Yesterday’s game
Rule no. 157 of fantasy baseball: Don’t start your pitcher at Wrigley Field if the wind is blowing out. Unfortunately for Wei-Yin Chen, the Marlins play real baseball, and it was his turn to start against the Cubs in Chicago on a day the wind was, in fact, blowing in that unfavorable direction. He had a career-worst day, surrendering nine runs and three home runs in just three innings. The Fish went on to lose 13-4 and were swept by the Cubs.
Like Chen, Manager Don Mattingly didn’t have any fun:
.@Marlins manager Don Mattingly breaks down Wednesday's loss to the Cubs and performance from left-handed starter Wei-Yin Chen. #JuntosMiami #MLB pic.twitter.com/kmbVnjd3fT
— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) May 9, 2018
Sadly, Chen wasn’t the first Marlin to give up nine in an outing this season. The Fish are thankful they won’t be returning to the Lake Michigan area any time soon.
Blame the rookies?
Perhaps the plethora of first-year major-leaguers on the team are to blame for being distracted by their to-do lists.
Just your typical coffee run at @Starbucks. pic.twitter.com/pZgxiRuMvy
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) May 9, 2018
Stats: Miguel Rojas HR tracker = 5
On the positive side, the newest member of the Fly Ball Revolution continued to destroy his previous career-high of one home run in a season, henceforward earning himself a home-run tracker in this column.
.@MRojasOfficial goes down and gets one, a two-run shot in the seventh inning, his fifth HR of the season! Watch the @Marlins and Cubs in action live now on FOX Sports Florida and FOX Sports Go! #JuntosMiami #MLB pic.twitter.com/2m2Nx7kQoi
— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) May 9, 2018
As one of only two living proponents of the as-yet nonexistent stat “hit-by-pitch ratio”, the author hereby nominates Derek Dietrich as its poster boy.
DID YOU KNOW: Derek Dietrich has twice as many HBP (6) as walks (3) in 2018. No MLB qualified player has done that over the past 100 years.
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) May 9, 2018
Get outta the way, punk: we're making history.
That’s our very random stat of the day. pic.twitter.com/TtcI7O9miP
Seriously though, Kyle Barraclough is striking out more than a third of the batters he faces so far this season in large part thanks to an increased reliance on his changeup.
Beat writers unite! – Roster ruminations
Marlins beat writers don’t always agree, but when they do, it’s sometimes about a possible call-up.
MLB Trade Rumors analyzed J.T. Realmuto and his potential landing spots whenever he is traded. (Note: one of the prospects referred to in the Jonathan Lucroy trade was Lewis Brinson!)
Up next:
The Marlins travel home to take on the Braves in a four-game series. Red-hot Caleb Smith faces the NL’s best offense to date. Game time is 7:10 p.m. Thursday.