RMJ 170 August 4

MONDAY, AUGUST 4 ● Miami, vs Florida

We have had a lot of trouble with the Marlins the last two years — especially in Miami. They have been hot; we have been hot. They won a series from the Braves; we beat the Mets. Something had to give.

I was hoping this would be the night their Cuban rookie, 22-year-old Liván Hernandez, would give it up. He came into the game with a record of 5-0 and an ERA just above 2.00. Chris Holt’s record is not quite as impressive, but Holt can be tough. He doesn’t rattle.

It turned out to be a pitcher’s duel.

Hernandez didn’t look too good from the dugout. His fastball was just a tick above average speed, and his breaking stuff seemed a little lazy. The hitters kept coming back to the dugout shaking their heads, as if they couldn’t believe they weren’t hitting him.

Holt pitched well too, but not quite well enough.

An error by Sean Berry opened it up for the Marlins in the fourth inning. They pushed two unearned runs across to take the lead.

In the sixth, Biggio doubled and Bagwell plated him with a sacrifice fly. That was all we would get.

They added two more runs when Devon White reached on a single to lead off the bottom of the sixth. It was a shallow fly ball to center; Chuckie misread it, broke back, and then couldn’t make up the ground. Two outs later, Bobby Bonilla hit a two-strike changeup over the right-field fence, and that was that.

It was an uninspired start to our road trip, but the Cardinals and Pirates lost, so we knocked a day off the schedule and maintained our lead.

 

The one thing that upset me about this game was the pitch to Bonilla. He had already flied out and singled on offspeed pitches. Both times he timed the slow curve ball well.

Vern and I have told Brad time and again that we don’t want our pitchers to throw slow pitches with two strikes in the count — especially to good hitters. For that matter, we have told the pitchers too, but most of them seem unsure of themselves and throw whatever Brad calls.

With two strikes, hitters tend to wait a little longer before committing to a swing. They are in a defensive posture, and this makes them more vulnerable to fastballs and sliders — and less apt to swing early on curve balls or changeups.

The pitch to Bonilla was up, and on the inner half of the strike zone. Earlier in the count, a mistake pitch like this might be hit hard, but foul. With two strikes, adiós.

I asked Brad if he had thought about coming up-and-in with a fastball or a slider, and he said, “not in that situation.” I suppose I should have pursued this conversation further, but the game was in progress.

I went back to my position next to Bill, wondering why he thought it was a bad idea to try to jam Bonilla instead of trying to trick him. If Bonilla was in a slump and swinging wildly, I might understand; but he is on fire.

When a good hitter is hot, there is only one place to pitch him: on the hands.

 

I had a nice visit with Dewayne Staats after the game. He watched the game and then drove down from his home in West Palm Beach. He talked about kids and schools.

His oldest daughter, Stephanie, is in college now, and she is partying her grades and money away. He is chagrined, but I told him to be happy that at least she was staying in school. Julia is going back to start college — for the third time — at the end of the month. Perhaps this time it will take.

I know Dewayne would like to get back in the booth with our ballclub. He started his career under Tal, and Gerry was a junior executive at the time. There are a lot of connections and good vibrations.

It makes perfect sense, except for one thing: Milo would have to go. Drayton thinks Milo has a large, loyal following, and that may be true. Sometimes it’s hard to get something back after you have given it up. So tomorrow, Dewayne is off to Seattle to work a game for ESPN. He doesn’t do as many games these days, but he’s like a hired gun; he has no team tugging at his heart and soul.