2009 Florida Marlins: Wild Card Fishing

2009 Florida Marlins: Wild Card Fishing

2009 Florida Marlins: Wild Card Fishing

Throughout their entire existence up to this point in time, the Florida Marlins organization had never won a division title, and with both of their World Series Championship winning years in 1997 and 2003, the Marlins entered the postseason as the National League Wild Card. 6 years after their successful 2003 campaign, the Marlins appeared to have a chance at making another amazing postseason run as a Wild Card as they went fishing for that spot all season long.

The Florida Marlins went 87-75 in 2009, finishing 6 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League East division crown, and ultimately the Marlins fell 5 games short of the Wild Card berth as the Colorado Rockies took that spot. However, the Marlins fared quite well against the Phillies and Rockies in head-to-head play as they went 9-9 and 4-2 against them respectively.

The Marlins went 43-38 at their home ballpark, which was called Land Shark Stadium at the time, but is mainly referred to as Dolphins Stadium. They also went 44-37 on the road. The Marlins played solid enough baseball from month to month with the glaring exception of May, which saw them go 9-20. The Marlins went 14-8 in April, 17-11 in June, 14-10 in July, 14-14 in August and 17-11 in September. Had it not been for the month of May the Marlins could have possibly made the postseason.

Shortstop Hanley Ramirez was one of the few star players the Marlins had on the account of the organization often trading away experienced talent in order to develop future prospects. Ramirez batted .342 with 24 home runs and 106 RBI’s off 197 hits, 42 doubles and 27 stolen bases. Left fielder Chris Coghlan batted .321 with 162 hits, 31 doubles, 6 triples and 8 stolen bases in 128 games. First baseman Jorge Cantu batted .289 with 16 home runs and 100 RBI’s off 169 hits and 42 doubles. Catcher John Baker batted .271 with 101 hits and 25 doubles in 112 games. Center fielder Cody Ross batted .270 with 24 home runs and 90 RBI’s off 151 hits and 37 doubles. Right fielder Jeremy Hermida had 13 home runs, 111 hits and 14 doubles in 129 games. Third baseman Emilio Bonifacio ad 116 hits, 11 doubles, 6 triples and 21 stolen bases in 127 games. Second baseman Dan Uggla had 31 home runs and 90 RBI’s off 137 hits and 27 doubles.

The Marlins did get sufficient support from their bench players. Catcher Ronny Paulino batted .272 with 65 hits and 10 doubles in 80 games. First baseman Ross Gload had 60 hits and 10 doubles in 125 games. Third baseman Wes Helms batted .271 with 58 hits and 11 doubles in 113 games. Center fielder Cameron Maybin had 44 hits and 12 doubles in 54 games.

Starting pitcher Josh Johnson went 15-5 with 191 strikeouts and a 3.23 ERA, recording 2 complete games. Ricky Nolasco went 13-9 with 195 strikeouts and 2 complete games. Despite going 9-13, Chris Volstad had 107 strikeouts, 1 complete game and 1 shutout. Sean West went 8-6 before being sent down to the minors. Anibal Sanchez had a 3.87 ERA despite going 4-8. After getting called up to the big leagues, Rick van den Hurk went 3-2.

Closer Juan Carlos Oviedo was more than serviceable for Florida’s cause as he had 26 saves. Relief pitcher Matt Lindstrom went 2-1 with 15 saves. Dan Meyer went 3-2 with 2 saves and a 3.09 ERA. Brendan Donnelly went 3-0 with 2 saves and a 1.78 ERA. Renyel Pinto went 4-1 with a 3.23 ERA. Kiko Calero went 2-2 with a 1.95 ERA. Burke Badenhop went 7-4 with a 3.75 ERA. Brian Sanches went 4-2 with a 2.56 ERA.

There were early signs of optimism for the Marlins as they compiled an impressive 7-game winning streak which began on April 12, defeating the New York Mets at home 2-1, and ended on April 19 with a 7-4 victory over the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Hanley Ramirez would make the National League squad in the 2009 All-Star Game as the starting shortstop while Josh Johnson would make the All-Star Game as a reserve pitcher.

The most impressive regular season victory for the Marlins came on July 8 at AT&T Park when they blanked the San Francisco Giants 7-0. The Giants had been rebuilding their club after the departure of slugger Barry Bonds, and it turned out that the Giants were one year away from winning their first World Series Championship in the Bay Area. The Marlins had the talent to hang with a team like the Giants.

Chris Volstad pitched a complete game, giving up only 5 hits but he would record 6 strikeouts in one of the best outings of his Major League career. In the top of the 4th inning John Baker had an RBI single, and in the top of the 5th Emilio Bonaficio had a sacrifice fly to score Voilstad. In the top of the 6th Wes Helms hit into a ground ball double play, which would score Jeremy Hermida, and in the top of the 7th Jorge Cantu had an RBI single. Dan Uggla would then top Florida’s shutout win off by blasting a 3-run home run in the top of the 9th.

2009 would be the 3rd of 4 seasons as manager of the Florida Marlins for Fredi Gonzalez, and after 2010 Gonzalez would move on to become the manager of the Atlanta Braves. As for Dolphins Stadium, 2009 would be the 3rd to last season in its operation as a baseball stadium as the Marlins would promptly move into a brand new ballpark called Marlins Park and rename themselves the Miami Marlins beginning in the 2012 season. 2009 was the last good year the organization formerly known as the Florida Marlins would have before making these changes.