Marlins @ Cardinals 7/15-7/17

[thatnewguy]

Nice win today and a nice series win. Would love to see them take 3 in Philly next.

[Nick]

[fish16]

I actually liked what we did with that Perez guy at the end. If we use him in close games like that as a threat I would be ok with that. He can't hit worth a lick but at least he brings something that can help the team unlike everyone else on the bench besides Ichiro.

[Madman81]

yeah, someone like that should be kept over a kelly or gillespie

[fish16]

yeah, someone like that should be kept over a kelly or gillespie

Don Kelly doesn't even deserve to be in AAA. How he got an MLB opportunity after producing a .563 OPS in 150 AB's is mind boggling to me.

[fish16]

After looking at Perez today I think he is the type of guy who could be extremely valuable in the NL late in games down the stretch and in the playoffs. His percentages as far as SB's so far in his career have been really good and supposedly he is a good defender (?). That alone should be a reason to keep him over Gillispie or obviously Kelly. Im interested to see what we do for the bench when we get healthy again and Dee comes back.

This was a very good series and today in particular seemed like a playoff team kind of win the way we hit with RISP and the bullpen went according to plan. I hated the re-signing of Ichiro last offseason but he has been absolutely ridiculous. To be 42 years old, let alone the kind of hitter he is to begin with, to have an OPS of .829 is been nothing short of incredible. His general presence has really seemed to help the team, as hard to believe as that is. This next Phillies series is huge. Jose pitching one of the games, 4 game series with a team that really has been struggling, this is a huge opportunity to get over another hump.

[rmc523]

We just need to play better against the terrible teams like the Braves and Phillies especially. The team is 49-42, but 16-24 against the east. We're 6-7 against the Nats, 4-5 against the Mets, 2-4 against the Phillies, and 4-8 againts the Braves. If we just played .500 against the east to this point, we'd be right there with the Nats, but losing so often to the Phillies and Braves has killed us, though they have been improving in that regard as of late. So yeah, to your point about the Phillies series, it'd be great to see them do well.

It's definitely nice to be in it and have stuff like this to talk about rather than the usual "we're terrible, who will we trade away" talk year in and year out.

[Namaste]

Losing to shitty teams is not variance/bad luck or whatever you want to call it. It's lack of focus. It's playing down to your competition.

[rmc523]

Oh I agree. They need to start playing them like they do the rest of the league rather than playing down at their level.