Fish Bites: Recovering From Ozzie

Despite some scares and a very frustrating Saturday night loss (at the one game I went to this weekend no less!), the Miami Marlins came away with a series win over the Houston Astros. The set of wins is an important one, because the Marlins do not want to be buried under a landslide of losses as they traverse through their most prominent home stand of the season. Tomorrow night, the Fish attempt another shot at a series victory at home as they wrap up their home stand versus the Chicago Cubs.

Of course, the Marlins are still trying to recover from the Ozzie Guillen situation. Guillen will return to the dugout tomorrow night against the Cubs, but the recovery still continues.

- It turns out that a big factor in the reaction to the Ozzie Guillen comments on Fidel Castro is age, according to Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald. He says that the older Cuban generation sacrificed so much to provide for the future, but they are the ones that are the most hurt because their "wounds" are closest. When we look at the younger generation, they have a lesser appreciation for these sacrifices because they are further removed from the pain. I tend to agree as well, as many of the protesters that we saw outside the stadium were indeed of the older generation, with a select few young Cubans.

- Here's a poll asking whether the Marlins should fire Ozzie Guillen. The answer is fairly clearly "no."

- Despite all of these problems, the Marlins apparently have been doing well enough to sell their merchandise like hot cakes.

Historically, Marlins merchandise has fallen into the lower half of sales when ranked against that of other major-league teams, Smith said. Since December, Marlins merchandise sales have skyrocketed, and the team is now one of MLB's top sellers, he said. MLB and the Marlins do not release sales figures.

I'm not surprised, but I am impressed. See, all that fuss about how awful the new uniforms were before the season, and it turns out that in the end, everyone would be on board.

- Prior to Sunday afternoon, the Fish had been in quite a home run drought, but the team finally set off the home run structure yesterday, and it was magnificent. It is everything, both horrid and amazing, that we expected.

- I will have my own review of Marlins Park later today or tomorrow, but for now, take a look at Stadium Journey's ">take on the new ballpark.

- Yours truly was on the Back Seat Sports podcast with Zac and James, answering questions about the Marlins, Ozzie Guillen, and the rest of the NL East.

- The Marlins are going to be on some media as well. A preview of episode of "The Franchise" is going to air on April 21 on Showtime, meaning we will get a firsthand look at the new Marlins behind the scenes.

Around the League

- The recent extensions of Brandon Phillips and Ian Kinsler are forcing the New York Yankees to pay big bucks for Robinson Cano, according to Mike Axisa of MLB Trade Rumors.

- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs breaks down the unwritten rules (as written in this issue of Baseball Digest).