The Miami playoff push took a massive blow as it was announced that superstar outfielder Giancarlo Stanton will miss the rest of the season. Stanton was placed on the 15 day DL earlier with a left groin strain that manager Don Mattingly described as “serious”.
This is now the third straight year in which Stanton’s season has ended in premature fashion. The prodigious slugger’s 2014 campaign concluded in September after then-Brewers right-hander Mike Fiers hit him in the face with a pitch. Stanton then fractured his left hamate bone last June, thereby limiting him to 74 games. His latest issue came as a result of an awkward slide in the Marlins’ 8-7 loss to the White Sox on Saturday. All the more painful for him and the Marlins is that it came on the final out of the game.
Ichiro Suzuki who just recently joined the 3,000 hit club is expected to receive the majority of the playing time in Stanton’s absence. The team has also been said to be exploring all available options, including recently retired Alex Rodriguez. Miami is currently tied for the second Wild Card.
Fan Interference 
This has been stirring in the firmament as the Feesh skidded towards their seasonal karmic Krakatoa.
Given his performance so far this season, it’s hard to imagine how A-Roid is going to help the Feesh, who look stewed and done and about to enter a death spiral. They might be better orf with Prince Fielder. On the bench. Permanently.
Of course the specter of A-Roid leaning on the dugout rail next to Barry Better Living Through Chemistry Bonds and casually chatting with Dee Gordon is hilarious. Together they would remind me of those convicted drug dealers and hit men playing Shakespeare in Hail, Caesar!
Realistically though, the Feesh might try to snap Carlos Gomez orf the waiver wire in hopes that he would be their version of last year’s Orlando Cespedes. I would bet, though, that the Cards and Mutts make a pass at him too, not so much because they want him but because they don’t want each other to get him (“We all voted for Swope. We all thought no one else would”). Waiver wire wet willies are all the fashion these days. If the Astros outright release him, look for the other teams to force a bogus bidding war for his services to see who blinks first. It’s going to climb in nickels and dimes and look like the last thirty seconds of an eBay auction for a model airplane. Scrooge McLoria in a bidding war amuses me – in concept, anyway.
Here’s the piscine casualty list:
The Iron Giant – out for season.
Justin Bour – still out with a left foot/ankle/calf (depending on who you believe) sprain, and not looking ready to return until September at the earliest.
Wei Yin Chen – still nursing a duff elbow. Might be out until September as well, but the way he was pitching, that might be what passes for a blessing in disguise for this team.
Adam Conley – just put on the 15-day DL with tendinitis in his pitching hand.
Here’s the disaster list:
Andrew Cashner – has pitched like a fungo coach since coming over from the Padres.
Fernando Rodney – another pointless trade acquisition, he has been erratic and at 41 is aging like David Bowie in The Hunger even as we gaze.
I no longer envision the Rainbow Warriors, who just wrapped a 2-4 homestand, even finishing at .500 this season. On the other hand, I’m looking forward to the callup of whatever shards and scraps of the farm system remain after Scrooge McLoria’s brainstem trust emptied the barnyard during those awful trades with the Padres.
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Maybe they should pickup Carlos Gonzalez.
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Or just about any Carlos, really.
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Read me again, Scout.
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I’m not Scout but you suggested Carlos Gomez and he’s suggested Carlos Gonzalez are we missing something?
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Oh yea. Missed that part. Was too busy reading War and Peace, a more time friendly endeavor. 😛
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