Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Marlins getting defensive

The Marlins are playing good defense in the early going, particularly on the right side of the infield. The team has the second-most errors in baseball with 58, which is four behind the Washington Nationals. Nevertheless, Uggla made a fine play to his right on a sharply hit ball by Nick Markakis in the first inning only to be matched by first baseman Gaby Sanchez going to his left on a shot by Corey Patterson in the third.

The Orioles, perhaps surprisingly, are 21st in the majors for errors with 40. I expected a number much worse before I checked. Ty Wiggington leads the team with 10 errors. Minnesota is baseball's most error-free squad with only 21 errors. Isn't the term "pitching and defense" pretty much trademarked by small market Minnesota?

Marlins went quietly in the top of the third. Orioles made a little noise with a one-out Miguel Tejada single in the bottom of the third, but he advanced no farther. Ty Wiggington fought off several two-strike pitches after getting behind 1-2 but eventually flew out to right field. Wiggington has batted .065 when he has a 1-2 count on him this season (31 at-bats). He sure looked tough against Sanchez in that situation, but the result won't help the final number any. 

-30-

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