Marlins Take A Good Look In The Mirror…
If there’s one thing we learned this weekend, it could be that the Marlins are the poor man’s version of the Phillies. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something we noticed in the Marlins 7-5 loss to Philly today.
Neither team has anything to brag about from the mound. Each has at least a couple of guys that could potentially be aces but also a handful of hit-and-miss guys.
Both teams have shortstops that could be considered the best in the league.
Both second basemen are putting on a homerun clinic through the first 50+ games.
Really, both teams rely on a ton of offense to win games and save them from their sub par pitching. (See last 3 games: 12-3, 7-3, 7-5) They’re both essentially mirror images of one another, except for one thing: The Phillies are just better at it.
The stats so far:
PHI: 83 HR
FLA: 79 HR
PHI: 117 2B
FLA: 95 2B
PHI: 308 R
FLA: 264 R
PHI: 341 OB%
FLA: 324 OB%
PHI: 374 K
FLA: 459 K
As you can see, the only stat the Marlins have the higher number in is strikeouts, and we’re pretty sure that’s not a good thing. Not really sure what this means exactly. Probably just that winning this division pretty much means going through Philly… ouch.
We’ll see how they stack up against the Braves over the next few days.
June 2, 2008 at 3:09 am
Outstanding . . . . I could not agree more! The Marlins will be a distant memory after the All Star break. Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla seem to be the only two that are holding this team together. I sure hope that they do not rely on Wes Helms . . . . Go Phightins !
June 2, 2008 at 4:11 am
Someone’s a wee bit lost. The Marlins won’t be a distant memory, and if they are then that means the Phillies are just waiting for the bottom to fall out of their season as well. Just because they paid more for the same level of talent means it’ll hold up over 162 games? Not likely.
Though really, it doesn’t seem like anyone wants to win this division, and most of the teams are sucking out loud on the road. Going into Turner to face a hot home team in the Braves is not the way to end this road trip or build confidence but it’s happening anyway.
I blacked out for a second there…how’d I do?
June 2, 2008 at 4:35 am
I’d like to see how many of the Phillies’ home runs would be home runs in Dolphin Stadium. We got that first series out of the way…revenge next week in the park where you really have to earn homers. I’m not ready to give up on these guys. That being said, it’s time to step it up in Atlanta. We can “fatten up” on them. Especially now that Smoltz is out of the starting rotation.
June 2, 2008 at 7:09 am
The Phils have more depth on their bench players. Just look what Eric Bruntlett did in replacement of Jimmy Rollins. I’m not saying that it is going to be easy, but the Phils can manufacture runs without the longball. Purplehaze do not forget that the Phils are just like all other teams and play just a couple of games outside of the safe serenity of Citizen Bank Park. I think that on a couple of times they may have hit a homerun or two in other parks . . . . . . . The Phils usually play better on road games!