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The Miami Marlins have been suffering through a myriad of woes this month as their slide continues. The biggest one has been the offense, which has been stagnant for most of June. With the day off today, the Marlins will be traveling to Boston to go visit the Boston Red Sox, who took two of three games down in south Florida. Hopefully, the Marlins can turn the tide around this month, but they will need some offensive regression to come soon in order to get this to happen.
- Ozzie Guillen says that no one should blame hitting coach Eduardo Perez for the faults of the team's bats this month. Here's Ozzie at his finest:
"It’s funny how this game works," Guillen said. "Nobody gives Eduardo credit when we were doing good. Now they’re going to [expletive] on him because we’re not hitting? That’s a bunch of [expletive]. No, blame the players. They were good two weeks ago [with the] same hitting coach."
As stubborn and backwards as Guillen is known to be, he has shown some flashes here and there this season. Perez cannot be faulted for a team-wide slump, just like he cannot be given credit for a team-wide hot streak. Players are mostly to blame for their own problems, with a good amount of good or bad luck mixed in when it comes to two weeks of play. Blaming Perez is just looking for a non-player scapegoat.
- The Fish have failed in the clutch this month, and that is a big reason why they have not scored runs lately. However, the appropriate word there may not be "clutch" so much as "runners in scoring position." In high leverage situations this year, the Marlins have hit .234/.307/.402, a .307 wOBA that is good for 12th in baseball! However, with runners in scoring position, the club is hitting .215/.320/.319, just a .277 wOBA that is third to last in the league.
- Hanley Ramirez was removed from the lineup on Friday night because he hit a ball in batting practice that struck him in the nose. He was back in the lineup on Saturday, no worse for the wear, though it did sound like he suffered a very minor concussion along with a "slight break," as Guillen put it.- Micheal Hannah of Marlins Daily says that the expectations on the Marlins just aren't being met, especially for a select few players.
- Conor Dorney at Marlins Daily has his potential Marlins trade deadline targets. Unfortunately, I just don't see the Fish being active at the deadline because the club has very few bargaining chips.
- Over at Strip Club With Stanton, the always clever SCWS appeals to Bud Selig not to clone John Buck so the league can have no hitters everywhere. He also talks about his trip to the Clevelander and has some Father's Day gift ideas for the Marlins.
- At Marlin Maniac, Cory Eucalito recalls a tale of meeting Hanley Ramirez, barely. Hanley didn't exactly say "hi" back, I suppose.
Around the League
- Manny Ramirez was released by the Oakland A's after he failed to heat up in Triple-A and the team saw no interest in returning him to the majors.
- Apparently the Red Sox are spending on the draft like it's going out of style, and they may face the penalty of going over about five percent. If they do, there is a 75 percent tax on the amount they go over. (H/T MLB Trade Rumors)
- Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports that the Chicago Cubs are ready to deal Matt Garza, with AL East teams everywhere interested. (H/T MLB Daily Dish)
At Fish Stripes
- On Friday, we talked about Carlos Zambrano, Josh Johnson, and the effect known as defense-independent pitching theory. It and the links within it are a must-read for fans who want to get a new insight on how pitchers really influence games.
- Today, we asked earlier whether we overestimated the Marlins' offense this season? My guess is "perhaps a little."