Making Sense of the Madness

Baseball can be a silly game sometimes. The so-called "unwritten rules" of the game dictate, among other things, that the game be played "the right way" with "respect" and never done "to show up an opponent." However, there’s another axiomatic baseball strategy: never let the score affect the way you manage or play the game. That’s the conundrum the Marlins and Nationals faced last night.

The Nationals were on the wrong end of, at the time, a double-digit deficit. Nyjer Morgan, the newly crowned villain of this on again off again rivalry dating back to the Nationals’ days as the Montreal Expos, was beaned in an apparent retaliation for what the Marlins perceived to be a deliberate - and successful - attempt to injure their catcher, Brett Hayes, the night before.

Morgan took the beaning with some dignity, he flipped his bat and jogged to first with his head down. Players know that you will have self-policing moments like that, it’s part of the game. As far as Morgan was concerned, at that point, the teams were ‘even’ and baseball etiquette dictated that they move on.

What followed is emblematic of the conflicting nature of baseball’s unwritten rules. Morgan was on base, his team was down big, and he stole second-base, and then third. Reckless, yes, disrespectful? Not so fast there. Here’s the thing about the stolen base, it’s incredibly risky. You get thrown out, you torpedo an inning, but if you steal second, or even third, suddenly your team is in business and poised, potentially, for a big inning. Stealing intelligently is a smart move, and given the decimated state of the Marlins catching unit, running on them isn’t all that risky. From third, Morgan scored relatively easily on a shallow pop fly and his basestealing ventures brought a much needed run. So where’s the problem? He did something - reckless and risky though it may be - that helped the team score a run. In a vacuum, that's the kind of play a "gritty" player makes. He puts his head down, he runs and he tries to get his team a run.

Baseball purists, and this is really an expression I hate, say that it's not about Morgan's run, at that point, it's about keeping "the line moving." At the time, the game was relatively young, double digit score be damned, and the Marlins were merely three games removed from losing a game in which they had a 6 run lead in the 8th inning. The point here is that, ultimately, there's no such thing as a safe lead with the Marlins, anything is in play.

You know the rest, the Marlins took exception to Morgan, threw at him again (well, behind him) and a melee ensued. So, who's to blame? While Morgan acted childishly after the brawl - taunting the fans and pounding his chest - what he did between the lines, both in the batter's box and on the bases, is not reprehensible.

The Marlins acted like a schoolyard bully, pushing and provoking until the other side finally said enough is enough and then they had the audacity to cry foul. Morgan hurt their player, they sent a message with the first pitch, after that it's malicious. You don't want him running on you, then don't hit him and let him reach base. You know how Ty Cobb or Willie Mays would have settled the score after the first plunking? They'd have slid spikes up into second. Hanley Ramirez's midsection thanks Nyjer Morgan for having the decency to slide headfirst.

And really, that's where the talking heads show how remarkably out of touch they are with this whole thing. They bemoan the state of play today and the lack of "respect" players have for the game relative to the glory days of the past, yet Morgan's retaliation of stealing two bases pales into comparison to the overtly injurious intent that previously manifested after beaning a base-stealer.

This fight boils down to one simple notion: self preservation. Morgan let the Marlins have the first one, hell, he'd probably tell you he deserved it. It's after that, when making a point turns into bullying that he said enough was enough and stood up for himself, much the same way anybody would regardless of profession if their livelihood was jeopardized. Remember, that's a low 90's fastball aimed at your ribs; not a pleasant feeling by any means. Even if retribution is the purpose, when does it cross the line from noble to vile? Does it take injury? Since he hurt one of ours we won't stop until we get one of theirs? Isn't this the mentality we won't condone among children far less grown men.

Modern sports, when everything is on the line, isn't about the fans, or even the team, it's about the player. The player wants the glory, the stats, the championships, the accolades, the awards and the payday (though maybe not in that order), and they sure as hell don't want anything coming between them and what they perceive to be theirs. And really, this overtly self interested state of sports was manifest in a microcosm last night. Nyjer Morgan didn't care about anything other than that ball was thrown at him with an intent to hurt him. If he gets hurt, his playing days might be over. If his playing days are over, everything that comes along with professional sports goes away. The fight wasn't about the Marlins and Nationals not liking each other, it was about one player reminding another player that this is his livelihood and he's not letting anyone take it away from him in a haphazardly justified attempt to protect.

So you see, last night wasn't about Brett Hayes or Chris Volstad or the Marlins and the Nationals, it was about Nyjer Morgan reminding all of us that the only person that has the right to take this game away from him is Nyjer Morgan himself.

Fredi's Bullpen Management A Problem

It was a tough meltdown to watch last night. The Marlins scored early and disappeared late, but games like that happen, and with a bullpen like the Marlins', no lead is safe.

The real problem, though, was Fredi's use of his rested bullpen. Monday was an off-day, the performances turned in by Nolasco and Robertson gave the bullpen basically a weekend off. Why then were the Marlins on the short end of a 7-4 decision having used only 2 pitchers: starter Chris Volstad and then Tim Wood for an ill-advised 2 innings of work.

The bigger problem, though is the way Fredi uses his bullpen; last night, other than Wood, the only other reliever Fredi got up was Renyel Pinto. This isn't anything new, Marlins fans know that Fredi has his favorites and sticks with them to a fault. The real problem goes deeper than playing favorites, the real problem is that the Marlins have a bad bullpen and Fredi is too hesitant to pull a struggling reliever out. Wood clearly didn't have it last night in the 7th, yet Fredi stuck with him for the fateful 8th, much the way he stuck with Kevin Gregg, Matt Lindstrom, Jorge Julio and the litany of relievers we've run through here the past several years.

Fredi's old school bullpen management is beneficial when a few alpha relievers rise above the rest of the bullpen, look at Joe Torre's successful Yankee teams or Bobby Cox's mid 90's Braves teams, but the Marlins don't have that luxury. The 7 arms in the bullpen, handedness excluded, are basically all of interchangeable quality, except for the recent emergence of Clay Hensley and what appears to be a more confident Leo Nunez. Fredi needs to learn to get away from a struggling reliever rather than allowing him to try to work it out on the mound. The team has been very fortunate with the performance of their rotation to this point, Fredi can't allow the bullpen to keep handing games away because he stuck with "his guy" too long.

Volstad Strong in Make or Break Start

I didn't see it, so I won't go into great detail other than to say it seemed that Chris Volstad wrapped up his rotation spot with a strong (by his standards, at least) start Saturday against Washington: 5 innings, 2 K's, 2 walks, 1 earned run (1 run total).

He ran into some trouble in the first inning after loading the bases but he battled back to turn in 5 full innings.

It now looks as if the Marlins have 4 rotation spots filled: Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Anibal Sanchez and Chris Volstad with a three man race for the 5th and final spot among Clay Hensley, Rick Vandenhurk and FirstPlaceFish's projected frontrunner: Andrew Miller; the lone lefty in the bunch. Hensley is the only pitcher of the three yet to start a spring game for the Marlins, but manager Fredi Gonzalez has indicated he will try to work him into a minor league game sometime this week.