Post by Fish Troll on Mar 2, 2007 19:20:09 GMT -5
JUPITER, Fla. -- You can take Joe Borchard out of football, but you can't take the football player out of Borchard.
A former quarterback at Stanford, Borchard's all-out hustle in even the most basic of outfield drills has earned the praises of his teammates.
"He's one of those guys that in his second day of camp, he had his batting practice videotaped," left fielder Josh Willingham said. "In outfield work, he will dive in drills."
With the Marlins playing in Dolphin Stadium, also home of the Miami Dolphins, manager Fredi Gonzalez joked: "Maybe the Dolphins will make a trade [for Borchard]."
Borchard and Cody Ross are front-runners to win the reserve outfield spots on the roster. They can play all three outfield positions.
Borchard's value also is the fact he's a pinch-hitter with power. He belted 10 home runs and drove in 28, batting .230 in 108 games after joining the Marlins early in 2006. The 28-year-old opened last year in Seattle, where he played in six games and hit .222.
"He's a switch-hitter, and he plays all three positions in the outfield," Gonzalez said. "He's an above-average defender. That's a big asset to have on the club. He's a great guy, and a good teammate. That's a lot of positives right there."
An area of his game he's working on is his batting from the right side. A natural righty, Borchard struggled with a .148 average (9-for-61) against left-handers in 2006. He hit .258 (46-for-178) batting left-handed.
"Just getting that consistency right-handed, and doing what I can to making sure I get enough at-bats to feel comfortable," Borchard said are his objectives this spring. "That is very important for me. That's my natural side. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it. You just don't get the work in [against lefties]."
First impressions: Opportunity awaits several pitchers who could win a rotation spot because of Josh Johnson's right elbow injury.
Wes Obermueller, Yusmeiro Petit and Chris George are the candidates who are now in the mix. All three saw action on Thursday against the Orioles at Roger Dean Stadium.
Obermueller started and gave up two runs on five hits in two innings. Petit allowed three runs on six hits in two innings, and George gave up an unearned run with two outs.
The fifth inning was kept alive because of a two-out catcher's interference call on Miguel Olivo. The pitch actually came on what would have been the third out of the inning, but rather than a flyout to center, Corey Patterson was awarded first base, setting up the run.
Olivo had one catcher's interference a year ago in the regular season. He blames himself for not adjusting his feet after he gave the sign. Typically, after the sign is received, he resets his feet. He didn't on that pitch and was too close to the swing, getting clipped on the top of his glove.
Overall, Olivo felt Obermueller and Petit threw well.
"Petit, a couple of his pitches, he hung," Olivo said. "But he was able to keep the ball down with his slider."
On Obermueller, Olivo said he was able to keep his fastball and slider down.
Lindstrom effectively wild: Reliever Matt Lindstrom's blazing fastball has drawn some good-natured ribbing from his teammates.
Before taking the mound against the University of Miami on Tuesday, Scott Olsen told Lindstrom: "If you throw the first pitch to the screen, I'll buy you dinner."
Technically, Lindstrom didn't launch his first pitch over the head of a college player. But one of his first pitches accidentally got away and sailed to the back screen.
While Lindstrom topped out at 98 mph that day, the fastball that got away was 94 mph. After getting the attention of the batter, Lindstrom's next pitch was a breaking ball that started off appearing straight at the batter before snapping over the plate for a strike.
Afterwards, Olsen said: "I ain't buying you dinner, it wasn't the first pitch."
McKeon on fraternizing: The incident of former Marlins manager Joe Girardi giving pointers to help Phillies right-hander Jon Lieber has drawn a lot of attention.
On Wednesday, former Marlins manager Jack McKeon had this to say to 560 WQAM's Hank Goldberg: "I would never have helped anybody on the opposition. Regardless if they were a good friend of mine, they would have to wait until the season is over. Or if I was going to be managing against them next year, I wasn't about to tell him anything. Because if I was successful in handling this guy or beating this guy, I certainly wasn't going to give him an opportunity to make a correction and turn around and beat me.
"I've seen situations where so-and-so is pitching against us and we're getting his pitches and he's tipping them off in some way or another. And all of a sudden, the word spreads around the bench, and, all of a sudden, three or four weeks later one of his buddies on our team, that now has heard about it, goes and tells the guy. To me it's an unwritten rule: You don't tell the opposition anything."
Fish bites: Reliever Travis Bowyer was released on Thursday and promptly re-signed to a Minor League contract. Acquired as part of the Luis Castillo trade with the Twins, Bowyer underwent right shoulder surgery last August, and he is expected to miss his second straight season. ... Petit, who pitched two innings of relief on Thursday, will likely flip-flop with Obermueller and start next Tuesday when the Marlins face the Red Sox at Roger Dean Stadium. ... Aaron Boone appeared at first base for the first time in his big-league career on Thursday. Boone played third in two straight exhibition games. ... Ross, playing right field, threw out Melvin Mora at the plate in the fourth inning. ... Infielder Robert Andino's son, Taj, celebrated his third birthday on Thursday. To celebrate, Andino took his son to Chuck E. Cheese's.
Coming up: Friday marks the Spring Training debut of Dontrelle Willis, who will start against the Orioles at Fort Lauderdale Stadium at 1:05 p.m ET. Lefty Erik Bedard gets the nod for Baltimore. The Marlins also are slated to use Lindstrom, Henry Owens, Jose Garcia, Jesus Delgado, Scott Tyler and Aaron Thompson.
Among the regulars expected to make the trip are Miguel Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez and Jeremy Hermida. Matt Treanor will catch Willis.
A former quarterback at Stanford, Borchard's all-out hustle in even the most basic of outfield drills has earned the praises of his teammates.
"He's one of those guys that in his second day of camp, he had his batting practice videotaped," left fielder Josh Willingham said. "In outfield work, he will dive in drills."
With the Marlins playing in Dolphin Stadium, also home of the Miami Dolphins, manager Fredi Gonzalez joked: "Maybe the Dolphins will make a trade [for Borchard]."
Borchard and Cody Ross are front-runners to win the reserve outfield spots on the roster. They can play all three outfield positions.
Borchard's value also is the fact he's a pinch-hitter with power. He belted 10 home runs and drove in 28, batting .230 in 108 games after joining the Marlins early in 2006. The 28-year-old opened last year in Seattle, where he played in six games and hit .222.
"He's a switch-hitter, and he plays all three positions in the outfield," Gonzalez said. "He's an above-average defender. That's a big asset to have on the club. He's a great guy, and a good teammate. That's a lot of positives right there."
An area of his game he's working on is his batting from the right side. A natural righty, Borchard struggled with a .148 average (9-for-61) against left-handers in 2006. He hit .258 (46-for-178) batting left-handed.
"Just getting that consistency right-handed, and doing what I can to making sure I get enough at-bats to feel comfortable," Borchard said are his objectives this spring. "That is very important for me. That's my natural side. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it. You just don't get the work in [against lefties]."
First impressions: Opportunity awaits several pitchers who could win a rotation spot because of Josh Johnson's right elbow injury.
Wes Obermueller, Yusmeiro Petit and Chris George are the candidates who are now in the mix. All three saw action on Thursday against the Orioles at Roger Dean Stadium.
Obermueller started and gave up two runs on five hits in two innings. Petit allowed three runs on six hits in two innings, and George gave up an unearned run with two outs.
The fifth inning was kept alive because of a two-out catcher's interference call on Miguel Olivo. The pitch actually came on what would have been the third out of the inning, but rather than a flyout to center, Corey Patterson was awarded first base, setting up the run.
Olivo had one catcher's interference a year ago in the regular season. He blames himself for not adjusting his feet after he gave the sign. Typically, after the sign is received, he resets his feet. He didn't on that pitch and was too close to the swing, getting clipped on the top of his glove.
Overall, Olivo felt Obermueller and Petit threw well.
"Petit, a couple of his pitches, he hung," Olivo said. "But he was able to keep the ball down with his slider."
On Obermueller, Olivo said he was able to keep his fastball and slider down.
Lindstrom effectively wild: Reliever Matt Lindstrom's blazing fastball has drawn some good-natured ribbing from his teammates.
Before taking the mound against the University of Miami on Tuesday, Scott Olsen told Lindstrom: "If you throw the first pitch to the screen, I'll buy you dinner."
Technically, Lindstrom didn't launch his first pitch over the head of a college player. But one of his first pitches accidentally got away and sailed to the back screen.
While Lindstrom topped out at 98 mph that day, the fastball that got away was 94 mph. After getting the attention of the batter, Lindstrom's next pitch was a breaking ball that started off appearing straight at the batter before snapping over the plate for a strike.
Afterwards, Olsen said: "I ain't buying you dinner, it wasn't the first pitch."
McKeon on fraternizing: The incident of former Marlins manager Joe Girardi giving pointers to help Phillies right-hander Jon Lieber has drawn a lot of attention.
On Wednesday, former Marlins manager Jack McKeon had this to say to 560 WQAM's Hank Goldberg: "I would never have helped anybody on the opposition. Regardless if they were a good friend of mine, they would have to wait until the season is over. Or if I was going to be managing against them next year, I wasn't about to tell him anything. Because if I was successful in handling this guy or beating this guy, I certainly wasn't going to give him an opportunity to make a correction and turn around and beat me.
"I've seen situations where so-and-so is pitching against us and we're getting his pitches and he's tipping them off in some way or another. And all of a sudden, the word spreads around the bench, and, all of a sudden, three or four weeks later one of his buddies on our team, that now has heard about it, goes and tells the guy. To me it's an unwritten rule: You don't tell the opposition anything."
Fish bites: Reliever Travis Bowyer was released on Thursday and promptly re-signed to a Minor League contract. Acquired as part of the Luis Castillo trade with the Twins, Bowyer underwent right shoulder surgery last August, and he is expected to miss his second straight season. ... Petit, who pitched two innings of relief on Thursday, will likely flip-flop with Obermueller and start next Tuesday when the Marlins face the Red Sox at Roger Dean Stadium. ... Aaron Boone appeared at first base for the first time in his big-league career on Thursday. Boone played third in two straight exhibition games. ... Ross, playing right field, threw out Melvin Mora at the plate in the fourth inning. ... Infielder Robert Andino's son, Taj, celebrated his third birthday on Thursday. To celebrate, Andino took his son to Chuck E. Cheese's.
Coming up: Friday marks the Spring Training debut of Dontrelle Willis, who will start against the Orioles at Fort Lauderdale Stadium at 1:05 p.m ET. Lefty Erik Bedard gets the nod for Baltimore. The Marlins also are slated to use Lindstrom, Henry Owens, Jose Garcia, Jesus Delgado, Scott Tyler and Aaron Thompson.
Among the regulars expected to make the trip are Miguel Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez and Jeremy Hermida. Matt Treanor will catch Willis.
