Sports Agenda For Tuesday (7/19/11)
Big Story:
I was torn trying to figure out what to lead the agenda with: the 11-4 Florida Marlins in the month of July, or the possible conclusion of NFL Lockout: Day 125. Tough call, but let's spy on this agenda like we work for Rupert Murdoch!
Firsties:
Don't look now, but the Marlins are just ½ game out of fourth place in the NL East. The Marlins are 11-4 so far in the month of July.
The Marlins rally has been led by Emilio Bonifacio. The third baseman has dominated during a 17-game hitting streak, hitting just less than .400 in that time.
Plus, the Marlins are finally getting some quality starts out of their pitching staffs.
Last night, Clay Hensley gave the Marlins 5 strong innings of work giving up no runs and just 1 hit. The Marlins bullpen came in and gave up just 2 more hits and 1 run before closer Leo Nuñez slammed the door shut for his 27th save of the season.
The Marlins have a bonafide star in the making with right fielder Mike Stanton.
He's only hitting .258, but he's hit 20 homers and driven in 57 runs. He's also got a slugging percentage of .525 and an on-base percentage of .330.
The bigger thing that happened in last night's game was the Marlins left only 4 runners on base. The Mets left 12 runners stranded.
The Marlins have started to wake up, it's just too bad they decided to tank harder than the American economy in the month of June.
But, the Fish can still put together a solid second-half and finish above .500 for the year, which would be no small feat considering how far the Fish fell in June.
I still want to know more about Josh Johnson's injury, because if he doesn't come back in August, I think they shut him down for the rest of the season.
The Marlins go tonight against the San Diego Padres.
Marlins vs. Padres, 7:10 p.m., Fox Sports Florida
NFL Update:
Well, we're at the deadline for the negotiations in my opinion.
Most issues have been ironed out, but two things stand in the way of the lockout ending: $20 million and wide receiver Vincent Jackson and guard Logan Mankins.
Both Jackson and Mankins are named plaintiffs in the anti-trust suit that include Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Mankins, Jackson, Ben Leber, Brian Robison, Osi Umenyiora, and Von Miller.
Jackson and Mankins have been slapped with the franchise tag for two straight years.
Both want to hit the rich, NFL open market.
According to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, both have asked that they either become unrestricted free agents when the lockout ends or they receive $10 million in compensation as part of the settlement.
My guess is both will be made unrestricted free agents. If that's the case, the Dolphins should back the money truck up to Mankins house.
But, getting back to work in the NFL could come down to whether Mankins and Jackson get what they want.
*Facepalm*
Dolphins Update:
CBS4's Jorge Sedano reported on his show this morning that Plaxico Burress would take less money to play for the Dolphins.
That's nice for Plaxico to want to play in South Florida, he lives here full-time.
But.
He's a 35-year-old receiver who has been out of the game for 2 years. Signing him for a veteran minimum to use as a giant receiver for jump balls in the end zone could be a great thing. But I wouldn't give him anything more than the minimum and give him a lot of incentives to work towards.
I don't think the Dolphins will spend the money, but they could have Santonio Holmes, who would be a much better fit.
That said, the Dolphins are going to spend the most money on running back and then sign a backup quarterback. Course if Logan Mankins came on the market, he'd solidify a Dolphins line that would become absolutely nasty.
Sign Mankins and someone like DeAngelo Williams….I smell playoffs.
Course that would involve the Dolphins taking chances….and this organization has proved over the 15 years that they're more conservative than Michele Bachmann.
