Good morning, Marlin Maniac readers and welcome to Morning Catch, the daily morning news and notes column from MarlinManiac.com about your Miami Marlins.
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After a lengthened battle between two of baseball’s worst clubs, the Miami Marlins walked off on Dee Gordon‘s double, beating the Phillies 4-3 at Marlins Park last night.
The game-winning hit marked Gordon’s third knock of the night, as he continues to keep up an impressive September pace.
"Dee Gordon’s Batting Average by monthApril: .409May: .351June: .304July: .208August: .322September: .328"
Dee Gordon proves to be an interesting case. At the beginning of the year, he was one of the best hitters in the game. A .409 monthly batting average is almost unheard of nowadays.
He kept that up until July, when he slumped. Fans and writers alike (yours truly) doubted that Flash Jr. could replicate his early season play. Using BABIP and other advanced metrics, it had appeared that the fantastic first half of Gordon’s season was somewhat of a fluke.
Well, he’s proven me and many others wrong with his fantastic late season performance. The question remains, can he do this again in 2016, when the team may be relevant?
ICYMI: AL Postseason viewing guide and The case for keeping Marcell Ozuna
From Around the Web:
Marlins get strong start from Conley, walk-off win in 11 on Gordon’s hit — Craig Davis, Sun Sentinal
The ah-ha moment for Adam Conley came last week in New York when he shut out the first-place Mets for seven innings.
The Marlins rookie left-hander, who had been struggling to complete five innings in previous starts, took a more aggressive approach in challenging hitters, and it paid off.
“I think Adam proved something to himself there that he’s capable of trusting his stuff and getting big-league hitters out by pitching to his strengths. For him, the first step in being more efficient was learning to trust his stuff,” Marlins manager Dan Jennings said before Conley took another impressive step in his pitch for a spot in the starting rotation next season. (Read More Here)
Miami Marlins’ options for 2016 offseason plans — Michael Jong, Fishstripes
The Miami Marlins are supposedly using the final few weeks of the season to determine their plans for 2016. Not only is this is a terribly small sample size, it subsequently may over- or underestimate the ability of this roster, which itself is limited in options heading into the 2016 offseason. Owner Jeffrey Loria may think the Marlins have a few ways they could go, but with their real-life restrictions on payroll and talent, the team has but a few options in their bag for improving the roster. The team is working with a number of problems inherent to the system thanks to the mistakes of the past few years, and as a result the club has only a small number of ways to go.
What follows is a summary of those plans, and the problems that may arise from them. None of them are ideal for a variety of reasons, as we will discuss. (Read More Here)
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Next: AL Postseason viewing guide