Carlos Santana: “Regresé a mi dulce casa”

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Carlos Santana castigó una vez mas al pitcheo de los Marlins de Miami en el primer duelo de la serie de dos encuentros entre Indios y Marlins.

El dominicano respondió con un cuadrangular en la parte alta del segundo episodio luego de que los Marlins se fueran arriba en el primer inning, y luego volvió a empatar el encuentro con un imparable impulsor en el tercero, justo antes del enorme cuadrangular de Carlos González que terminó de abrir la pizarra para los Indios.

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Para el nativo de Santo Domingo, volver a Cleveland fue como regresar a casa.

Y hasta ahora, lo está demostrando con el madero.

Terminó la jornada del martes bateando de 5-3, y dejó su promedio al bate en .316, además de un porcentaje de embasado de .430.

Un indio de corazón

Santana debutó con los Indios en 2010 y jugó ocho campañas con esta organización, antes de jugar la temporada pasada con los Filis.

En la temporada baja, fue cambiado a los Marineros de Seattle junto a JP Crawford por Jean Segura y los lanzadores James Pazos y Juan Nicasio.

Diez días después, llegó nuevamente a Cleveland en un cambio que llevó a Edwin Encarnación a los Marineros, Jake Bauers a los Indios y el cubano Yandy Díaz a los Rays de Tampa, entre otras consideraciones.

Un cambio que le ha salido bien a las tres partes.

Leandro Soto, de Cinco Razones Podcast, tuvo la oportunidad de conversar con Santana antes del primer duelo de la serie en el Marlins Park:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k3cRLTbqWg]

“Yo me siento bien. Gracias a Dios que regresé a mi dulce casa. Estoy disfrutando este tiempo con los muchachos. Esta organización y los fanáticos son especiales para mí,” expresa el dominicano, quien está feliz

La química es especial, con Francisco Lindor, José Ramírez, y Carlos González ahora, un equipo que tiene todo para meterse nuevamente en los playoffs.

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¿Cual es el equipo a vencer?

“Nosotros. Claro. Tenemos el material. no ha sido fácil, pero vamos a llegar hasta el final. Tenemos tremendo equipo,” dijo con bastante confianza Santana.

Carlos Santana y el shift al batear

Leandro Soto no es un fanático del shift, y el manager de los Indios de Cleveland Tito Francona tampoco parece serlo, pues los Indios son uno de los equipos que menos utiliza este recurso.

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A Carlos Santana parece no estarle afectando tanto el uso del shift, pues su promedio sigue viento en popa.

“Gracias a Dios he tenido una tremendo éxito en mi carrera y he estado saludable, que es lo mas imporante. Todo en esta liga es ajuste. A veces te toca hacerlo. Como quiera, uno trata de hacer los ajustes necesarios para poder tener resultados positivos,” afirma Santana.

¿Hará el ajuste Leandro algún día?

 

Disfruta de los episodios de Cinco Razones Podcast en este link.

Lewis Brinson was optioned to New Orleans

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Lewis Brinson has not been the star the Marlins thought were trading for Christian Yelich a couple of offseasons ago.

He has not played as a regular major league baseball player either.

He has actually been pretty bad, as has been the entire Marlins offense.

Craig Mish, of Swings and Mishes, reported on Tuesday afternoon that Marlins’ patience with Brinson had come to an end.

Brinson had been the starting centerfielder for the major part of the first month of the season, and was not able to make the adjustments to hit in the majors.

In this first month, he could only hit .197, seven points above his average in the majors.

Lewis Brinson’s lack of contact

Is what we saw from Brinson in a little over a season in the big leagues the player he really is?

Probably not. But he definitively needs to work on putting the ball in play.

He has struck out 165 times in 505 at-bats in his career.

That means that Brinson did not even put the ball in play in around 33 percent of the times he went up to the plate.

For someone with that speed, and not much power, this is unacceptable.

The Marlins prefer to keep working on it in Triple-A, after giving him an entire month, and an entire season last year.

Will we see Lewis Brinson back in the majors soon?

If he hits, we will.

If not, it will be time to move on…

Evaluations of the Miami Dolphins’ other additions

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First-round picks and quarterback acquisitions tend to dominate conversation after the NFL Draft, so naturally most of the talk in Miami has been about Christian Wilkins and Josh Rosen.

The other new Miami Dolphins, however, should not be overlooked.

Here are a collection of tweets (from my account @CKParrot) about some of them.

First, offensive guard Michael Dieter….

This is fullback Chandler Cox…

Now linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel…

And finally, all of the undrafted offensive linemen the Dolphins added (a position of desperate need)….

For more, check out the latest Three Yards Per Carry podcast on your favorite podcast provider.

 

 

Josh Rosen acknowledges he has a lot to prove as he joins the Miami Dolphins. (Craig Davis photo)

You bet Josh Rosen has a monster chip on his shoulder

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DAVIE – Josh Rosen acknowledged he’s got a lot to prove as the starts fresh with the Dolphins, not just to his new team but to all the critics of his rough rookie season with the Cardinals.

Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said after the trade to acquire the quarterback from the Cardinals that he expected Rosen to come to Miami with a chip on his shoulder.

“I don’t think my chip’s got to grow any more, I might tip over,” Rosen said with a smile during his introductory media conference Monday.

Rosen strives to overcome bad rep, show he’s a good teammate

Rosen avoided sounding cocky but made it clear he is confident despite his struggled with Arizona. Asked if he still believed he can become the franchise-caliber quarterback the Dolphins have been seeking for two decades since Dan Marino retired, Rosen said, “Yes, because I think I am a good quarterback and I think I am a good leader.”

He indicated he understands that attaining that level in the NFL is an endless challenge.

 

Josh Rosen discusses overcoming the negative perception about him during his introductory news conference with the Miami Dolphins. (Craig Davis)

Josh Rosen striving to erase bad rep, show he’s a good teammate

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DAVIE – New Dolphins quarterback Josh Rosen came out of college with the reputation of having a big arm and a mouth to match.

Rosen said Monday that he has made an effort to prove that he is a good teammate, and that is on his mind as he starts fresh with another team.

“I think I had a little bit of a bad perception at first, but what I’ve tried to do is not really say do anything extra, just kind of be me and continue on and keep my head down, and eventually the story will straighten out,” he said. “I think it has for the most part.”

You bet Rosen has a monster chip on his shoulder

There were reports while he was at UCLA that he was disliked by teammates. He is a complex personality and didn’t shy away from expressing controversial opinions, including criticizing Donald Trump and the NCAA.

“I was thrown into the spotlight pretty quickly at UCLA. I was pretty young, so I didn’t really have all of my answers as perfectly crafted as I do now,” he said with a grin. “I just kind of said some things kind of off the cuff about all different kinds of things and people kind of misconstrued them in certain different ways. “

Rosen said it is important to him to earn the trust of teammates and that he intends to do that by trying to “be consistent, be thee came guy, have the same kind of energy every time I step into the locker room and the facility so that all of my teammate know what guy they’re getting.

“So I think time and consistency is the best medicine to cure the narrative. … Over the test of time and being consistent and trying to be a really good teammate, I think the narrative is starting to straighten out a little bit.”

 

 

 

Josh Rosen has a YouTube page… and it is amazing

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The Miami Dolphins have a new quarterback and his name is Joshua Ballinger Lippincott Rosen.  However, you can call him The Chosen One.

After a one-year stint in Arizona where the 22-year old quarterback threw for 2,278 yards and 11 touchdowns, he was shipped away to South Beach during the second-round of the NFL Draft.  Fortunately for Arizona and Miami, things worked out for both teams.  The Cardinals were able to get pretty good value.  And the Dolphins may have potentially found their quarterback of the future.

It is a win-win situation.

That is unless you ask Twitter, who still remains torn on the trade.

Heck, even the dysfunctional family at Five Reasons Sports has differing opinions over the former 10th-overall pick.

But I think I may have found the one thing that can bring this team and fan base closer together.

I received this tweet from a man that may have found the anecdote for #DolphinsTwitter.

I was not aware of Josh Rosen’s YouTube account prior to this tweet, so I’d like to thank John for bringing it to my attention.

But what you will find if you were to check out his YouTube page, is High School highlight reels, school projects and Coachella videos.

And then there was the video that was brought to my attention in the previous tweet.  The video appears to be from 2011, when the only thing Rosen and his friends wanted was a little bit of extra credit in Science class.  What they got, however, is a whole lot more.

The following video is amazing.  And if you weren’t a fan of the Dolphins new quarterback before, you might be now.

If only we could hop in the Delorean and take that Eagles hat off his head.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPZjIoyBFss&t=117s

 

Josh Houtz (@Houtz) does a lot of things good, but not great.  

Survival the goal for Marlins prospect Braxton Garrett

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After four starts this season, Miami Marlins pitching prospect Braxton Garrett is back to where he left off.

Despite a 4.67 ERA, Garrett leads the Jupiter Hammerheads in strikeouts with 26 over 17.1 innings, which is a very promising statistic.

Two years ago, he went four starts in Single-A Greensboro before an injury to his elbow resulted in taking Tommy John surgery. The rehab was long the to him, the worst part about it was being away from the mound for so long.

“That’s the longest I’ve gone without playing a game,” Garrett said. “After my first start there was a tweet that said six hundred and something days since I pitched in a real game, and it really opened my eyes.

“I didn’t really get to experience much pro ball coming out of the draft but I always tell people, like going through Tommy John, ‘Man, I just can’t wait to get back because that month I had in Greensboro was the best month I’d ever have in my life.’ It was just awesome.”

Garrett’s best pitch is his curveball, which is given a scouts grade of 60 out of 80. The innings per start may seem low but this season has been about making it through without any injuries. Maybe the bullpen is in his future but he makes it to Labor Day healthy, then it would be considered a success.

“It’s been fun,” Garrett said. “I’m competing again. It’s just a blast to be able to pitch. I told our staff coming into the season that I want to be able to be successful when I pitch but the main goal is just to make every single start just because I’ve been going through rehab this whole time and if I can just get through a season and learn and learn that will just be great.”

In the meantime, Garrett is currently sharing the same field with Marlins right fielder Garrett Cooper, who is in Jupiter for a minor league rehab assignment. He went 3-for-4 with a double during Garrett’s latest start on Sunday.

The Marlins had a giant ping pong tournament to close out spring training. Garrett emerged from the minor league bracket, as did Cooper from the big league side. The final showdown was broadcasted on every player’s Instagram feed and Garrett came out victorious in epic fashion.

Tune into the latest episode of Swings & Mishes to hear the full interview.

Sports and Thrones: Arya vs. Dame

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There has always been quite a bit of crossover between sports and HBO’s Game of Thrones.

That’s somewhat due to the shared audiences — a lot of men between 18 and 49 — but also because of Bleacher Report’s brilliant Game of Zones, in which Pat Riley used to make appearances as Tywin Lannister, before Tywin died on a toilet.

Sunday, the #BattleForWinterfell brought out all the best comparisons and memes.

Here were a few, mostly NBA-related, because that league runs social media.

Most, naturally, were about Arya Stark.

And the best one…

 

Why the Character Assassination of Josh Rosen?

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This has been an odd weekend, when it comes to the relationship between the Miami sports media and the Miami fans.

Three local reporters have been extremely vocal in their criticism of the Miami Dolphins’ Josh Rosen trade and general draft approach, which is entirely within their rights. Reporters don’t need to like everything a team does. It’s better if they don’t at times; there are some beat writers in this market who go along with whatever the team says at all times, in exchange for access, and that’s not ideal either. But for at least one of the three (and not the two that this writer respects, Omar Kelly of the Sun-Sentinel and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald), some of this Josh Rosen criticism comes off as  personal.

You’d get whiplash trying to follow all of that writer’s Dolphins opinions over the past 25 years, since they seem to fluctuate based on whether that athlete, executive or agent is giving the writer the inside information he wants. But again, this one has been weird, even though some of it is expected, since Rosen is outspoken politically, with views that don’t align at all with that writer.

On March 5, that writer tweeted that “trading maybe a 4th for Josh Rosen is a win-win. If he grows up and balls, they may have their franchise QB. If he stinks, he helped team #TankforTua while giving impression they were trying.” That’s an extremely lucid take. And it’s fair to point out that the Dolphins did not trade just a fourth round pick for the second-year quarterback out of UCLA on Friday. They traded a second-rounder and a 2020 fifth-rounder, though it was a lower second-rounder (No. 62 vs. No. 48) than they originally had, and they did pick up a 2020 second-rounder in that earlier deal. So it’s sort of like they did trade a fourth-rounder.

But again, evaluating Rosen as a player, and deciding he isn’t worth something, is totally within reason. Changing your mind is within reason. Some of those in the Five Reasons Sports Network did that to some degree as well. Circumstances change. Evaluations change.

I mean, our guys on Three Yards Per Carry don’t even agree with each other on the trade, and our network is split down the middle.

That’s all fair. That’s sports.

What’s not really fair is the character hit job on Rosen.

We’re not dignifying this by posting any screen-shotted tweets (and it took a while to find someone in our network who isn’t blocked), but this was the quote in that tweet: “I’ve talked to multiple people about Josh Rosen today. The play is not what troubles. The person does.”

So, unnamed sources about someone’s character?

That’s sort of well, journalistic malpractice.

Is it because of what that writer tweeted earlier Friday that “it was safe to believe Dolphins would NOT give up their second round pick (48 overall) for Josh Rosen”? (Again, true that they didn’t give up 48 ultimately, even if that’s splitting hairs.) …

Is it because Rosen wore a “f— Trump” hat on a Trump golf course, and that might offend someone who has devoted so much energy to trashing Colin Kaepernick?

Whatever it is, it appears to be total BS.

This guy seems like a fairly swell person, no?

OK, maybe he could have faked that.

This too….

Well, there’s a segment of the political population that doesn’t care for either LeBron James or Chris Long, and thinks they should “shut up and dribble” or, in Long’s case, “shut up and sack” or something.

But what about these tweets from someone who would seem to know better — the Cardinals’ respected broadcasting voice?

A guy who happens to do a lot of national work for ESPN?

Oops, sorry, a screenshot slipped in.

OK, OK, Pasch works for the team.

The fans probably hate Rosen, though, right?

I mean, he wasn’t good last year, and apparently he’s a personality problem.

Oh, and even that writer’s colleague:

No, throwing under the bus is reserved for reporters, apparently.

Well, maybe just one here.

Because others seem to get it.

Best and worst tweets from the Josh Rosen trade

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For some, what the Dolphins have done over the last two days has been impressive.  To others, it has been quite the opposite.

After day one of the NFL draft, much of #DolphinsTwitter was in perfect harmony over the Christian Wilkins pick.  Every. Single. Account. tweeted out the GIF of him doing a split at the National Championship game, and the provocative picture from the Ohio State game.  But for the second straight year, fans, experts, and analysts were all impressed with the Dolphins first-round pick.

And then day two came and the rumors that the Dolphins were interested in Josh Rosen had split twitter into their usual civil war.  No one knew what would happen.

Soon we would find out, the first domino would have to fall.

Miami traded down with the New Orleans Saints.

And then, the seemingly unexpected happened.

What came next was mass disarray and quality entertainment.

Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Josh Rosen trade on Twitter.

Is Ethan Skolnick of Five Reasons the three-eyed raven?

 

 

And the best of all..