Friar Watch

The Padres are in Miami for a weekend series against the Marlins. This afternoon’s game should be fun to watch, Greg Maddux goes up against Dontrelle Willis.

My knowledge of the Marlins is about on par with that of the Nationals: I can name maybe 3 players on the roster. Let’s take a look at the Marlins blogs:

Craig at Fish Stripes notes that tonight is Bark at the Park night. Apparently fans can bring their dogs to the park if they buy a $6 ticket, with proceeds going to charity. Kind of a cool idea but also kind of sad that they know a Friday night game against the Padres is going to have such poor attendance that they can do something like that.

Craig also notes that Marlins infield coach Andy Fox has small pegs placed in the field that he uses to position the fielders. Seems like a smart idea, I wonder if other teams do this? And what happens if there’s two sets of pegs?

Marlins Baseball reports that the Marlins ran into our old friend Oliver Perez on Wednesday. The result? 5 2/3 innings, 10 strikeouts, 3 walks, 3 hits and one earned run (plus two unearned). Add in a couple of hits from Ollie and you have a typical good Oliver Perez start. Unfotunately he mixes in enough bad starts where he walks 6 and gets hit hard that he just can’t make the leap to the next level. I read something that compared him to Sid Fernandez and that seems about right.

Jonnylons at Marlins Nation wonders if the Marlins strike out too much. As long as they’re scoring runs I wouldn’t worry about it. I’d rather lead the league in strikeouts than GIDP or Caught Stealing.

Nolesmarlins has the Padres at #14 in the power rankings, right behind the Fish at #13. I may be biased but I’d put the Padres a little higher.

Don’t take the Marlins lightly. They’re a young team with a bunch of no-name players but they’re no pushovers. Should be a fun series, even if we hear more barking than cheering.