The Marlins are probably on a flight by now, somewhere between Philadelphia and Phoenix. Baseball is back (from the All-Star break), but after the way the four game set went in Philly this weekend, I almost wish it wasn't (at least with regard to the Marlins - all is well for me when I'm wearing my White Sox hat).
The Fish lost three of four in Philly and for the most part the games weren't even close. A.J. Burnett looked horrific. Scott Olsen was roughed up. Even Dontrelle Willis was knocked around the park by the Phils. While it was encouraging to see the Marlins score and score regularly this weekend, it simply wasn't enough to get the job done.
Some of those things were predictable, or at least have become the norm; but not everything fit into that mold: Al Leiter was not only traded to the Yankees (surprise number one), but he pitched extraordinarily well against the Red Sox - of all teams.
Leiter made his way to New York this weekend courtesy of some phone calls placed by New York City Michael Bloomberg. Despite the Mayor's help, Leiter's acquisition was more a matter of necessity for the Yankees than anything else. Four Yankees starters are on the disabled list; it takes circumstances like that to make someone like Leiter an attractive option.
And then Leiter comes in and pitches like it's 1995 instead of 2005. Congrats, Al. Good luck in New York. We don't miss you here. I hope it works out for you. Whatever happens, I'm just glad it's not going to happen in a Marlins' uniform.
Oh, and maybe Leiter's success against the Red Sox is evidence that this guy is an idiot - since Leiter regularly struggled against the "inferior" National League but dominated (arguably) the AL's best lineup (hey - he's the one who started drawing wild conclusions from small samples).