Fish Bites: Continuing On the Road

The Miami Marlins will continue their six-game road trip which has suddenly been cut to five games by yesterday's Washington Nationals rainout. The Fish will head off to New York to face the Mets starting tomorrow night. Meanwhile, here are some links for the road regarding the Miami Marlins.

- While the Marlins are heading up to New York, they traveled via train for the first time ever. Also in that article, the origins of the "V" sign the Fish have been flashing whenever they do something good, representing "lo viste?" or" see that?" in Spanish.

- When Heath Bell blew those first two save opportunities, his wife offered him a Facebook message with encouragement and love. Since then, he has shut them down for two saves, and he's looking to win over the fans with more. Let's not over-exaggerate over five or so innings of work, we can't many any determinations about how good Bell will be. We can make determinations on how goofy he is, however, and the answer is plenty.

- Jose Reyes has committed five errors so far this season, and he is not happy with that. As well he shouldn't be! But honestly, these things happen, and I would not go overboard on judging his defense either. Small sample size qualifies still apply, especially on defense.

- Al DeGaetano of Marlin Maniac thinks attendance will be a non-issue by season's end. He believes (as do I) that the team will hit its attendance goals in 2012.

Around the League

- You know who is retiring today? Ivan Rodriguez, better known as Pudge. Chris Jaffe of the Hardball Times has his greatest moments and milestones, including quite a few from the 2003 World Series champion Florida Marlins team.

- Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog thinks that the New York Mets cannot afford to allow David Wright to go to free agency. There is a question of whether the team should just let him go and rebuild entirely around a new core, but the Mets at the moment do not have many marketable, core players outside of Wright on their team, so Matt's point is understandable.

- Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley displays the Phillies' offensive ineptitude in graphical form. It looks rough.

- Ben Duronio of Capitol Avenue Club thinks it's silly to say that Brandon Beachy throws a cutter. He does not.

- Want another reason not to take too much stock in April performance? Patrick Gordon of Beyond the Box Score points it out.

At Fish Stripes

- Check out the weekend updates on Fish Stripes, including your Wild Pitch picture of the week.

- Also, did you watch the preview episode of "The Franchise" yet? Check out my review here.