Josh Johnson = Power Pitcher/Power Hitter

He did it again.  The guy that is known for his amazing skill as a power pitcher has done it again with his bat….

Josh Johnson connected for his 3rd home run of the season Tuesday night and is 1 homer away from being the team’s single-season leader for round-trippers hit by a pitcher!!

Go Fish!!!

Cameron Maybin & Andrew Miller – Teammates Again!!!

Together again.  Too bad it’s not in South Florida!!

I hold a special place in my heart for both Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller.  While neither have had much of an impact while in the majors yet, to the true Marlins fans out there these guys mean quite a bit.  I’ve been tracking both of their careers and cheering for them to do well ever since ‘The Fish’ traded away Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis for them what seems like eons ago.

While both guys have shown flashes of possible greatness, they have also shown us that they have quite a ways to go to be real contributors to the team each and every time they take the field.  Prior to the start of the 2009 baseball season, Maybin has being tabbed as a favorite for the Rookie of the Year award.  And Miller had earned a starting spot in a pitching rotation that was the envy of the sport.

Well, now that Andrew Miller has been sent down to AAA ball in New Orleans, he and Cameron Maybin are teammates again.  Hopefully they will enjoy one anthers company as they both work hard to get another shot on the ‘big club’ sometime this season.  Until that happens, I will continue to root them on from afar.

I still have my fingers crossed that the Cabrera trade was not the most one-sided trade in Marlins’ history!!!

GO FISH!!!!

Just 7 Games Out Of First Place, Have The Toronto Blue Jays Given Up???

Just barely past the half way mark of the 2009 baseball season and the Toronto Blue Jays sit 1 game above .500 and in 4th place in the AL East.  And while this division is extremely competitive, it’s very curious as to why the Blue Jays would be making news now.  Especially when it’s news about tearing apart the nucleus of their team.

First it was the Roy Halladay rumors that broke earlier in the week.  From The St. Louis Dispatch to ESPN to The Toronto Star to Fox Sports  – all of these media outlets ran with the story that the Blue Jays would listen to trade offers for the ace of their rotation.  Halladay has been one of the best pitchers this decade and should rank in the Top 5 in everyone’s active pitcher lists.  Why would the Blue Jays, who are a 6-game win streak away from heading back to the top of the division, even put that kind of news out there?  As a player in that locker room, no one should feel safe if they’re considering moving their most valuable piece.

And then today news hit that former stud closer, BJ Ryan, has been released.  While Ryan was not meeting the standards this season that he had set in prior years, he was still due roughly $15 million dollars over the next year and a half so the Jays cut him a check and let him walk.  I would love to be in his shoes – he is now able to sign with anyone he wants and can literally pick where he would like to go and not have his contract terms limit his options.  In 2005 Ryan notched 36 saves.  A year later in ’06 he rang up 38, and in 2008 another 32.  You’ve got to believe that there will be a ton of teams ready to gamble to see if BJ can return to a very recent form in which he was one of the game’s best closers.

Right now I feel sorry for the Blue Jays fans that are out there.  With 77 baseball games left in the regular season the team is well within reach of making it to the playoffs but it appears that their management team does not think that it will happen.

Toronto, I feel your pain…

Josh Johnson Takes The Title Of ‘Ace’

With the fast decline of Ricky Nosalsco’s status as the top hurler for the Florida Marlins, the few Marlins fans that remain had to wonder who would be the guy to step up for the team and take over that #1 spot in the pitching rotation.  Anibal Sanchez – No.  Andre Miller – No.  Hayden Penn – No.  Chris Volstad – No.  Shane West – No.

It was Josh Johnson, and is has been clear for quite some time that he is the prize of the Marlins’ pitching crew.  With a 7-1 record so far this season, Johnson has won 4 of his last 5 starts while taking each game deep into the 7th inning or more.  His K:walk ratio is 3.5:1 and his era has hovered around the 2.6-2.7 mark consistently.

After coming off of major surgery, the Tommy John kind, Johnson has been nothing less than stellar for ‘The Fish’.  In 2008 he resumed his spot in the pitching rotation and went 7-1 to finish the ’08 campaign.  He has started in ’09 the way he left off in ’08 and he’s proving to be the Marlins’ most valuable weapon in their rotation.

Hopefully the baseball world will get to see Josh play during a more marquee event.  I’m thinking that he would fit in very well alongside the greatest players in the game.  Maybe he’ll be able to show off his skills in the middle of July in St. Louis!!  He’s got my vote!!! 

‘Now That’s A Book I’d Read’ – Book #1 – ‘The 4th Wheel’

This book is the 1st book in this new feature at ’30-Year Old Cardboard’.

Title – ‘The 4th Wheel’

Synopsis – A tell-all book featuring all of the pitchers that pitched in the 4th spot for the Atlanta Braves while playing in the shadows of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz.

Jacket  Content – Being a major league pitcher is a tough job.  The team’s success depends on your performance each and every time you take the mound.  The pressure is enough to end careers.  Now imagine trying to perform when you have to follow the excellence of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz.

‘The 4th Wheel’ tells the stories of those men with the un-enviable task of doing just that.  The 4th guy in the pitching staff that dominated baseball for more than a decade.  Some did well, while some floundered.  This is their story of how they dealt with playing under the magnifying glass as they tried to live up to the performances of their All-star playing, Cy Young Award winning, future Hall of Fame teammates.

Starting with the 1992 season, ‘The 4th Wheel’ allows the Braves’ ‘other guy’ to share how it felt to play alongside this talented trio.  Some of the stories are hilarious; some are gut-wrenching; and some are a roller coaster of both emotions.  The feelings you will emote as you read through this book will differ with each and every player you get re-introduced to.  But the ultimate feeling you will leave with is that the 3-headed monster of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz may have made up the greatest pitching trio of all-time.

Chapters

1 – The 3-Headed Monster

2 – Steve Avery & Charlie Leibrandt

3 – Steve Avery & Pete Smith

4 – Steve Avery & Kent Mercker

5 – Steve Avery & Kent Mercker

6 – Steve Avery & Jason Schmidt

7 – Denny Neagle

8 – Denny Neagle & Kevin Millwood

9 – Kevin Millwood & Odalis Perez

10 – Kevin Millwood, John Burkett, & Andy Ashby

11 – Kevin Millwood, John Burkett, & Odalis Perez

12 – Kevin Millwood, Jason Marquis, & Damian Moss

13 – Hall of Fame Bound