May 27
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Once this season Ozzie Guillen removed Heath Bell from the closer role. Bell has forced him to contemplate the same course of action. For the second time in as many nights, Bell started the ninth with a three-run lead. His results dictated Guillen remove him mid-outing. Bell gave up a leadoff single to Angel Pagan and walked two of the next three batters. Friday it was Steve Cishek who came in for the save. Saturday, Randy Choate finished it off. Guillen after the 5-3 win was not prepared to make any determinations about how he might use Bell going forward. Here's what he had to say: "I don't want [people] to be like, 'Wow, how hard-headed he is,' but my players are my players. I'm going"
May 27
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Ninth inning. Two out. Tying runs on base and a red-hot hitter at the plate. This was why the Marlins signed Heath Bell. Gregor Blanco, who entered the at-bat 8 for his last 13 with three extra-base hits, swung through the 0-2 pitch, giving the Marlins a 5-3 win Saturday. The problem with that scene: Bell was in the dugout. For the second time in as many nights, Bell started the ninth with a three-run lead. His results dictated that manager Ozzie Guillen remove him. Bell gave up a leadoff single to Angel Pagan and walked two of the next three batters. "As a manager, the last thing you want to do is take your closer out every day," Guillen said. "It's not an easy decision. We've given him"
May 27
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Manager Ozzie Guillen and closer Heath Bell have a difference of opinion about how to pitch with a three-run lead in the ninth inning. After Friday's 7-6 win, Guillen questioned why Bell threw Joaquin Arias a 2-1 breaking ball. The count went to 3-1 and after three straight foul balls, Arias doubled to the left-center field gap. Both Guillen and Bell revisited the subject before Saturday's game. "I don't know much about pitching, but it makes you wonder what we're thinking," Guillen said. "I don't blame him a bit because maybe he did it before. You're up by three runs the pitch selection was very poor. I don't criticize his pitch selection because [if he throws strikes] everybody goes,"
May 19
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Closers generally don't get any additional gratification out of saving games for one starter over another. Yet Friday might have been a little different. That Heath Bell closed out a 3-2 victory over the Indians for Carlos Zambrano meant a little more. Three times this season Bell had a hand in costing Zambrano wins. His first two blown saves came in Zambrano starts. In another Zambrano outing, Steve Cishek was charged with the blown save, but it was Bell who created the mess. Throughout it all, Zambrano has been nothing if not even-tempered and supportive. "He's been there for me from day one," said Bell, who tossed a one-two-three ninth. "It feels really good for him to have my back when"
May 10
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Heath Bell faces questions about his temporary exile as Marlins closer with the same hard stare he usually reserves for hitters in the ninth inning. Prior to Wednesday's finale of a nine-game trip, he offered little insight into how the situation is affecting him aside from declaring emphatically, "I want my job back, and I'm going to get it back.""
May 6
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Heath Bell after blowing his fourth save in seven opportunities late Friday forced manager Ozzie Guillen's hand. For the immediate future, the Marlins no longer will use Bell in save situations. Pitching again in San Diego, where he topped the 40-save mark in each of the last three seasons, Bell surrendered back-to-back doubles to pinch-hitter Jesus Guzman and Cameron Maybin to start the inning. That made it an 8-8 game, and the Marlins' ultimately won it in 12 on Omar Infante's RBI-double and thanks to three shutout innings from Steve Cishek. "I like the way he's throwing the ball," Guillen said. "The ball is coming out of his hand pretty well, but the location is not there. We're going"
May 4
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Heath Bell poked out his head and surveyed the two dozen reporters and cameramen awaiting Jose Reyes when he returned to Citi Field for the first time as a Marlin last month. He's not anticipating a similar welcoming committee at Petco Park on Friday. "In San Diego, we only had about three [reporters]," Bell said. "If something big happened, we had about six guys. … It's going to be exciting because I get to see my kids. I get to hang out in a place I played for five years. I also feel like I'm with a great team here. I can honestly tell you I don't want to be anywhere else but Miami." Bell from 2009-11 totaled 132 saves for the Padres."
May 3
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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The two words manager Ozzie Guillen used to characterize Steve Cishek after Wednesday's 3-2, 10-inning win against the Giants: Cold blood. Not as in cold-blooded killer, rather more in the ice-water-in-the-veins sense. Witnessing Cishek's performance, Guillen's intended point was well taken. Cishek minimized the ninth-inning damage, sending the game to extras, and made Giancarlo Stanton's 10th-inning solo homer hold up with a one-two-three bottom half."
May 2
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Edward Mujica and Heath Bell respectively punctuated the conclusion of the eighth and ninth innings late Tuesday with fist pumps. Not a gesture Marlins relievers or anyone else on the club has found much occasion to employ lately. They were more than merited on this night as the Marlins hung on to beat the Giants 2-1 at AT&T Park in a game they hope points to a better month than their 8-14 April. If the Marlins allow Ricky Nolasco to become a free agent when his contract is up after next season, don't be surprised if the Giants are the first team in line for his services. Nolasco improved to 4-0 in four career AT&T Park outings after giving up a run on seven hits through 7 1/3 innings."
May 2
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Marlins fans aren't the only ones wondering why closer Heath Bell had a terrible April. "My daughter has called me up and asked me, 'Dad, is your arm hurt?' " said Bell, relaying a conversation with Jasmyne, 14. "I'm like, 'No.' She goes, 'what's wrong? You're usually really good.' " In spite of Bell's bloated ERA (10.80) and eight walks and five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings, Jasmyne and her siblings should expect to continue seeing their father in the ninth inning. Bell on Monday pitched in a non-save situation against the Diamondbacks and gave up two more runs on a hit, a walk and a hit batter."
April 27
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Heath Bell had just thrown his 43rd pitch of the ninth inning when pitching coach Randy St. Claire got on the bullpen phone. Three pitches later, the game and an abysmal five-game winless road trip were over. The Mets completed the three-game Citi Field sweep Thursday on Kirk Nieuwenhuis' drive to deep right with two out and the bases loaded. Bell entered with a 2-1 lead and walked three of the first four batters he faced. Pinch-hitter Justin Turner fell behind 0-2 before drawing his RBI-base on balls on the 13th pitch of the at-bat. "I'm not going to take any credit away from the kid, but it's easy to hit when you know the guy is only throwing fastballs," said manager Ozzie Guillen, after"
April 15
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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In explaining his three walks on 12 pitches during Friday night's outing, Heath Bell said because of familiarity he felt more comfortable facing Carlos Lee than the Astros' young hitters. Bell got Lee on an excuse-me swing with the bases loaded to keep it a tie game in the ninth inning. Flash forward to Saturday. Bell was back on the mound with Lee in the batters' box, this time trying to preserve a lead and earn his first save. Lee ripped a single over second to tie it, and a Logan Morrison error in left allowed the go-ahead run to score. Bell got his second blown save in as many opportunities and the Astros earned a 5-4, series-evening victory in front of 31,659 Marlins Park fans. "I"
April 9
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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It stinks in the immediate aftermath, but the feeling passes quickly. Heath Bell figured by the time the Marlins' charter flight landed in Philadelphia early Sunday evening, the unpleasantness of blowing his first save would be behind him. That, in large part, is why Bell has strung together three straight 40-save seasons, and why the Marlins expect a fourth in spite of watching him fall short in his initial opportunity. Bell entered with a one-run lead and served up a solo homer to Jay Bruce, his second of the game and third of the series. Three of the next four batters reached and the Reds had themselves a series-winning, 6-5 walk-off victory at Great American Ballpark."
March 23
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
columnist Mike Berardino
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Role models? Everybody always assumes Heath Bell's is Trevor Hoffman, the community-pillar closer who taught him so much in San Diego before turning over the keys to the Padres bullpen. Actually, the new Marlins closer relates much more to a fictional character. Kenny Powers. You know, the foul-mouthed, wise-cracking, down-on-his-luck former big-league pitcher from the HBO series "Eastbound & Down." "Dude, I'm totally Kenny Powers," Bell says. "I'm like his long, lost brother. If my wife would let me grow the mullet, I'd be so in there.""
December 2
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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The Marlins late Thursday thumbed their noses at all the skeptics who believe their free agent dalliances are smokescreens. A league source confirmed the Marlins agreed to a three-year deal with Heath Bell, one of the top closers available. Bell is guaranteed $9 million a year, and the contract also includes a vesting option for a fourth season. The pact may not become official for a few days. Bell, a native of Southern California, still needs to come to South Florida for a physical, perhaps as early as Friday. Unlike some of the other free agents the Marlins have courted, Bell did not visit for the perfunctory Joe's Stone Crab lunch and stadium tour. One industry source said he was"
July 26
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
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There's a week to go before the MLB trade deadline without waivers and, around baseball, talks for Padres' reliever Heath Bell are heating up. According to ESPN.com and Fox Sports there is a lengthy list of teams that have shown interest in Bell that includes many of the usual suspects, the Cards, the Rangers, the Phillies, the Angels, the Braves, the Reds and, oh yes, the Blue Jays. The Jays? Yes. The safest bet in baseball is that if there's a major player being dangled that Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos has at least made preliminary inquiries to find out what it would take to acquire that player. Knowledge is power and Anthopoulos, heading into the trade stretch, knows not only what his own"