Philadelphia Phillies (36-42) @ Miami Marlins
(35-40) June 29th, 7 PM EST (Game 76)

post from Marlin Maniac on 29 June 2012 04:30:46 PM. © Marlin Maniac

The Miami Marlins have won a grand total of 6 games in the month of June, the good news, the team is still half a game ahead of the last place Philadelphia Phillies, who come to town this weekend to square off with the Marlins. The Marlins beat the Phillies in two games of three [...]

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0-june-29th-7-pm-est-game-76/

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Harper: "I don't want to be a Yankee"

post from Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog on 29 June 2012 04:01:25 PM. © Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog

If you had hopes that the Yankees would one day sign Bryce Harper, you may want to pull back the reigns a little. Apparently, he's pretty happy in DC:

?You look at Cal Ripken. You look at Derek Jeter. You look at all the greats that played for one team their whole career,? Harper said last weekend, sitting in the dugout at Camden Yards in Baltimore. ?I want to be like that. I?ve always wanted to be like that. I?ve always wanted to play with that same team.?

?Having a community and fans like we do in D.C. that love our players, love everything about us, we deserve to give something back to them,? he added. ?I want to do that. I don?t want to do anything else.?

Harper has told his father the same thing, that he wants to make Washington home and play here until he retires. ?Bryce is as loyal as they come,? Ron Harper said. ?He doesn?t care about nothing but winning a championship.?

...

Before the Nationals played the Yankees in mid-June, Harper told his father, ?I don?t want to be a Yankee. I want to beat them.?

At least the Yankees won't have to fork up the $400 million it was estimated that Harper could get on the open market, so at least they can avoid that headache. That said, if Harper spends a few years in Washington and doesn't win, I wouldn't be surprised to hear he's had another change of heart.

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Know Your Foe #26: Hey, At Least We're Not The
Padres!

post from Purple Row on 29 June 2012 04:01:21 PM. © Purple Row

I can only assume that it's Hammer Time.

Entering Friday, the Rockies are sitting 2 games ahead of the Padres in the NL West, with the Padres representing the 2nd worst record in MLB to the Chicago Cubs. Much as making light of their predicament is fun, it should be mentioned that the Padres' pitching has been simply decimated by injury. Right now, the Padres have Anthony Bass and Eric Stults on the 15-day DL, Cory Luebke, Dustin Moseley, Micah Owings, Tim Stauffer, and Joe Weiland on the 60-day DL. That's just the pitching. Add Jason Bartlett, Kyle Blanks, James Darnell, and Jeremy Hermida to that 60-day list, and that's half of an MLB roster injured.

To add insult to injury, the Padres are also the 5th worst batting team in MLB per wRC+ (86), while the Rockies are the 6th best batting team (101).

This isn't to say that NOTHING is going right for the Padres, but the glimmers of hope are few and far between.

Carlos Quentin is finally off of the DL, and he's announcing his presence with authority.

The Carlos Quentin

#18 / Left Field / San Diego Padres

Height: 6-2

Weight: 235

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Aug 28, 1982

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG2012 - Carlos Quentin2583132770615131300.325.451.627

Yeah, welcome back to the land of the living, TCQ. Quentin has been as injury prone as you'd expect a man made of balsa wood would be, but he's back with a vengeance for San Diego. In an admittedly small sample size, Quentin is posting a career-high batting average, BB%, and surprisingly, ISO (SLG-AVG), when you consider he plays for the Padres. He's also striking out at a career-low rate of 12.4%.

Frankly, those numbers surprise me. Not just because of LOLPETCO, but really just how low his career K% is when compared to his career batting average. Usually those low AVG guys walk a lot (which Quentin does) and their power numbers tend to also lead to a lot of strikeouts. Just ask Ian Stewart, Chris Iannetta, and Mark Reynolds.

\While I'm not terribly excited about Carlos Quentin coming to a weekend in high and dry Coors Field and hitting baseballs, I'm also in that camp of "I like to watch good baseball players play baseball good". Nobody likes to watch a player decimated by injury, unless they're racist or something. Which I don't think Carlos Quentin is.

This is an intensely winnable series for Colorado. They put up very strong fights against the Phillies and the Nationals, and now they have 1 of the only 2 teams in the NL that Colorado can still pick on coming into our park. Given the way the bats have been swinging lately, there's no reason that Colorado can't take at LEAST 2 games from the Padres while grabbing them by their wrists and hitting them in the face with their own fists while taunting "Stop hitting yourselves, stop hitting yourselves, stop hitting yourselves". In fact, I think that's the only reason we still have Jason Giambi on the roster.

Probable Starters (or my best guess anyhow, I'm always screwing these things up)

Friday, June 29th at 6:10PM MT

Jason Marquis vs Jeff Francis

Saturday, June 30th at 5:15PM MT

Edinson Volquez vs Christian Friedrich

Sunday, July 1st at 1:10PM MT

Kip Wells vs Edwar Cabrera

Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLGJason Marquis661200000200.333.333.333Carlos Quentin2583132770615131300.325.451.627Mark Kotsay346642130168502.318.392.409Chris Denorfia631672246113211152143.275.339.413Chase Headley762753675170838457394.273.373.422Logan Forsythe1859716221651411.271.328.424Yonder Alonso732592268170218275120.263.336.351Will Venable722252858163620195286.258.324.436John Baker31947246009112220.255.333.319Everth Cabrera3813114331012101540120.252.338.389Jeremy Hermida13242611023710.250.333.375Joe Wieland580210020200.250.250.375James Darnell7171410112200.235.316.471Jesus Guzman661751641131226144532.234.295.354Alexi Amarista3273717421841012.233.273.384Orlando Hudson3512311260511182732.211.260.317Kyle Blanks450100001200.200.333.200Cameron Maybin712523650643222759163.198.279.290Andy Parrino40927164013113010.174.276.250Eric Stults460110000200.167.167.333Nick Hundley55193143271322145003.166.225.259Anthony Bass172834010501210.143.143.214Clayton Richard182924100411800.138.167.172Blake Tekotte11150200000410.133.133.133Jason Bartlett29838115004122700.133.240.193Jeff Suppan8100100001100.100.182.100Edinson Volquez162602100011200.077.111.115Cory Luebke5110000000600.000.000.000Andrew Cashner2940000000100.000.000.000Ross Ohlendorf440000000200.000.000.000Kip Wells120000000100.000.000.000Micah Owings620000000200.000.000.000Alex Hinshaw1710000000100.000.000.000Tim Stauffer110000010000.000.000.000Dustin Moseley110000000000.000.000.000Luke Gregerson3610000000100.000.000.000Yasmani Grandal110000000000.000.000.000Ernesto Frieri1100000000000.000.000.000Brad Brach2700000000000.000.000.000Nick Vincent200000000000.000.000.000Miles Mikolas1300000000000.000.000.000Josh Spence1100000000000.000.000.000Dale Thayer2300000000000.000.000.000Brad Boxberger500000000000.000.000.000Huston Street2000000000000.000.000.000Joe Thatcher2900000000000.000.000.000Matt Palmer300000000000.000.000.000

Pitching

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIPBrad Boxberger0-05000006.15210781.421.89Huston Street1-02000011019.083306241.42.74Jason Marquis1-364000026.126116211262.051.41Ernesto Frieri1-0110000011.295324182.311.11Cory Luebke3-155000031.02810918232.611.16Micah Owings0-26000009.28431572.791.34Nick Vincent1-02000003.01110233.001.00Joe Thatcher0-2290000020.0178717203.151.20Miles Mikolas1-1130000113.2116519123.291.46Eric Stults1-244000024.1221394793.331.19Kip Wells0-11100005.07522323.602.00Andrew Cashner3-3292000434.2271514419433.631.33Luke Gregerson1-0360000334.0301414513363.711.26Clayton Richard5-818160000105.010154441327633.771.22Alex Hinshaw0-1170000116.21377210223.781.38Edinson Volquez4-71616000094.1774140754803.821.39Brad Brach0-1270000027.2221313522314.231.59Josh Spence0-1110000010.1135515104.351.74Joe Wieland0-455000027.226161459244.551.27Anthony Bass2-71714100084.1805144833724.701.34Jeff Suppan2-386000030.234191841375.281.53Tim Stauffer0-01100005.07431355.402.00Dale Thayer1-2230005121.024131334185.571.33Ross Ohlendorf1-042000013.220101038126.592.05Dustin Moseley0-01100005.05551249.001.40Matt Palmer0-03000002.02221229.002.00

San Diego Padres Injuries

15-Day

Player Injury Type Injury DateAnthony Bassshoulder06/21/2012

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player Injury Type Injury DateKyle Blanksshoulder04/14/2012Micah Owingsforearm04/26/2012Cory Luebkeelbow04/28/2012Joe Wielandelbow05/07/2012James Darnellshoulder05/18/2012Tim Staufferelbow05/18/2012

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-the-padres

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Astros Game Starts After Rain Delay

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 29 June 2012 04:01:20 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

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Miami Marlins: A brief look at the rest of the
schedule

post from Marlin Maniac on 29 June 2012 04:00:56 PM. © Marlin Maniac

After 75 games, the Marlins? record stands at 35-40 heading into this weekend?s home stand against the Phillies. One of the worst months in team history is coming to a close and the season?s half-way mark is approaching. As Michael Jong over at Fishstripes noted, the month was filled with a bevy of difficult opponents. [...]

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Adam Warren ready to make MLB debut for the
Yankees

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 29 June 2012 03:30:00 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

[...]

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Is There A Time For Excitement

post from Royals Review on 29 June 2012 03:01:51 PM. © Royals Review

Jun 27, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals outfielders Jarrod Dyson (left) , Alex Gordon (center) and Jeff Francoeur (right) celebrate after the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City won the game 5-4.

You will never see the writers at Royals Review celebrating a victory in the fashion that the Royals are in this photo. Mainly because I'm the only one with any athletic ability. It might also have something to do with the fact that all of us have varying degrees of skepticism with regard to what Kansas City might accomplish as a team this year.

We find ourselves, however, heading into a weekend series with Minnesota with the Royals on the brink of making things interesting. Once again, the boys in blue find themselves just five games below the .500 mark.

We've been here before.

On the morning of May 16th, Kansas City had clawed its way out of the bowels of a twelve game losing streak to stand at 15-20 with a five game homestand in front of them. The Royals went 1-4 in that homestand on their way to falling back to ten games under even. They got back to six games under twice in the first week of June, only to fall back once more to ten under by getting swept by Pittsburgh.

Again, the Royals closed within five games of even on the morning of June 22nd, only to get obliterated by the hated Cardinals. Of course, as we know, they responded by sweeping Tampa and once again find themselves poised to actually approach .500.

Can they though? Four games at Minnesota gives one hope, but fourat Toronto and three at Detroit seem problematical. Of course, if Toronto is willing to start Sean O'Sullivan and Jesse Chavez, I'm feeling considerably better.

First things first, though.

The Twins are not a good baseball team and they are worse at home than on the road. If the Royals are going to be somebody....hell, if the Royals are anybody they should be thinking three of four. A sweep? Tough to do on the road and harder yet with a doubleheader in the middle fo the series. Not to mention that this is the Royals.

Still, would three of four get your excitement level up? Both Royals Authority and Royals Review developed reputations for being pretty cynical - no doubt caused by how far all of us are from 'the dirt' - but if the Royals came off this trip 7-4 (however, unlikely that may be), would even a fair number of us start watching the standings a lot closer than we are used to this time of year?

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Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton Chosen For Home Run
Derby

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MAY 02: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the Miami Marlins is congratulated by John Buck after Stanton hit a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants in the tenth inning at AT&T Park on May 2, 2012 in San Francisco, California. The Marlins won the game 3-2 in ten innings. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

The Miami Marlins have not had Home Run Derby participants often, but this season, their best candidate is going to get a chance to prove himself. Giancarlo Stanton has accepted an invitation to the Home Run Derby. National League Derby captain Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers made the selection, and it would seem like Stanton was a natural choice for the competition. The 22-year old may be the strongest player in baseball, and he has already made a number of waves with the home runs he has hit this season, including ones that break scoreboards.

For the Marlins, this is the fourth time one of their players will compete in the Home Run Derby. The other three times seem like pretty elementary choices given the team's history; the other three participants were Miguel Cabrera in 2006, Dan Uggla in 2008, and Hanley Ramirez in 2010. The highest any Marlin has placed in the Derby is runner-up, when Ramirez did it in 2010. That year, Ramirez hit a total of 26 home runs, but got doubled up in the final round by the winner, then-Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder.

When you look at the selection of Giancarlo Stanton, it seems particularly apt for this competition. Obviously, we know Stanton is a premier home run hitter, but let's compare him to some of the other best power guys in the game in terms of what we expect them to do in the future. One way to do this is to compare the ZiPS-projected home run rates for the top power hitters in the National League. Who could stand up to Stanton and be a part of Matt Kemp's team this season?

Player Proj HR/PA%Jim Thome6.1Giancarlo Stanton5.9Matt Kemp5.1Ryan Braun5.0Jay Bruce4.8Pedro Alvarez4.7Carlos Gonzalez4.7Alfonso Soriano4.7Troy Tulowitzki4.7Joey Votto4.5

Only the ageless home run hitting machine that is Jim Thome can compare in terms of power with Giancarlo Stanton, and that should not surprise anyone; among players with at least 500 PA since 2010, Thome's 29.4 percent HR/FB rate is the highest in baseball, followed next by Giancarlo Stanton's 23.5 percent. No other National Leaguer is particularly close, with only two players even within one percent of Stanton's projected power.

Looking at this above list, you have to figure a number of these names just would not make the team Kemp is building. Only two more names can be selected to his group of four, and you have to figure the selections are going to go star players from this season rather than mostly inconsequential names like Alfonso Soriano or the struggling Pedro Alvarez. Ryan Braun seems like a lock if he accepts; he has hit 20 home runs this year and has the quietest .311/.392/.596 (.411 wOBA) campaign that I have ever seen. After Braun, it is a toss-up between Bruce (17 home runs, .246/.319/.515), Gonzalez (17 home runs, .338/.395/.605), and Votto (14 home runs, .349/.474/.636). My gut says Gonzalez will get his first crack at the Derby this year.

But can any of these players even compete with the mammoth power of Stanton? It is unlikely. There may not be a stronger player in baseball, and with the pitchers throwing just batting practice lofters over to him, we could see a shower of 500-footers right before the All-Star Game. The only questions remaining are whether Stanton can beat the slew of competitive American Leaguers and whether he will get a chance to show off these skills as well the following day in the All-Star Game.