The Marlins are going to try and win the series once again today.

Johnson is looking to continue his run of quality starts, he has thrown six in-a-row.  When you compare Johnson's day starts v. his night starts, he has 5 of each.  He tends to give up more hits during the day, but he strikeouts more and has fewer walks.  He has never faced St. Louis.

Wainwright will be making his fourth start since returning from the DL.  In the previous three, two of them being quality starts, he has yet to go past 6 innings.  He normally doesn't do as well on the hill in the daytime.  But he doesn't pitch badly either.

Ichthyomancy is looking to start another win streak, with hopefully this one being longer than two games.  Best of Luck to You!

The Marlins finally won two-in-a-row.  Woo Hoo!  Now the goal is to try and make it three-in-a-row.

Olsen has been the hard luck starter of late and by late, I mean this season.  His last outing wasn't all that bad, but the three solo home runs he surrendered didn't help.  When Olsen came out the game the bullpen let every inherited runner score.  Of course, the fact that the offense didn't score after the first inning wasn't exactly supportive either.

Wellemeyer last faced Olsen and the Marlins on Aug. 14.  In that start he went 7.2 innings giving up 0 runs on 3 hits.  The Marlins didn't get around to scoring during any part of that game.  Wellemeyer has pitched reasonable well in his last two starts but he took a loss in both seeing how the Cardinals didn't bother to score a run in either game.  He normally does better on the road than at home.  Wellemeyer's road ERA is 2.87 as opposed to his home ERA of 4.69.

Ichthyomancy is ready for the weekend.  Best of Luck to You!

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Hopefully the Marlins are going to break the streak of win one, lose one.  The Fish need to start putting some wins back-to-back.  And preferably, back-to-back-to-back...

Nolasco wasn't as sharp his last time out but did get through six innings and logged another quality start.  But it was a battle.  It is the same thing as always for Ricky, if he can spot his fast ball and the breaking pitches are working, he will do just fine.

Looper had an extremely rough start in his outing only going 4.1 and allowing 8 runs.  But on the flip side, Looper seems to save some of his best work for when he faces Florida.  I guess he is still upset about the Marlins trading him.

Ichthyomancy is so happy that it is Friday and the Fish are playing a night game.  Best of Luck to You!

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Sarah Talaley gives us an update.

A tiny update: Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri Beth Cohen has told attorneys involved in the case filed by auto dealer Norman Braman against the financing for a ballpark for the Marlins that she plans to rule next week on whether the stadium serves a “paramount public purpose.”

That’s the count the Marlins, Miami-Dade County and city of Miami are most concerned about because it determines whether public money can be put toward the stadium.

---

Cohen also must rule on whether part of the financing going to $3 billion worth of Miami projects must be subject to a public vote. The Marlins, county and city believe if Cohen rules in favor of a referendum, the ballpark would be exempt from a public vote, but Braman disagrees.

And time keeps dragging on.

I don't want to hit this too hard just yet, but here is a list of the Marlins arbitration eligible and the projected salaries.

2B Dan Uggla $417,000 $5,000,000

RHP Kevin Gregg $2,500,000 $4,000,000

LHP Scott Olsen $405,000 $2,500,000

RHP Ricky Nolasco $390,000 $2,500,000

1B Mike Jacobs $395,000 $2,500,000

LF Josh Willingham $405,000 $2,000,000

3B Jorge Cantu $600,000 $2,000,000

RF Jeremy Hermida $395,000 $2,000,000

CF Cody Ross $390,000 $1,500,000

INF Alfredo Amezaga $945,000 $1,200,999

RHP Josh Johnson $390,000 $1,000,000

RHP Sergio Mitre $1,200,000 $950,000

C Matt Treanor $705,000 $900,000

RHP Justin Miller $750,000 $800,000

RHP Joe Nelson $390,000 $750,000

RHP Doug Waechter $410,000 $750,000

RHP Logan Kensing $390,000 $500,000

3B Dallas McPherson $425,000 $425,000

I haven't fact-checked the list, but it feels about right.

We will go into this more in the offseason.  I guess what I want to bring up is all of these players won't be with us next season.

They could be, but they won't.

Stay tuned, more later.

Photi had the Albuquerque news first at Fish Chunks.  But there could also be a change to where the Double-A club plays and possibly where the short season rookies call home.

With the end of the minor league season on Labor Day, affiliates and their parent clubs began jockeying for position as they assess the pros and cons of sticking it out or trading up for a fresh location. 

In the Marlins' case, they are locked into agreements at low-A Greensboro, N.C., and Class A Jupiter. However, they are still deciding what to do with their top two affiliates: Carolina and Triple-A Albuquerque, as well as short-season Jamestown, N.Y.

"I think there's a small chance it doesn't continue," Mudcats General Manager Joe Kremer said recently from his Zebulon, N.C., office. "It's probably more in their court than it is in ours. We're happy with it, and I think they're happy with it."

While I don't think the Marlins will end their relationship with the Mudcats, it is possible that the Isotopes may not be in the future.

...there have been reports about the Dodgers returning to that minor league franchise for next season. If that happens, the Marlins could switch their Triple-A team to Las Vegas, the Dodgers' current home, or New Orleans, which is expected to lose the Mets. 

The Dodgers were in Las Vegas last season, which they are leaving.   The Dodgers have a historic relationship with Albuquerque since their Triple-A affiliate was there from 1972 to 2000.

Organizations and their affiliates have until Sept. 11 to let the Commissioner's Office know they would like to consider other options. 

A two-week period begins Sept. 16 in which organizations and minor league affiliates can negotiate with anyone they like. Any clubs that have not paired up by Oct. 7 face the risk of an arranged marriage, with the Commissioner's Office presiding.

Should the Marlins leave New Mexico, I would prefer they leave the PCL all together and join the IL.  But for that to happen they would have to bribe a team to leave and they are a pretty stingy with cash.  The other possibility is that the IL might want to expand by one club -- fat chance.

Assuming the Marlins stay in the PCL, New Orleans sounds like a better option to me.  If for no other reason, it's closer.

Probably nothing will come of this, but you never know.

Luis Gonzalez has played in 42 ballparks in his career, if I added correctly, and he has hit a home run in 35 of them.  One of the ones he hasn't produced a tater is Busch II,

Luis Gonzalez is looking to hit his first home run at new Busch Stadium. He hit 10 home runs in 56 games at old Busch Stadium but has none in six games at new Busch.

But that could all could change in this series.

In case you're curious, he also hasn't hit a home run in: Baltimore's Camden Yard, Detroit's Camerica Park, Oakland's Network Associates, Seattle's Kingdome, and Washington's Nationals Park.

No matter how long Gonzo plays he will never complete the list since the Kingdome was blown up.

Nonetheless, he can add one more in the plus column during this trip.

[Update]  Apparently, my math skills suck.  David Pinto of Baseball Musings fame reported at the Mets Blog that:

The blog, however, leaves out a couple of stadiums.  Gonzalez played in 44 different parks and homered in 38 of them.

The 38 number is absolutely correct.  However, I keep checking my list of parks and I am only counting 43.  I wonder which one I am missing now.

Anyway, thanks David for the correction.

The Marlins get the day off today which I guess is good since I'm sure flying to St. Louis takes a couple of days.  Who the heck was the scheduler for MLB this season?

But an off-day is always nice and it will give the guys time to ride that roller coaster thing up to the top of the arch.

However, in the meantime, we are left to our own desires.  So feel free to talk about anything that comes to mind.  There is a limited schedule today in MLB with only three games being played in the NL.  But no matter, you can talk all the baseball you want.

Or if you feel in a college football frame of mind, and they tell me there is a game on, go for it.  Or maybe the U.S. Open tennis thing is up your alley and who knows, maybe someone will pretend they know what you are talking about.

But whatever the case, like all Chum Buckets, this is an open thread.

Have a Great Day!

It seems the internet is all a flutter with the Marlins actual attendance for yesterday's game.

The Palm Beach Post had this:

In the minutes leading up to the 1:10 p.m. first pitch against Atlanta, reliever Joe Nelson and two other players counted the fans in the stands. The tally was 584. In the press box, the unofficial count was 589.

"We didn't count event staff, either," Nelson told reporters after the 5-3 victory. "But maybe you guys had a better view."

The USA Today reported this way:

The Marlins still think they have a shot at making the playoffs, but their fans seem to have conceded.

Depending on whom you ask, fewer than 600 fans watched the Marlins keep their postseason bid alive with a 5-3 win over Braves at Dolphin Stadium.

And there are others, so many others.

But the funny thing is they didn't bring up the low actual attendance numbers of some of the other teams who were playing middle of the week day games on the same day.

The Texas Rangers for example.

Attendance won't be announced for several innings, but this appears to be the smallest actual attendance I've ever seen in Arlington in 12 seasons. There is not a single section in the stadium that looks even half-way full. Some in the press box have guessed seriously that there are less than 1,000 people here. I'm going to say it's under 2,500.

And then there is the Brewers playing the Mets.

Miller Park looked a bit deserted one day after the Brewers' record streak of sellout crowds ended at 22 Tuesday night. But with school back in session across the state, that was to be expected.

And the Brewers and the Mets were playing indoors out of the heat.  Of course, normally this time of year isn't very hot in Wisconsin.  In fact, it is normally gorgeous.  And that isn't even bringing up the point that both teams are in the playoff hunt.

The bottom line is:, the Marlins aren't the only ones who draw small crowds when it comes to late in the season midweek day games.  It happens all over.

However, Marlins fans seem to take the brunt of the attendance media coverage.  Sometimes for almost legitimate reasons, but this isn't one of those times.

I'm sure if you were to examine the Marlins overnight television and radio ratings, both would show a drop off.  Life in South Florida is just like anywhere else, people have jobs and kids attend school.

If the media wants to bash Marlins fans, then fine.  There are several avenues to take.  But the attendance to yesterday's game isn't one of them.

Cody Ross did what he has done all season long, when the team needs a hit with runners in scoring position, he delivers.

With the bases loaded in the seventh, the Braves intentionally walked Marlins catcher John Bakerto pitch to Cody Ross, who smacked a single to right field to score the go-ahead run.

Actually, that isn't correct.  The Braves walked Baker to load the bases.  Which was probably the right thing, strategically, in order to keep hope alive to get out of the inning.

Ross, who came in 25 for 87 (.287) with four home runs and 41 RBI with runners in scoring position, has been the batter after an intentional walk a few times lately but isn't bothered.

"They're not doing it just because it's me. They have to play the situation out. But I take pride in that. I want to come through for the team right there," Ross said.

Keep walking the guy in front of Cody, that seems to be working out well for the Fish.