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Quiz: Padres with at least 100 runs in a season

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Like Monday's quiz about Padres with a 100-RBI season, this seemed like a subject I would have already made a quiz about. Whereas 13 players combined for 18 100-RBI seasons, 11 have scored 100 runs a total of 15 times. Since 82% of the people who took the 100-RBI quiz got at least 10 out of 13 in three minutes, and this one has two less answers, I dropped the time down to two minutes. I would have went with two-and-a-half, but that's not an option. A two-minute cap also limits mass-wild-guessing, which I like because the results seem truer than when it becomes a contest to see who can get the most crap to stick to a wall.

Once all of the sand is in the bottom of the egg timer, log your results in the poll below. Also, be sure to use spoiler bars in your comments where applicable, so as to not ruin the quiz for someone who hasn't taken it yet.

Poll
How many did you get?

  31 votes |Results


Padres 10, Marlins 1: The Gyork Store Is Open For Business

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The Padres cracked double digits in the runs column for the first time this season, and it's largely thanks to Jedd Gyorko. The sophomore second baseman broke out of his slump in grand fashion, utterly destroying Rookie of the Year Jose Fernandez. The first shot came in the second inning after Yasmani Grandal reached base on a throwing error. Jedd took a first pitch fastball all the way to the Jack Deck for an early 2-run lead.

That was nice, but the real excitement came in the sixth inning. Everth Cabrera and Seth Smith led off with a pair of singles, and Grandal walked to load 'em up for Jedd. He took a little bit longer to find his pitch the second time around, but he found another meaty fastball to the second floor of the Western Metal Building. That ended Fernandez's night, but his replacement Brad Hand didn't do much better. He gave up a single, double, and another single to Cameron Maybin, Yonder Alonso, and Alexi Amarista. That was good to get Maybin across the plate. Alonso would join him on Will Venable's sacrifice fly.

The Marlins finally managed to touch Tyson Ross for a run when Marcell Ozuna wrapped up an 8-pitch at bat with homer to left. That was the only mark on Tyson's 7-inning stint. He only gave up four hits, a pair of walks, and a lone run while still striking out eight.

But that still wasn't a good enough night for our boys. Alexi led off the eighth with another single, and was quickly joined by Kyle Blanks. With two outs, Smith came back up to knock a two-run double past Ozuna. With double digits on the board, the offense was finally ready to rest. I hope they sleep well and dream of all the runs they'll score tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, Eric Stults will toe the rubber at 5:40 PM. It should be a great night for baseball, so head down to the ballpark for another Padres win!

Roll Call Info
Total comments137
Total commenters17
Commenter listDarklighter, Dex, Friar Fever, Hormel, Jay Stokes, Jonathan Holmes, Jsn L, Oldschoolrules, Senor_Lumpy, abara, ariz2cali, chris.callahan.7777, daveysapien, huck.barry, jodes0405, recorddigger, walkoff59
Story URLs

Friar Fever took his commenting crown back tonight, but Jodes matched Gyorko's RBI count with 6 recs.

Prospectos Dominicanos de San Diego

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A hearty look back at a handful of young standout players signed from the Dominican Republic; and where they left off last summer.

San Diego and its baseball fans are no strangers to Latin America. Nestled on the border of Mexico, and the owners of one of the only 100%-Spanish team names in American sports, the Padres have been connected to many Hispanic communities in a lot of different ways. But it wasn't until as recently as 2008 that the Padres began connecting to an important source of baseball talent in the beautiful Dominican Republic.

To start with a familiar name that Padres fans would easily associate with the República Dominicana: Rymer Lyriano. Originally a top-ranked prospect in San Diego's farm system; Rymer has slowly started to level out. Although posting decent-to-average numbers since beeing signed back in 2007, it was his Tommy John surgery that kept him out of seeing any 2013 action that has dented his progress.

Lyriano is currently hitting .248 for the San Antonio Missions with a .794 OPS, seeing 117 at bats and only having 29 hits, but he is certainly not alone in our farm system when it comes to Dominican League talent.

Carlos Belen (18), a less-familiar face and a solid DSL-prospect, Belan signed for the Padres when he was sixteen for $1M as a third basemen during the 2012-13 international signing period. He was a player who drew attention because of his offensive potency. He's a right hander, standing at 6 foot 2 and almost 200lbs. He has shown a compact swing with good bat speed, combined with his raw power and strength to shoot sharp line drives and has the ability to hit for both a good average and good power.

Carlos Belen - 2013 Dominican Summer League & Arizona Summer League
Games PlayedAt BatsRunsHitsHome RunsRBI'sWalksStrikeoutsAVGOPS
6925037618282767.244.740

His 2013 performance for the Dominican Summer League (DSL) and Arizona League (AZL) Padres showed him fitting that archetypal 3B role of a righthanded hitter with some power and a strong arm in the corner. After some fundamental adjustments to his overall mechanics, Belen has the potential to fill both an offensive and defensive spot in the corner not very typical from somebody of his larger build; but whether or not he stays at third base remains to be seen.

Where Belen is considered a large guy with a large bat, right fielder Euri Minaya (18) and first baseman Jonas Lantigua (19) keep things in perspective. Minaya (6'4", 200lbs.) and Lantigua (6'5" 205lbs.) both tower over most in their plate presences.

Euri Minaya - 2013 Dominican Summer League & Arizona Summer League
Games PlayedAt BatsRunsHitsHome RunsRBI'sWalksStrikeoutsAVGOPS
4415923285151677.176.593
Jonas Lantigua - 2013 Dominican Summer League & Arizona Summer League
Games PlayedAt BatsRunsHitsHome RunsRBI'sWalksStrikeoutsAVGOPS
110405309815225100.242.621

While Minaya was able to make adjustments that impressed Padres scouting, Lantigua, despite posting decent numbers, will still have to find a way to make his long-extending build work in the batters box. Both players will also find their focus towards learning to hit off-speed pitches. Minaya hasn't put up any impressive numbers yet, but the mechanical improvements he is making keep him relevant.

Euri Minaya shown making good contact,
but struggling with breaking pitches.

Minaya along with Belen are contact-oriented low-power hitters that the Padres have the potential to reap the benefits of, with Lantigua providing some serious power potency. Couple that with the young Elys Ugueto (17), who, although hasn't put up any serious numbers, has shown a good glove; and you've got a decent amount of position players who can fill infield roles.

Moving to the center of the diamond and beyond, our organization also signed a couple of players still rattling around the Dominican League. Right handed pitcher Starling Ynfante (20) is a 6'2" 200lb. with a three-pitch tool. In his 38.2 innings he has only allowed 20 hits, walked 33, and has struck out 45. He throws low 90's and works around with a changeup, curve, fastball that will dip down hard. Ynfante has posted a 2.33 ERA in the 9 games that he has started.

Along with former Padre Edinson Volquez and current relief pitcher Joaquín Benoit, these new young pitchers would be some of the first Dominican players to grace our starting rotation. San Diego has also locked on to righthander Mayky Perez (17), another towering 6'5" player who throws in the low 90's, and was also in the top 20 for international prospects last year. Perez has stayed around the high 80's low 90's, which is what he has been throwing since around the age of 15. He continues to develop in Arizona, trying to kick up his velocity to what scouts were projecting when first signed, and also got his first taste of Petco throwing in the Perfect Game All-America Classic in 2012.

"Mi nombre es Mayky Perez, tengo dieciséis años de edad, soy de San Pedro de Macoris. Mi pelotero favorito es Pedro Martinez"

There are also the recent signings of righthander Jaimito Lebron (17) and shortstop Ruddy Giron (17). Giron was a speedy bat that the Padres found appeal in his good eye at the plate and ability to make contact. Jaimito on the other hand is another tall pitcher with great mechanics that is throwing low 90's and starting to rise. Both Giron and Lebron are going to be starting this year in Arizona to show off what they've been working on.

Other signings in and out of the AZL and DSL that haven't exactly broken into any top twenty lists are:

Luis Asuncion (17) - A corner outfielder that hits for some power. Another beastly 17 year old standing at 6-foot-4, is expecting to see his raw power be fine-tuned and fully realized.

Ramon Reyes (18) - One of the many lanky 6'3" righties that flirt with the 90mph range, posting a 6.00 ERA in his 27 innings pitched but hasn't found good control of his arm quite yet to be a consistent starter.

Ronaldo Contreras (17) - Using a 6'3" frame and similar to Asuncion in his power, but also requires a bit of mechanical tweaking so that his power can be applied.

Westhers Magdaleno (17) - A quick-hitting 6'1" shortstop and potential second baseman. He's another hopeful contact-hitter and puts a lot of energy into his game. Speedy and fast on his feet.

So what outlining information can be taken away from this healthy amount of players? Personally, I think the same that can be taken away every year when it comes to Dominican Prospects.

We're seeing players who were signed at a young age start to mature and develop into the type of performers that they were and were not projected to be.

The risk/reward of Dominican League signing has always been very high. Hoping any sixteen/seventeen year old fulfills the potential they show is just as much of a baseball adventure as any you'd find in the States.

PLAYERSIGNING
Carlos Belen$1,000,000
Euri Minaya$700,000
Starling Ynfante$200,000
Ronaldo Contreras$140,000
Jonas Lantigua$150,000
Ruddy Giron$600,000
Jaimito Lebron$410,000
Westhers Magdaleno$400,000
Elys Ugueto$50,000
Luis Asuncion$350,000
Ramon Reyes$500,000
Mayky Perez$634,800

Though the Padres are certainly late to getting as deep into foreign amateur-league baseball as other organizations; we have at the very least arrived at a good start of tapping its potential. Streaming a constructive amount of money from our new, much larger, financial pool into these very talented Dominican players; fans can hope to see a very diversified group of prospects filling San Diego minor-league rosters in the near future.

Sources:
MiLB.com
Fangraphs
DPLbaseball
Rotoworld
BaseballAmerica
Baseball-Reference

MLB Scores: San Diego Padres 10, Miami Marlins 1

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The Miami Marlins fell to the Padres 10-1 on Friday night. Jose Fernandez struggled on the mound and Miami had dificulty getting men in scoring position.

It was San Diego second baseman Jedd Gyorko who made an error that allowed Giancarlo Stanton to bat with a runner on base on Thursday night, and it was Gyorko who led the Padres' offense with six RBIs in a 10-1 victory on Friday night.

Jose Fernandez struggled from the outset, having a hard time locating his fastball consistently. After Yasmani Grandal reached on a throwing error to open the bottom of the second, Gyorko took an elevated fastball to right field for a two run home run to give the Padres an early lead.

Fernandez loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth before Gyoro hit his second home run of the night to make it a 6-0 contest. The second blast led to Fernandez's departure. In five innings, he gave up six hits and six runs while walking one and striking out five.

Tyson Ross was effective on the mound for the Padres, and only gave up a Marcell Ozuna seventh inning solo home run. Ross' sliders had Miami's hitters fooled for most of the night.

Brad Hand and Kevin Slowey pitched an inning of relief for the Marlins and gave up two runs each. Carlos Marmol pitched an inning of scoreless relief for the Marlins, whose five game winning streak came to an end.


Source: FanGraphs

Attendance: 22,553

Hero of The Game: None

Goat of The Game: Jose Fernandez (-.195 WPA)

Play of The Game: Jedd Gyorko's second inning home run gave the Padres a 2-0 lead. (.185 WPA)

Dodger 5/9/14 minor league report: Gould is good

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Joc Pederson's glove is the only highlight in Albuquerque, Garrett Gould has another solid start

Minor League Player of the Day

Garrett Gould, 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks and 9 strikeouts. Gould's last 2 starts, 11 IP, 7 hits, 2 runs, 5 walks and 14 strikeouts.  Time will tell if former Dodger second round draft pick will build on these games.

Games

Triple-A Albuquerque: A six-run first followed by a five-run second inning was more than enough as the River Cats (Athletics) defeated the Isotopes 12 - 3.

Henry Sosarecorded one out in his one-third of an inning start.  Sosa walked the first two, then Sosa committed an error on a pick-off attempt, a third straight walk, next batter doubled in one, another walk, sacrifice fly, fifth walk of the inning, and a single scoring two.  After that, Sosa was taken out, his line was

In the second inning, 4 hits and 2 walks scored 5 more runs.  Trayvon Robinson singled in Alex Guerrero to make it 11 - 1.  Jamie Romak hit his 8th home run of the season but that was the last offensive highlight for the Isotopes.

With one on and one out in the top of the 9th, trailing 12 - 3, Joc Pederson had his highlight of the game.

Colt Hynes pitched two scoreless innings, Carlos Triunfeland Tim Federowicz both returned to lineup after sitting out a few games.

Double-A Chattanooga: The Lookouts took a 2 - 1 lead into the bottom of the 8th but an error extended the inning and the Blue Wahoos (Reds) took advantage to score two more runs to win 4 - 2. Garrett Gould had a back to back solid start, 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks and 9 strikeouts.   Between O'Koyea Dickson who had a first inning 2-run home run and Gould, the Lookouts were in a good position to win.

Juan Ramon Noriega pitched a nice 7th inning but he could not repeat that as he gave up the tying run.  But while the game was tied, Noriega had the bases empty and two outs.  However an error by second baseman Darnell Sweeney extended the inning and the River Cats were able to score 2 on a double to take the lead and eventually the game.   Erisbel Arruebarrena singled and scored the other run on Dickson's home run.

Advanced Class-A Rancho CucamongaChris Andersonhad a rough first inning and the Storm (Padres) were able to stave off a 9th inning rally to beat the Quakes 6 - 5. Anderson's season has some good things like 40 strikeouts in 33.2 innings but he has also walked 22 and teams are hitting .285 against him.  Freddie Cabrera pitched 4 scoreless innings in relief.

Tyler Ogle and Brandon Dixon each homered, Chris Jacobs went 2 for 4 with a walk.  Corey Seager went 1 for 4 with a walk.

Class-A Great Lakes:  A 3-run first inning for the Silver Hawks (Diamondbacks) was the start of their scoring as South Bend held off the Loons 9 - 7.  Luis Chirinos, Ralston Cash, and Jacob Rhame were unable to keep South Bend off the scoreboard.

Great Lakes did pound out 14 hits, Josmar Cordero had 4 hits (7 total in his first two games), Paul Hoenecke went 3 for 5 with a walk and Jacob Scavuzzo drove in 4 runs on his 2 hits and a walk.

Coming up

Greg Harris goes to the mound for Great Lakes at South Bend at 4:05 p.mPT ... Nick Struckwill start the series opener as Chattanooga hosts Huntsville at 4:15 p.m ...Stephen Fife starts for Albuquerque at 6:05 p.m. at El Paso ... Julio Urias will go for the Rancho Cucamonga at Lake Elsinore at 6:05 p.m.

Minor League Transactions

AA: LHP Jarret Martin was activated from 7-day disabled list; RHP Raydel Sanchez assigned to Ogden.

Scores & Reports

Triple-A: Sacramento 12, Albuquerque 3

Double-A:  Pensacola 4, Chattanooga 2

Advanced Class-A:  Lake Elsinore 6, Rancho Cucamonga 5

Class-A:  South Bend 9, Great Lakes 7

Minor League Central - Daily Dodger Recap

05/10 Padres Preview: Game 38 vs. Marlins

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Our Padres snapped a three-game losing streak last night behind the bat of Jedd Gyorko and the arm of Tyson Ross. Tonight they'll try to hand the Marlins their first two-game losing streak since April.

Eric Stults will try to build on last night's excitement and lead San Diego to consecutive wins. Stults hasn't had the best luck against the Marlins recently so he'll have to overcome that and try to shut them down tonight. He got the start against them on April 4th in Miami, allowing five runs and lasting just four innings on the mound. It was his second straight loss to the Marlins dating back to last June, when he surrendered six runs (five earned) in only 3 2/3 innings. The Padres are averaging less than three runs in each of Stultsy's starts this year, but hopefully last night's offensive explosion can carry over.

While San Diego hitters got some good production going against Jose Fernandez last night, they'll face another tough test in game 3 as Nathan Eovaldi takes the mound for the Fish. This will be his fourth career start against the Padres and first at Petco Park.  On April 6th he got the loss after allowing a three-run homer to Alexi Amarista at Marlins Park. Still, he lasted seven innings and struck out eight batters in that appearance. In his two first starts against the Friars, he kept the offense to one run in 11 1/3 innings.

The winner of tonight's matchup will have the advantage going into tomorrow's series finale. Tune in at 5:40 PDT to see if our Padres can pick up where they left off.

MLB Scores: Miami Marlins 3, San Diego Padres 9

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The Miami Marlins had a bad pitching night all around, but it was the bullpen that took a close game and sent it over the edge once again, as the San Diego Padres pummeled the Marlins for a second straight night.

The Miami Marlins still haven't figured out the way to beat the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Eric Stults and the Padres delivered despite an early two-run home run by Casey McGehee for his first shot as a Marlin. Stuls held Miami for the most part offensively after that McGehee homer, shutting the Fish out for the remainder of his six innings of work. The two runs were all Miami could muster before an ugly series of events threw this game into yet another rout.

The Padres were having their way with Nathan Eovaldi, who struck out just three batters and walked a season-high four along with allowing a homer in five innings of work. Seth Smith delivered a lot of damage on Eovaldi, as he drove in both of Captain EO's runs allowed. In the third inning, Smith tripled home a run and later tied the ballgame with his solo shot on Eovaldi.

However, Eovaldi was able to keep Miami in the game temporarily before the bullpen threw it out the window. Carlos Marmol relieved Eovaldi in the seventh inning and notched a strikeout and a groundout to begin the inning. Then, an Everth Cabrera single and stolen base led to an intentional walk for Smith, and the wheels fell off promptly. Jedd Gyorko singled home Cabrera, and the returning Chase Headley became the hero when he launched a three-run home run to put the Padres up 6-2.

Both sides notched runs thereafter, including another RBI hit for Smith, who fell a single shy of hitting for the cycle. The Fish took another brutal defeat, 9-3 to the Padres. They will look to notch a series split tomorrow afternoon.


Source: FanGraphs}
Attendance: 27,122
Hero of the Game: Casey McGehee (0.122 WPA)
Goat of the Game: Carlos Marmol (-0.390 WPA)
Play of the Game: Casey McGehee homered. Reed Johnson scored. (0.212 WPA)

Padres 9, Marlins 3: Seth Smith Shows Off

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After last night's offensive explosion, the Padres must have been out of runs, because that's totally how it works haha right? Well, Seth Smith would like to have a word with you. The stud went 3-4 with a walk and a homer, missing the cycle by just a single. On the whole, the lineup went a whopping 13-36, drawing 8 walks while only striking out 6 times (and only 4 of those Ks came from position players). The pitching was top notch, too: Eric Stults only gave up 2 runs on 6 hits in his 6 innings.

Things started a little rough, though. Reed Johnson led off the game with a single, which didn't seem like a big deal when Stults retired the next two batters. Unfortunately, Stults couldn't stop Casey McGehee homered to deep center. Will Venable returned the favor with a leadoff single of his own, and then Smith narrowed the gap with an RBI triple. The Stauppleganger evened things up two innings later with a homer of his own.

That tie held until the sixth inning, when Everth Cabrera got a two out rally started on a bunt single. He didn't sit at first for long, taking second base for his seventh steal of the year. He got an extra base when Jarrod Saltalamacchia's throw was as wide as his name is long. Already burned by Smith, the Marlins gave the slugger a free base, hoping Jedd Gyorko was tired from his grand slam the night before. He wasn't. His single brought Cabrera home and Chase Headley to the plate. Chase celebrated his return to the lineup with a three-run shot to right field.

The fish got a run back in the seventh with a pair of doubles from Jeff Baker and Reed Johnson. That was all for their offense, but the Padres were far from done. Chris Denorfia drew a walk in the bottom of the seventh, and was shortly joined by Cabrera. That set Smith up for his third hit of the night, a two-run double. Just for good measure, Yonder Alonso added one more run in the eighth, hitting an RBI single to bring Headley home from second.

With the bats looking well and truly awake, Robbie Erlin will go for the series win tomorrow at 1:10 PM. Here's to Sunday Runday!

Roll Call Info
Total comments92
Total commenters9
Commenter listConor42, Darklighter, Friar Fever, Hormel, Rich Garcia's defective eyes, TheThinGwynn, chris.callahan.7777, jodes0405, walkoff59
Story URLs

It was a quiet game thread tonight, with Friar Fever leading the comments and tying chris.callahan.7777 with 3 recs.


Tyson Ross being Tyson Ross

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What is a Tyson Ross?

If you were a casual baseball fan, had no idea who Tyson Ross was, and looked him up on Wikipedia, this is what you would find: "Tyson William Ross (born April 22, 1987) is an American professional baseballpitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball." By the sound of that, Tyson Ross is just another guy. Can't get any blander than that. Yet he's much more unique then the description gives him credit.

In limited sample sizes, numbers can add up in all sorts of ways. Case in point Tyson Ross. When looking at Tyson Ross' career to date, he's neither been great nor bad, but simply average. However, Tyson Ross has done something a little unique, at least by my measurements. If we look at a few of his Minor League totals versus his Major League totals there's a lot of similarity.

IPERAWHIPK/9BB/9HR/9
Minors (2008-2013)308.24.261.367.83.80.7
Majors (2010-2014)324.14.131.387.43.70.7

Albeit I'm nitpicking rudimentary stats, nonetheless after 300+ innings, chances are most of the static has stabilized. Anyway, from this, we see Ross hasn't actually changed a great deal and been more or less what the Padres have come to expect when he was called up. But that in itself isn't exciting, the bigger question that remains is whether he will continue to be "just a guy" or better himself to be more?

To investigate let's first take a look at his repertoire.

SeasonTeamFB%FBvwFB/CSL%SLvwSL/CCH%CHvwCH/C
2010Athletics71.50%92.70.4526.60%84.84.631.90%86.3-0.44
2011Athletics67.20%92.10.3220.50%85.3-0.8312.30%85.8-4.55
2012Athletics66.60%92.5-0.2626.00%86.13.167.50%86.8-1.8
2013Padres61.00%94.2-0.6932.60%85.92.116.40%86.7-0.05
2014Padres57.70%92.20.1736.40%85.2-0.726.00%85-3.68
Average- - -64.00%92.3-0.3829.40%85.71.726.60%86.3-2.67

From this we can see Ross is basically a two pitch pitcher, with the slider being his bread and butter pitch. While the slider has been roughed a bit more this year, (mostly due to a .375 BABIP against it) it's not likely to continue as it's still generating a lot of swings and misses. Via Brooks Baseball Pitch IQ Scores, his slider is generating whiffs per swing at 27% above league average, in other words has a 127 score. If we turn our attention to Baseball Prospectus leaderboards , we can see that this isn't a fluke either. His slider last year generated a 50.18 whiff per swing percentage, which was only behind Patrick Corbin's. This year that percentage has dropped to 45.75%, however that is still high and slots him at 5th in all of baseball.

Next let's take a look at his zone profile. For the intents and purposes of staying relevant, I'm only going to be using the zone profile data since he earned/kept his place in the rotation 7-23-13.

Ross_medium

Upon first glance, I thought there was a mistake, but alas there is not. It's pretty remarkable he uses 1/4th (and even that might be too generous) of the zone to attack hitters on a consistent basis. By maintaining the ball low in the zone, he's been able to induce ground ball rates over 50% and this year a career high mark of 58.2%. In the long run, being this predictable in the zone could become an exploitation for hitters. However in the meantime, if it isn't broke don't fix it.

Yet, if there is one thing I believe could propel Ross to taking the next step, it's development and more reliance on his changeup. It's no secret the more good pitches a pitcher is capable of throwing the more unpredictable and deadly he can be, case in point Yu Darvish. As for Ross, despite limiting himself to a fastball-slider repertoire, his changeup has actually shown capability of being a good pitch. Again looking at Pitch IQ scores, his whiffs/swing rating on his changeup is at 130 and since 7-23-13 rated at 124. Like his slider this year, his changeup also has been prone to some tough luck as hitters have had a .500 BABIP, and .429 since last year, against it. Because he throws the changeup so infrequently, there's little conclusive evidence to go off, therefore it's difficult to say with certainty if throwing the changeup more will help him.

This is no reason not to try, though, as we've seen in the case of Ervin Santana whom has recently adopted a more changeup heavy approach, having a similar repertoire to Ross' prior to this year, and has seen there are rewards to be gained. Santana worked on improving his changeup, which was one of the major selling points his agent was emphasizing to teams this past winter. So far it's working for him as he's throwing the pitch 10% more than his career rate and getting good results doing so.

All this is a long winded way to say Ross is good right now. If Ross kept his current recipe he'd likely be able to maintain his success and be a reliable number three to four starter for some years to come. Yet, Ross has shown enough in other areas to warrant belief for improvement. If that's the case, selling him as a middle rotation starter would be an understatement. While ace is too much of a stretch, a solid number two or even a little above that could be possible. Or maybe Tyson Ross is just a guy.

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs and Brooks Baseball.

Anthony Joshi-Pawlowic is a contributing writer at Beyond the Box Score. You can follow him on Twitter at @AJP13237.

Dodger 5/10/14 minor league report: Joc Pederson hits two home runs in win

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Joc Pederson hits two of the Isotopes four home runs in their win, Corey Seager goes 3 for 4 and is hitting .400 since he returned from the disabled list.

Minor League Player of the Day

Joc Pederson, 2 for 5, 2 home runs, 4 RBI. Joc Pederson hit his 10th and 11th home runs of the season as he was trying to replicate his incredible April  Pederson hit 22 home runs in Chattanooga last year and he has matched half of that total in the second week of May.

Games

Triple-A Albuquerque: In the top of the first inning after a one-out walk to Mike Baxter,Joc Pederson hit his first home run of the game.  That was followed by a Clint Robinson home run to stake the Isotopes to an early lead over the Chihuahuas (Padres) that would lead to a 8 - 4 victory.

Back from his start for the Dodgers in Miami, Stephen Fifepitched 3 innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the 4th.  Fife gave up 6 hits, 2 runs and struck out 2.  Carlos Friaspitched next for 5 innings where he allowed 7 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. Yimi Garcia pitched a scoreless 9th inning.

Aside from Pederson, Clint Robinson was 2 for 4 with that back to back home run and a walk, Tim Federowicz had 2 hits in 5 at bats, Alex Guerrerohad a double in 5 at bats and Jamie Romak hit a solo home run.

With one on and two out, Joc Pederson did this in the 6th inning

That would close out the Isotope's scoring as Pederson enjoyed Albuequerque's first visit to El Paso.

Double-A ChattanoogaNick Struck went seven innings and only gave up 3 runs but it wasn't good enough as the Lookouts would go down 5 - 2 against Stars (Brewers). Struck gave up 5 hits, walked 2 and struck out 2 in his 7 innings, Mike Thomas pitched 1 inning and gave up 2 runs, 2 hits, 2 walks and a strikeout, Jarret Martin pitched a scoreless inning with one hit allowed.

The Lookouts didn't do much with the bats, Scott Schebler had two hits and Darnell Sweeney went 1 for 4.

Advanced Class-A Rancho Cucamonga:Julio Uriasand Corey Seagereach had an impact in the Quakes 8 - 3 win over the Storm (Padres). With two out in the first, Seager walked, Chris Jacobsdoubled Seager in, Steve Proscia singled home Jacobs, Aaron Miller walked and Jeremy Rathjen doubled home Jacobs to give the Quakes a 3 - 0 lead.That lead was narrowed to one run after the Storm was able to score two runs on back to back singles.

Seager doubled home a run in the second made in 4 - 2 and Urias settled down to pitch three shut out innings.  Urias would leave after 4, giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts.  Geoff Brown got the win as he pitched the final 5 innings, giving up 7 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts.

Chris Jacobs added his 8th home run of the year to his first inning double and he went 3 for 5.  Seager had a  3 for 4 game with a pair of doubles and a walk.

Class-A Great Lakes: Greg Harris struck out three batters in the first inning but he also saw the Silver Hawks (Diamondbacks) score 3 runs that gave the Silver Hawks the lead in a game where they would also have a pair of 4 run innings in the Silver Hawks 12 - 5 win over the Loons.

Harris had a strange pitching line as his 5 strike outs made up his 1 2/3 innings pitched.  He also gave up 5 hits and 3 walks to 8 batters he faced that didn't strike out and 7 of those 8 scored.  Victor Araujo pitched a scoreless 2 1/3 inning but then Scott Barlow gave up 5 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.  Brandon Trinkwon, who went 2 for 4 as the starting second basemen, came in to pitch and he retired the two batters he faced.

Aside from Trinkwon, Joey Curletta and Paul Hoeneckeeach had 2 hits.

Coming up

Tyson Brummettwill start for Chattanooga against Huntsville at 11:15 a.mPT ...Red Patterson toes the rubber for Albuquerque at 12:05 p.m. at El Paso ... Jharel Cotton will takes the mound for the Rancho Cucamonga at Lake Elsinore at 1:05 p.m.

Minor League Transactions

No moves

Scores & Reports

Triple-A: Albuquerque 8, El Paso 4

Double-A:  Huntsville 5, Chattanooga 2

Advanced Class-A:  Rancho Cucamonga 8, Lake Elsinore 3

Class-A: South Bend 12, Great Lakes 5

Minor League Central - Daily Dodger Recap

Padres history: The 10 players to finish a single shy of the cycle

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Some time ago, I did a B-R Play Index search to find how many Padres players have finished a game just a single short of the cycle and bookmarked it, meaning to get around to making some sort of post about it. As I do with most things, I promptly forgot about it and let it marinate for a few months until a couple weeks ago when somebody mentioned the phenomena on Twitter and I thanked them for inadvertently reminding me. I think you know what happened next: Yes, I once again forgot about it nearly immediately.

Apparently Seth Smith really wanted me to write about the subject because last night he joined the club and forced my hand. So, without further rambling about how my brain is less a hard drive than it is a colander, here's the list of the ten times it has occurred, followed by some notes.

Dave Roberts08/23/19734
Broderick Perkins05/06/19815
Kevin McReynolds07/08/19855
Tony The Gwynn06/10/19934
Steve Finley06/04/19975
Brian Giles08/18/20043
Mike Cameron06/13/20064
Kevin Kouzmanoff07/13/20074
Adrian Gonzalez04/22/20084
Seth Smith05/11/20144

  • Smith's big game was just the third of these to include a walk. Giles drew two walks (one intentional) in his game, and Cameron had one. Giles is also the only one who did all his damage in just three at-bats.
  • Tony Gwynn got cheated out of his chance at a cycle by manager Jim Riggleman, who didn't realize what was going on and replaced him in the field with Phil Clark in the top of the seventh inning of a game the Padres were leading 11-2.
  • All ten players had exactly three hits, so there were no instances of "He should have stopped at first on his second double!"
  • The triple in Gonzalez's game was the only one he hit that season, contrasted with the nine Cameron had the year of his.
  • I looked at the box score of Gonzalez's near-cycle, hoping his big (well, older) brother Edgar hit a single because, come on, that would be kind of cool. Alas, Edgar wasn't in the lineup that day; a series of clicks led me to discover he didn't join the team and make his MLB debut until about three weeks later. Since the time I typed the period on that last sentence, I got way too interested in the concept of a brother-cycle and followed it down a rabbit-hole. I ended up looking at the box scores from all four games one of them hit a triple while they were teammates and I can now report back to you that I came up empty. After I wrap this post up, I'm going to look at game logs for other pairs of brothers and I'll hammer out some words if I find anything.
  • Smith is the first Padres left fielder to hit a near-cycle. He joins three center fielders, two right fielders, two third basemen, and two first basemen.
  • Perkins had a group-high five RBI. Smith's four put him in a tie for second with McReynolds, Gwynn, and Finley. Kouz is the only one of the bunch with one lonely RBI.
  • Cameron reached first on an error in the first at-bat of his game. There was no controversy, however, as Rafael Furcal would have had him with anything even closely resembling a decent throw. On a fun side note, Cameron came around to score on Furclol's second error of the inning. Any side note is fun when it involves the Dodgers losing 9-to-1.

Fish Cap: Miami Marlins 3, San Diego Padres 9

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The San Diego Padres continued on Saturday night the offensive onslaught that they began on Friday night against the Miami Marlins. The Padres hammered the Marlins bullpen for seven runs in three innings. Casey McGehee hit his first home run as a Marlin, but it was simply not enough to keep pace with the Padres bats on Sunday

Casey McGehee finally broke his season-long homerless drought with a 2-run blast in the first inning, but the Marlins' lead would be short-lived. Starter Nathan Eovaldi staggered through 5 innings, giving up 4 walks and 7 hits, including an RBI triple and solo homer to Padres left fielder Seth Smith, who wound up a single shy of becoming the first Padre to hit for the cycle.

Surprisingly, despite his ineffectiveness, Eovaldi was able to hold the Padres to only two runs through the first five innings. The Marlins bullpen, however, was not so fortunate.

Carlos Marmol started the sixth inning by recording two quick outs. The Padres recovered with a two out bunt single and stolen base by speedster Everth Cabrera, who wound up on third base following the steal thanks to an errant throw by Jarrod Saltalamacchia. This led to an intentional walk to the red hot Smith, followed, of course, by a 3-run homer by Chase Headley in his first game since being activated from the Disabled List where he had been nursing a calf injury.

Although the Padres would need no more runs, they insisted on continuing to score them anyway. Brad Hand surrendered a 2-run double to Smith in the seventh inning and Carter Capps, who had been nothing short of brilliant in his first few appearances as a Marlin, gave up an RBI single to Yonder Alonso, following a walk and a wild pitch by Capps.

Many on the game thread questioned Manager Mike Redmond's decision to go with Marmol in such a high leverage situation with the game tied in the sixth inning, with the more effective Mike Dunn, A.J. Ramos and Capps available after having Friday off.

It remains to been seen how much more time Marmol will be given to prove himself with the Marlins, given his ERA, which has now ballooned to over 8. If Marmol is designated for assignment, the Marlins front office will have to consider bullpen options in the organization, such as Henry Rodriguez, and outside the organization, such as former Marlin Andrew Miller.

With the bullpen scuffling, the Marlins will send complete game machine Henderson Alvarez to the mound on Sunday as they try to salvage a 2-2 series split in San Diego before they head to Los Angeles for three games against the Dodgers.

Marlins news: Carlos Marmol designated for assignment

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The Miami Marlins have seen enough of Carlos Marmol for the year, as the team designated him for assignment. Henry Rodriguez has been called up to replace him on the roster.

The Miami Marlins have officially moved on from the Carlos Marmol era in Miami. After the latest bullpen meltdown in last night's difficult loss to the San Diego Padres, the team designated Marmol for assignment. Marmol suffered a four-run inning that blew the game wide open, including giving up a three-run home run to Chase Headley. After the game, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald tweeted the initial report.

The Marlins gave Marmol a $1.1 million contract prior to the 2014 season in the hopes of having him stabilize the bullpen, but the ugly 2013 season that Marmol had continued to follow him early in 2014. He posted a 8.10 ERA and 6.32 FIP thanks to a declining strikeout rate (21.2 percent), continued walks, and three early home runs to begin the year. Marmol also gave up 16 hits in 13 1/3 innings and put up an early .342 BABIP. Given his history of poor play from the start of the year, Miami must have figured that Marmol had little left in the tank, even at age 31, and let himg o.

This is not the first time Miami has given up earlier than expected on a Major League bullpen signing. Last year, the Marlins signed Jon Rauch to a one-year deal prior to the season, but only lasted 16 2/3 innings with a 7.56 ERA (and acceptable peripherals) before the team released him early last year. Rauch lasted only until May 17 before being let go, but Marmol could barely make it out of April before being let go.

The Marlins' bullpen has been a disaster thus far this season, but Marmol has been among the worst parts, and prior to the year, it did not appear as though the team really needed any additional bullpen help. The early going has been difficult, but the Marlins have some minor league depth in the pen and could turn to one of those names for assistance in place of Marmol. The team will determine a roster replacement today before the 4 PM EST start of the series finale with the Padres.

Marmol had a professional response to the move upon announcement.

"Couldn't get people out," Marmol said. "I did the best I could, but it didn't work out good. It's tough. You try to do your best and it didn't work out."

The possible replacements from the Triple-A roster include Dan Jennings and Arquimedes Caminero, both of whom have been on the roster earlier in the regular season.

Miami Marlins promote reliever Henry Rodriguez to replace Carlos Marmol

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After designating Carlos Marmol for assignment, the Miami Marlins recalled reliever Henry Rodriguez from Triple-A New Orleans on Sunday afternoon. Rodriguez didn't earn a roster spot out of spring training but opted to remain in the organization.

Miami Marlins reliever Henry Rodriguez made the right decision to remain in the Marlins' organization. After an inconsistent spring, Rodriguez didn't earn a roster spot but chose to head to Triple-A New Orleans. Following several poor outings which eventually led to Carlos Marmolgetting designated for assignment, Rodriguez was promoted before Sunday's series finale in San Diego.

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald was the first to report the news via Twitter:

Rodriguez was at one time Washington's closer, and can light up the radar gun with a quality fastball. But like Marmol, control has been a problem for him throughout his career.

In 12 appearances totaling 19 1/3 innings for Triple A New Orleans this season, Rodriguez has struck out 37 batters -- or nearly two an inning. But he's also walked 23 -- or more than one an inning. Batters are hitting only .123 against him.


Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fish_bytes/2014/05/marlins-calling-up-henry-rodriguez.html#storylink=cpy

Rodriguez's best major league year was in 2011 with the Nationals, when he posted a 3.56 ERA and a 3.24 FIP in 59 games.

Manager Mike Redmond has yet to find a consistent and reliable relief option. Marmol was signed to provide depth and was thought to be an eighth inning option, but the walks and two-out hits became troublesome.

Mike Dunn and A.J. Ramos have also had their share of troubles, and Miami has yet to find the right reliever to bridge the gap to closer Steve Cishek.

While focusing on improving the offense, Miami's front office didn't feel the need to explore bullpen options during the offseason. However, with Ryan Webb and Chad Qualls no longer on the roster, the Marlins' youthful bullpen is struggling.

Rodriguez in his career is 5-7 with 4.24 ERA and 4.02 FIP. His walks per nine innings ratio (6.17 in his career) is a bit alarming, but the Marlins didn't have many other options. Arquimedes Caminero has spent time with the Marlins but has struggled in Triple-A (7.59 ERA), and promoting Dan Jennings would put three lefties in Miami's bullpen.

With Marmol having difficulty recording outs almost every time out, Rodriguez at the very least should be a bit of an upgrade. And should he struggle, the Marlins may find themselves in a position where trading for a relief arm is the only possibility.

05/11 Padres Preview: Game 38 vs. Marlins

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The Padres offense has absolutely exploded over the last two games to take the advantage over the Marlins in this four-game series. Today they go for the series win in the homestand finale.

Robbie Erlin gets the ball for our Friars this afternoon. He's coming off his best start of the season, and one of the best of his career. He tossed seven innings of one-run ball,  allowing only three hits against the Royals on Tuesday. He lost four straight going into that outing, for which he got a no-decision as the Padres were only able to put together one run themselves that night. But these past two nights have shown a much better offensive output, combining for 19 runs against the NL-East-leading Marlins. Hopefully they still have some fuel left to help Erlin to a Mother's Day victory.

In winning these last two games, our Padres have had to face two very tough pitchers in Jose Fernandez and Nathan Eovaldi. Today's opponent isn't much less of a threat and he'll try to put an end to San Diego's hot hitting. Henderson Alvarez is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA over his last four starts, With both wins coming in shutout efforts.

Catch the game at 1:10 PDT and cheer on our Friars to victory. KTF and Happy Mother's Day!!


MLB Scores: Miami Marlins 4, San Diego Padres 5

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The San Diego Padres jumped out to an early lead against Henderson Alvarez and the Miami Marlins, but the Fish led a furious rally in the eighth and ninth innings that fell just short of a win.

The Miami Marlins fell down early again against the San Diego Padres, and for most of today's contest, it appeared as though San Diego would get the best of Miami in another blowout. Henderson Alvarez became the latest Marlins starter to falter against Padres hitters, as the entire team took part in demolishing the ground baller. Alvarez walked three batters while striking out just two and allowing seven hits in four innings, including a miserably long 42-pitch fourth inning which saw San Diego extend their lead to 5-0. Alvarez could not catch a break that inning, walking two of his three batters in the frame and barely escaping with the pitcher as the third out. He also allowed a home run to leadoff hitter Will Venable to start the game, which turned out to be foreshadowing for a struggle of an outing.

The Marlins early on were looking hapless in front of Padres starter Robbie Erlin as well. Erlin dominated through 6 1/3 innings, notching seven strikeouts without a walk and only giving up five scattered hits along the way. Miami did not look like it was mounting any offense versus a Padres staff very dependent on Petco Park for success. The Fish did not come close to a run until Erlin left the game.

But the eighth inning began a rally for Miami that came as a surprise. The inning started with a seemingly harmless home run from Christian Yelich against the wind and out to deep right-center field against Dale Thayer. The Marlins put Reed Johnson and Giancarlo Stanton aboard on singles. After a Casey McGehee fly-out, Jeff Baker lined a ball to right field off of Joaquin Benoit that scooted past a diving Chris Denorfia. The ball rolled to the wall and went for a triple that made it a 5-3 game. Miami got an additional run on an Adeiny Hechavarria ground out  to pull it to 5-4.

In the ninth inning, Miami mounted a threat as well. After a leadoff single by Marcell Ozuna, Huston Street recorded two outs. But consecutive walks by Giancarlo Stanton and Casey McGehee loaded the bases for Baker, who was looking to turn into the hero again. But he grounded softly to shortstop to end the game and seal a 3-1 series loss for the Marlins.


Source: FanGraphs

Attendance:17,682
Hero of the Game: Marcell Ozuna (0.115 WPA)
Goat of the Game: Henderson Alvarez (-0.254 WPA)
Play of the Game: Jeff Baker reached on fielder's choice in the ninth inning. Casey McGehee out at second base to end the game (-0.221 WPA)

Padres hang on, beat Marlins 5-4

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Another day, another win for the Padres. Ho-hum. This one wasn't as blowy-outy as the last two, but it counts just the same.

It definitely looked like the Padres were going to completely blow the doors off the Marlins yet again after they jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Will Venable put the first run on the board with a leadoff homer, his first home run of any sort this year. It remained a one-run game until the aforementioned fourth inning when San Diego peskily put four more runs on the board by means of four singles and a pair of walks.

While his teammates were busy boppin' on his behalf, Robbie Erlin kept his end of the bargain by striking out seven batters and allowing nary a run in his six-and-a-third innings. He allowed just five hits and no walks before Buddy gave Dale Thayer the call.

Fingernails all over the greater San Diego area got much shorter as the Marlins put up a four-run inning of their own to draw within one. Thayer allowed a solo homer and a single before giving way to Joaquin Benoit, who surrendered another single and a two-run triple before unleashing a wild pitch that allowed Miami's fourth run to score on a ground out.

Those fingernails were down to bloody nubs in the top of the ninth, when Huston Street loaded the bases on a single and two walks. However, he got out of it because that's what he does; he's now 11-for-11 in save chances this season.

Four Padres had two-hit games. Yonder Alonso got his batting average up to an even .200, while Will Venable is almost there at .194. Chris Denorfia's multi-hit game pushed him to the .300 mark where he joins teammate Seth Smith, whose two hits have him sitting at a rather Gwynnian .330.

The Padres have tomorrow off as they head to Cincinnati to take on the Reds for a three-game set starting Tuesday. It just might be the happiest flight they've taken all year.

Roll Call Info
Total comments84
Total commenters12
Commenter listB Cres, Conor42, Darklighter, EvilSammy, TheThinGwynn, Zen Blade, abara, chris.callahan.7777, daveysapien, hashtagtroll, tonoxtono, walkoff59
Story URLs

Fairly quiet game thread; it's like people love their mothers or something. Abara dominated the comments, posting 33 to second-place Zen Blade's nine. There were two recs; Abara and I split 'em.

Fish Cap: Miami Marlins 4, San Diego Padres 5

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After winning the first game of the four game series, the Marlins dropped their third consecutive game to the Padres on Sunday. A late offensive rally fell just short, and Henderson Alvarez struggled to consistently find the plate.

Coming off of an 8-1 homestand, the Miami Marlins were confident they could have success on the road. After winning the first game of a four game series against the San Diego Padres, the Marlins fell for the third consecutive time on Sunday evening.

Henderson Alvarez struggles early

While he has pitched several shutouts early this season, starter Henderson Alvarez has yet to prove that he is a consistent number three option. Facing a Padres lineup that has had difficulty scoring runs on a nightly basis, Alvarez only lasted four innings.

Will Venable took Alvarez deep in the first inning to give the Padres an early 1-0 advantage, and a four run bottom of the fourth inning, during which Alexi Amarista, Chris Denorfia, and Seth Smith all contributed RBI hits, ended Alvarez's day.

In his four innings of work, Alvarez gave up seven hits while walking three and striking out a pair. His sinker wasn't working as well as it usually does, and after Jose Fernandez and Nathan Eovaldi were troubled by the San Diego lineup, Alvarez had a hard time throwing strikes himself.

Marlins offense rallies late

Padres starter Robbie Erlin was able to keep the Marlins off the board in his sixth and a third innings, and Miami fell just short after scoring four times in the top of the eighth.

Christian Yelich homered against Dale Thayer, and Jeff Baker's two-run triple and Adeiny Hechavarria's RBI groundout made it a one run game.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia struck out with the tying run on third, and Houston Street walked two but was able to close the game in the ninth.

Miami's offense, notably the effectiveness of Giancarlo Stanton and Casey McGehee, was solid on the last homestand, but the Marlins couldn't get ahead early against the Padres.

Bullpen solid in relief

In relief of Alvarez, the bullpen was able to ensure that the Padres couldn't add any insurance.

Kevin Slowey pitched a pair of scoreless innings, and the recently recalled Henry Rodriguez and A.J. Ramos each added a scoreless inning.

The Marlins begin a three game series with the Dodgers beginning on Monday night.

Miami Marlins' Jose Fernandez suffered from food poisoning before Padres start

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Jose Fernandez may be an unstoppable juggernaut on the mound, but even he can suffer from human illnesses from time to time. On Friday night before his start against the San Diego Padres, he vomited and suffered from food poisoning.

The Miami Marlins had an ugly series versus the San Diego Padres over the weekend, during which they sent their three best pitchers to the mound and were thoroughly thumped by a supposedly poor Padres offense. Part of the problem was Jose Fernandez, who suffered through a bad start in which he gave up two home runs and six runs in five innings of work.

One of the reasons (if not the only one) for Fernandez's struggles is that he had a problem with his health prior to the game. Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports that Fernandez was vomiting before his Friday start.

Fernandez said he felt bad throwing his warmup pitches in the bullpen after having his normal pre-game steak and threw up in a dugout garbage can during the first inning when the Marlins were at the plate.

"It's not an excuse," said Fernandez, who gave up six runs, including a pair of homers, in Friday's 10-1 loss. "It probably was something I ate, but I don't want it to be related with (how I pitched). In the first inning I was feeling kind of shaky. But by the second and third, I was feeling, all right, back at it again."


Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fish_bytes/2014/05/jose-fernandez-was-throwing-up-before-start.html#storylink=cpy

Fernandez apparently has a nice steak dinner prior to his starts and then heads on out, but began feeling symptoms before the game and even felt a bit woozy during his first inning on the mound. But as he tells it, the illness was not affecting him after the first inning.

Based on the small history he gave here, it is difficult to tell if it was truly food poisoning from his steak. Presuming his meal came a couple of hours prior to his start, the most likely candidate to cause food poisoning is Staphylococcus aureus. The bug itself is not the cause of the symptoms, but rather it is the pre-made toxin that is left on the food. Commonly, S. aureus food poisoning is associated with starchy products like bread or sauces like mayonnaise. It's less associated with meat, which is more commonly caused by things like E. coli. If anything, Fernandez may have caught it from bad bread or bad salad dressing rather than poor-quality steak.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe that Fernandez did not suffer some ill effects after the first inning vomiting. S. aureus food poisoning usually lasts about six hours before the symptoms subside. If that is indeed the case, he should have been feeling nauseous for a good portion of his start, even if he was not vomiting outright after the first. It is no excuse for a poor start, but it does provide reasoning and makes it likely that he does not have a naturally-recurring performance like this again. That should be good news for Marlins fans who saw his velocity dip a bit in that game.

Miami Marlins' inconsistencies revealed in series loss to Padres

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The Miami Marlins dropped three of four to the San Diego Padres over the weekend. But what went wrong, and what needs to be turned around before the Marlins play game one against the Dodgers.

When the Marlins and Padres matched up for the first time in the second series of 2014, the Marlins looked dominant, and San Diego like a young team trying to find its identity. But against the Marlins this weekend, San Diego received solid pitching and timely hitting. After losing three of four, what went wrong for the Marlins?

Starting pitchers can't find the strike zone

Starter

Innings Pitched

Runs

ERA

Jacob Turner

6.0

1

1.50

Jose Fernandez

5.0

6

9.00

Nathan Eovaldi

5.0

2

3.60

Henderson Alvarez

4.0

5

---

On the last homestand during which the Marlins went 8-1, the starting pitching was effective. Jacob Turner was solid in the first game of the series, only giving up one run over six innings, but after Thursday night, the Marlins didn't receive a quality start.

Jose Fernandez reportedly suffered from a stomach bug, so his poor outing may be justified. But while Nathan Eovaldi's start wasn't terrible, his inability to go deep into the game forced Mike Redmond to utilize his bullpen, which led to a Carlos Marmol four run inning.

Henderson Alvarez's four innings on Sunday were all lengthy, and a lack of command forced the bullpen to be used prematurely for the second straight night.

Fernandez, Eovaldi, and Alvarez all posted ERAs of under three on the last homestand, and while offense was a key element to their success at home, the pitching must adapt to road ballparks.

Middle of the order slows down

Player

Hits

On Base Percentage

Giancarlo Stanton

5

.417

Casey McGehee

2

.250

Jarrod Saltalamacchia

0

.000

With added depth, the Marlins are expected to be able to score a sufficient number of runs on a daily basis. Giancarlo Stanton, Casey McGehee, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia all struggled to get on base in key situations, and the bottom of the order wasn't as productive as it was during the previous ten games.

Ed Lucas, Reed Johnson, Jeff Baker, and Jeff Mathis all received playing time during the series, but Miami's bench players couldn't take advantage of the starting time.

San Diego's young pitching dominated the Marlins' lineup and recorded a record number of strikeouts over the course of the series.

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