| 65-68 (4th place, NL Central) |
59-75 (5th place, NL East) |
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GAME 1: September 3, 2012 @ 12:10 p.m. CDT GAME 4: September 6, 2012 @ 11:40 a.m. CDT
Marlins Park | Miami, Florida |
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SBN Coverage: Brewers vs Marlins coverage A View from the Other Dugout: Fish Stripes |
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| Game 1 | Mike Fiers (8-6, 2.85) | vs. | Ricky Nolasco (12-6, 3.57) |
| vs. Marlins | (0-1, 2.45) | vs. Brewers | (0-0, ---) |
| Game 2 | Shaun Marcum (5-4, 3.35) | vs. | Jacob Turner (0-2, 6.55) |
| vs. Marlins | (0-0, ---) | vs. Brewers | (0-0, ---) |
| Game 3 | TBD | vs. | Nathan Eovaldi (3-4, 5.03) |
| vs. Marlins | --- |
vs. Brewers | (0-1, 2.57) |
| Game 4 | Marco Estrada (2-5, 3.85 | vs. | Josh Johnson (7-11, 3.86) |
| vs. Marlins | (0-0, 3.00) | vs. Brewers | (0-0, 9.00) |
The Brewers are in Miami this morning getting ready for their first-ever game at the new Marlins Park and their final meeting against the Marlins this season. To help us get ready for today's series opener, Michael Jong of Fish Stripes joined us to talk about the team and this series.
BCB: I might as well start with the obvious question: Obviously a 59-74 record (entering play Sunday) isn't what the Marlins were expecting from this season. What's gone wrong?
MJ: Essentially, all but two or three players performed below their expectations, and some by such an extreme margin that the Miami Marlins simply could not recover. Names like Logan Morrison, John Buck, Gaby Sanchez, and even Jose Reyes up until recently performed so poorly that they cost the team up to five wins total compared to what they were expected to do. When half of your lineup eats up five wins from your expectations, you are bound to look bad by midseason.
BCB: Jacob Turner is scheduled to start for the Marlins Tuesday in his first career appearance against the Brewers. What can you tell us about him?
MJ: Jacob Turner has had a promising first two starts for the Miami Marlins thus far. He came into the organization as an elite prospect name whose shine had dulled due to a difficult season in Triple-A. When he arrived in the Marlins organization, his Triple-A struggles, particularly with strikeouts, continued. However, prior to his first start, I theorized that his strikeout concerns were not as damning because his whiff rates were still decent. Sure enough, he has whiffed 11 batters in 11 innings as a Marlins pitcher while walking none. He still has some concerns with home runs, but you are looking at a young pitcher with solid stuff, good control, but difficulty with his placement and command.
BCB: Batters have hit 82 home runs (entering Sunday) this season at new Marlins Park, placing it 14th among 16 NL ballparks. For contrast, there had been 177 hit at Miller Park before Sunday's slugfest. Is it safe to call the Marlins' new home a pitchers' park? An extreme pitchers' park?
MJ: Right now, it is fairly obvious that Marlins Park suppresses home runs, and indeed it felt obvious since before the season began given the stadium's dimensions. But it is not obvious that the park suppresses runs as a whole; in fact, so far this season, it has been at worst league average in terms of runs. The likely cause, outside of extremely small sample sizes in terms of determining park factors, is that the park allows an above average number of triples to make up for some of the lost home runs.