started a three-run first inning when Reyes scored.  Giancarlo Stanton looped a Texas-Leaguer to center field, followed by Logan Morrison belting a line drive to right field. Heads-up baserunning from Giancarlo Stanton tallied the second run on an Adrian Gonzalez bobble. Morrison crossed the plate on a right-field single by Gaby Sanchez.

John Buck opened the second inning with a single, and was sacrificed over to third by Josh Johnson and Jose Reyes. A base hit by Donovan Solano drove in the fourth and final run for the Marlins.

After the early-inning shelling, Josh Beckett demonstrated his precise, consistent pitching to hold the Fish to the four runs from the first two innings, ending his outing with three earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts after seven innings.

The Marlins sent in Steve Cishek for a scoreless eighth.  He retired the first two batters before giving up a base hit to Scott Podsednik, and ended the inning on a soft grounder from Dustin Pedroia.  Heath Bell came in for the ninth-inning save, his thirteenth of the season.   Despite a leadoff walk to Adrian Gonzalez, Bell struck out the next three batters: David Ortiz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Kevin Youkilis. Game over.

This afternoon, left-hander Clay Buchholz squares off against righty Mark Buehrle. Buchholz brings a 6-2 record with a 5.77 ERA to Buehrle’s 5-6, 3.49 record. With the six-loss streak put to bed and behind them, the Marlins should be fired up and ready to put the bats to work.

Prediction: 6-2 Marlins, with no Red Sox runs after the third inning. Also, the home run feature will light up for either Hanley Ramirez or Giancarlo Stanton (although it would  be nice to see Gaby notch a “welcome home” dinger).

The Marlins are now 7-30 over the past 37 June games in the past two seasons. While the Marlins have struggled, the team still is positioned five games behind the division leading Washington Nationals. Now is not the time to panic if you are a Miami Marlins fans.

The first game of the Marlins-Red Sox series will be broadcasted on ESPN on Monday night. Yes, it seemed like a mistake to me as well and I still believe it might be one, but just do not say anything and we may actually get away with it!

As usual, to preview the series, I had a quick chat with a Fansided writer of the opposing teams site. Over the past few days, I had an opportunitiy to chat it up with Derek Stykalo, the editor of BoSox Injection. Derek and his staff do an excellent job on their site, if you ever get a chance, please do check them out.

Here is a look at our chat:

(more…)

• Starting Pitching
• Bullpen
• Who should lead off?
• Meet Giancarlo Stanton
• Catcher
• First Base
• Second Base
• Third Base
• Shortstop

Today we roll on with the season preview as the Marlins match-up with the New York Mets, again. Now that we have finished up our work with the infield, it is time to take a look at the Marlins outfield. The Marlins outfield has a ton of talent in 2012, even after missing out on Yoenis Cespedes.

Today we will start with the Marlins left fielder, Logan Morrison. Morrison is a highly talented player, whose value is being wasted in left field.

Mar 13, 2012; Jupiter, FL. USA; Miami Marlins left fielder Logan Morrison (5) puts the ball in play against the Atlanta Braves at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-US PRESSWIRE

Depth Chart

1. Logan Morrison
2. Bryan Petersen
3. Scott Cousins
4. Austin Kearns
5. Aaron Rowand

(more…)

• Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez
• First Base: Derrick Lee
• Second Base: Luis Castillo
• Short Stop: Edgar Renteria
• Third Base: Mike Lowell
• Left Field:
• Center Field:
• Right Field:

(more…)

Obviously, in structure, this is the McGriff trade, inasmuch as the Padres are giving up the superstar. And, as most people who follow such things will tell you, if you’re giving up the best player in the deal, you probably lost the deal.

This line struck me as intriguing because the Marlins actually went through that exact situation a few years ago, and that situation mirrored the one that the Padres had on their hands. After the terrible 2007 season, the Marlins knew that they were running out of time with superstar Miguel Cabrera and decided that they had to trade him. While he was still under team control for two more seasons, the Marlins were going to owe him a lot of money in arbitration (he was paid $7.4M in his first season of arbitration), so his value was deflated much in the same way as Gonzalez’ was for having only one season left in his contract.

What I wanted to talk about was the idea that teams who trade away the best players in the deal are often the “losers” of the deal in the future. A lot of it goes back to how you evaluate trades and whether it is correct to make judgments on a deal after the prospects have begun to develop. I am of the opinion that, if Padres fans want to judge this trade appropriately, they have to judge it with the information they have right now and not look back at it retrospectively after the prospects either fail or succeed.

(more…)