Marlins Beat Cubs 9-1 Behind Mark Buerhle's Gem

[Mainge]

It's not gon change until he stays closed with any consistency. By flying open like he's doing, he's cutting his plate coverage by about 65%. If someone feeds him something middle in, he'll be able to yank it down the line while flying open. That's about it.

I'm amazed it hasn't been rectified yet. There's no way our hitting instructors haven't noticed it.

[MiamiHomer]

When I get home from work I'm going to find some footage of his rookie season to see what it was back then.

[Valid]

It's not gon change until he stays closed with any consistency. By flying open like he's doing, he's cutting his plate coverage by about 65%. If someone feeds him something middle in, he'll be able to yank it down the line while flying open. That's about it.

I'm amazed it hasn't been rectified yet. There's no way our hitting instructors haven't noticed it.

I have also noticed that he is still constantly fouling fastballs off to opposite field that he should be absolutely crushing, and that probably goes along with what you said. This has been a problem since 2010.

[Mainge]

It's definitely been a thing since 2010. I posted about it then too.

[HUGG]

But he was awesome the 2nd half of 2010 (well, 2nd half of his 2010), so did he correct it and then start doing it again?

[Bobbob1313]

I wanted to say it was just the .468 BABIP he had in June, except that he also had 20 extra base hits. Jesus.

[Mainge]

But he was awesome the 2nd half of 2010 (well, 2nd half of his 2010), so did he correct it and then start doing it again?

It's likely, yes.

[MiamiHomer]

Meant to post this in a more timely manner, but figured it was still interesting enough to put it out there. Sunday’s 5-4, 11-inning win over the Astros gave the Marlins a 4-6 record through 10 games. They went on to sweep the Cubs and open this weekend’s series at Washington with a winning record.

In his Stat of the Week on the Acta Sports website, John Dewan looked at the importance of the season’s first 10 games. From 2002-’11, teams that went 3-7 or worse through the first 10 reached the 90-win plateau just 9 percent of the time. Of those 44 teams, nine qualified for postseason play (11 percent).

How much of a difference does that extra win make? Of the 68 teams since 2002 that began the campaign 4-6, 14 of them (21 percent) finished with 90 or more victories and all of them made the playoffs. Teams that have won between seven and 10 of their first 10 games have gone on to 90-plus win campaigns 46 percent of the time since 2002.

As Dewan points out, slow starts hurt, but they aren’t a death knell. Last season alone, the Red Sox and Rays both opened 2-8, and the Tigers were at 3-7. All won 90-plus, and the Tigers and Rays played in October.

Here’s a look at where all the NL teams stood through 10 games:

9-1: Dodgers

7-3: Nationals, Cardinals, Mets, Diamondbacks

5-5: Phillies, Braves

4-6: Marlins, Brewers, Reds, Astros, Giants, Rockies

3-7: Cubs, Pirates

2-8: Padres

Miami Marlins: Beating the Astros Sunday greatly improved chances for 90-win season

[Bobbob1313]

Slow news day at the Sentinel.