November 6
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Jeremy Hermida had no illusions about his future with the Florida Marlins. That didn't deaden the shock of getting traded. Thursday, the Marlins sent Hermida to the Boston Red Sox for a pair of left-handers, including South Floridian Hunter Jones. A product of Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Gardens and Florida State, Jones made his major league debut last season and is now a Marlin along with Class-A swingman Jose Alvarez. "It came out of nowhere," said Hermida, the Marlins' first round pick (11th overall) in 2002. "I figured it was coming, but you're never quite ready for that day." One of the club's more polarizing figures since a splashy September 2005 debut, Hermida never fully ..."
October 16
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Rick Peterson is primed for a return to the majors. Could his next pitching coach job be with the Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now!? Reached earlier this week, Peterson wouldn't reveal whether the Marlins were among the teams he's spoken with so far. He did say the job would appeal to him. "I'm definitely interested," said Peterson, who was not on a major league staff in 2009. "No question about it. I think they can win and I think they can win very soon. With their young pitching, obviously you have to keep them healthy and get a little more production out of them. That's pretty much been my track record in my career." Peterson has some familiarity with the Marlins from his days with ..."
October 14
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Turns out Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! manager Fredi Gonzalez performed well enough to keep his job. The same can't be said for pitching coach Mark Wiley and infield coach Andy Fox. Tuesday, the Marlins announced neither Wiley nor Fox would return to their positions. The others - bench coach Carlos Tosca, hitting coach Jim Presley, third base/outfield coach Bo Porter, bullpen coach Steve Foster and bullpen coordinator Pierre Arsenault - have been offered contracts for 2010. Though Gonzalez signed an extension that takes him through 2011, the Marlins left him in limbo at season's end. Late Saturday, a report surfaced they had discussions with Bobby Valentine about a job, ..."
October 7
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Turns out Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! manager Fredi Gonzalez performed well enough to keep his job. The same can't be said for pitching coach Mark Wiley and infield coach Andy Fox. Tuesday, the Marlins announced neither Wiley nor Fox would return to their positions. The others — bench coach Carlos Tosca, hitting coach Jim Presley, third base/outfield coach Bo Porter, bullpen coach Steve Foster and bullpen coordinator Pierre Arsenault — have been offered contracts for 2010. Though Gonzalez signed an extension that takes him through 2011, the Marlins left him in limbo at season's end. Late Saturday, a report surfaced they had discussions with Bobby Valentine about a job, which ..."
October 7
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Turns out Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! manager Fredi Gonzalez performed well enough to keep his job. The same can't be said for pitching coach Mark Wiley and infield coach Andy Fox. Tuesday, the Marlins announced neither Wiley nor Fox would return to their positions. The others - bench coach Carlos Tosca, hitting coach Jim Presley, third base/outfield coach Bo Porter, bullpen coach Steve Foster and bullpen coordinator Pierre Arsenault - have been offered contracts for 2010. Though Gonzalez signed an extension that takes him through 2011, the Marlins left him in limbo at season's end. Late Saturday, a report surfaced they had discussions with Bobby Valentine about a job, ..."
October 6
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
columnist Dave Hyde
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The damage is done. Fredi Gonzalez is tainted goods already. And here's what I don't get: How does Gonzalez get singled out for the Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! missing the playoffs? If owner Jeffrey Loria follows this kind of logic, he should fire President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest, too. Fire Beinfest first, actually. Beinfest is only one of the smarter minds in the game. But he didn't consider this enough of a playoff contender to trade for pitching help when that was needed. He stuck Emilio Bonifacio at the top of the order for nearly two empty months. He swung and missed on a trade of Hall of Fame talent Miguel Cabrera that has so far yielded reliever Burke ..."
October 6
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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A batting champion. Four hitters with 90 or more RBI. Three relievers with 70 or more appearances. Maybe even the National League Rookie of the Year. All the Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now!' individual accomplishments amounted to a failure in the view of owner Jeffrey Loria and the front office. Second place in the NL East, 87 wins, but no postseason. "We were purely too inconsistent in my opinion this year to make it," President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest said. "I don't want to sound like we're terribly disappointed or unhappy because that's not the case. You never want to be satisfied not making it. We want to make the playoffs. I guess we just came up short. We ..."
October 5
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Apparently, a three-win improvement for a Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! organization that went from a major league-low $21.8 million Opening Day payroll in 2008 to a still league-low $36.8 million Opening Day payroll in 2009 is unsatisfactory for owner Jeffrey Loria. Rather than wholeheartedly celebrate finishing Sunday with the third-best record in franchise history (87-75), the Marlins are lamenting not making the playoffs. According to SI.com, Loria's level of consternation is such that he's giving serious thought to replacing manager Fredi Gonzalez, possibly with Bobby Valentine. "I believe he feels the same way we all feel, which is we set out each year to make the ..."
October 5
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Apparently, a three-win improvement for a Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! organization that went from a major league-low $21.8 million Opening Day payroll in 2008 to a still league-low $36.8 million Opening Day payroll in 2009 is unsatisfactory for owner Jeffrey Loria. Rather than celebrate finishing Sunday with the third-best record in franchise history (87-75), the Marlins are lamenting not making the playoffs. According to SI.com, Loria's level of consternation is such that he's giving serious thought to replacing manager Fredi Gonzalez, possibly with Bobby Valentine. "I believe he feels the same way we all feel, which is we set out each year to make the playoffs, and we ..."
October 4
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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By virtue of Albert Pujols going 0 for 4 Saturday and Hanley Ramirez going 1 for 2, the Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! will probably have their first batting champion. Ramirez, who entered the game 11 for his past 62, hit an RBI double in the first and lined out in the third before exiting with a right knee contusion suffered on a steal of third in the first inning. Ramirez raised his average to .342, 13 points ahead of Pujols. Pablo Sandoval began the day at .329. The Giant could finish 8 for 8 and still wouldn't catch Ramirez. "I know I was struggling, but I wasn't looking on the computer to see what they were hitting," Ramirez said. "I don't think I did it myself. Everybody gave ..."
October 4
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Ask Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest why his Florida Marlins won't be playing beyond this afternoon's regular season finale and he can sum it up in one word: inconsistency. That was the term he consistently used when discussing the club before Saturday's 4-3 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. In no other area was that inconsistency more damaging than the starting pitching. Saturday offered a perfect example. In his last outing at Turner Field, Anibal Sanchez walked eight. Against the Phillies: one earned run ? a Ryan Howard solo homer ? and two walks over seven innings. Three-fifths of the Marlins' season opening rotation spent ..."
October 3
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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The Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! arrived at Citizens Bank Park Friday knowing they could lose their remaining three games and still boast the third-highest win total in franchise history. In no way did they resemble a disinterested team. Behind four hits from Cameron Maybin, three RBI from Jorge Cantu, and six strong innings from Rick VandenHurk, the Marlins spanked the playoff bound Phillies 7-2. Fielding a lineup minus regulars Jimmy Rollins, Raul Ibanez and Pedro Feliz, the Phillies are jockeying for postseason seeding. They began the day with the National League's second best record, one game behind the Dodgers and one ahead of the Cardinals. The Marlins meanwhile ..."
October 1
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Ricky Nolasco will purge plenty of memories from this season. The 9.07 ERA through his first nine starts. The demotion to Triple-A New Orleans. The 10 runs he allowed over 3 1/3 innings at Houston in August. Yet long after Nolasco hangs up the uniform for good, he'll look back on 2009 with some fondness. He'll remember his last start and that magical 42-pitch stretch at Turner Field. Nolasco flirted with major league history Wednesday, striking out nine consecutive batters as part of a regular-season franchise-record 16-strikeout game. Behind Nolasco's lockdown effort, the Marlins toppled the Braves 5-4. Starting with Adam LaRoche in the third, Nolasco struck out the side in three ..."
October 1
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Jorge Cantu doesn't mind when opponents intentionally walk Hanley Ramirez to pitch to him. He welcomes the opportunity. Tuesday, Cantu came up for the 11th time after a Ramirez intentional walk and delivered the game-winning, RBI-single off Kenshin Kawakami in the seventh for a 5-4 Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! win at Turner Field. The Braves, who got the tying run on first with no outs off Leo Nunez, lost for the just the third time in 18 games. Nunez induced a Chipper Jones double play and Brian McCann pop out for his 25th save. Cantu, who is 7 for his last 17 with runners in scoring position, raised his overall average with RISP to .296 (58 for 196). The RBI was his ..."
October 1
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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After playing most of Wednesday's game as if it were a must-whiff rather than must-win situation, the Braves staged a dramatic ninth-inning rally that sent a jolt of electricity and hope through Turner Field. But it was squelched by one of of the more unusual game-ending plays anyone could remember in a 5-4 loss against the Florida Marlins, which left Matt Diaz feeling awful and the Braves' postseason hopes decimated. With the bases loaded, Diaz was thrown out trying to get back to third when a pitch in the dirt got away from Marlins catcher Ronny Paulino -- but not as far away as Diaz had momentarily thought. "I pride myself on making the right decision," said Diaz, who had come halfway ..."
September 30
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Jorge Cantu doesn't mind when opponents intentionally walk Hanley Ramirez to pitch to him. He welcomes the opportunity. Tuesday, Cantu came up for the 11th time after a Ramirez intentional walk and delivered the game-winning, RBI-single off Kenshin Kawakami in the seventh for a 5-4 Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! win at Turner Field. The Braves, who got the tying run on first with no outs off Leo Nunez, lost for the just the third time in 18 games. Nunez induced a Chipper Jones double play and Brian McCann pop out for his 25th save. Cantu, who is 7 for his last 17 with runners in scoring position, raised his overall average with RISP to .296 (58 for 196). The RBI was his ..."
September 30
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Down to maybe one game to lose -- if they're lucky -- the Braves did just that Tuesday night, falling 5-4 to the Marlins. The Braves' wild card hopes are more precarious than ever, down 2-½ games to the Rockies with five games to play, pending the Rockies-Brewers game Tuesday night. If the Braves thought they've had no room for error over the last 2-½ weeks. Try now. "We've been in the corner all season long pretty much, so we'll see how it works out," said Matt Diaz, whose game-tying three-run homer in the sixth inning was the last big hit the Braves could muster. "It's looked bleaker than this. We'll see what happens. We'll come tomorrow ready to play carefree, like we've got nothing to ..."
September 29
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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From eight scoreless innings his last time out to eight walks this time. Anibal Sanchez's topsy-turvy season continued Monday at Turner Field, where he came one base on balls shy of matching the franchise record in yet another crippling Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! loss. The Braves parlayed two of those walks into runs and got an outstanding seven innings from Jair Jurrjens in the 4-0 win. One more loss or one more Rockies win and the Marlins are out of the wild card hunt. The Braves meanwhile continued their surge, winning their seventh straight and 15th in 17 tries to close within two of the idle Rockies. In spite of throwing just 46.2 percent of 91 pitches for strikes, ..."
September 29
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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If the 2-1/2 weeks the Braves had used to narrow the wild card lead down to these precious two games weren't convincing enough, then maybe Monday night was. The Braves are not kidding about this playoff business, and they can see it from here. With the Rockies idle, the Braves beat the Marlins 4-0 Monday to extend their winning streak to seven games after winning 15 of their past 17. They are only two games behind the Rockies in the wild card race with six games to play. They keep this up? They could be playing the Rockies in a one-game playoff next Monday at Turner Field. Or more. After a Phillies' loss Monday, the Braves are only four games out in the NL East. "That might be ..."