Miami’s offense plates nine runs in first win under new hitting coach. Miami put all their tools on display Saturday night with 11 hits, nine runs, and two stolen bases. José Ureña wins his first game of the season and he’s allowed three runs across 12 innings. The Marlins chased Max Scherzer out of the game after 5 1?3 innings. José Ureña: 6.0 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 8 H, 1 BB, 4 K Max Scherzer: 5.1 IP, 7R (6ER), 11H, 0 BB, 9 K The Marlins didn’t let Scherzer get out in front of them as Brian Anderson and Starlin Castro pushed across the Marlins first two runs in the first inning. Castro continued to add to the Marlins’ lead with an RBI single in the third inning. Curtis Granderson has had several timely home runs for the Marlins and he continued that streak with his third home run of the season in the fifth inning. Your browser does not support HTML5 video. A wild play at the plate in the sixth inning on an infield single from Rosell Herrera would plate two more runs and end Scherzer’s night. Granderson’s second RBI of the night came off his sac fly in the sixth inning. A run came off of a wild pitch in the seventh inning and a Neil Walker fielder’s choice in the eighth inning would complete the Marlins offensive output. GIVE. US. CHAOS. #JuntosMiami pic.twitter.com/HILjNfZqG7— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) April 21, 2019 The Nationals weren’t able to get much of offense going off of the Marlins’ pitching. Ureña continued to pitch well and only gave up three runs on a Matt Adams two-run RBI single in the third and a Howie Kendrick single in the fifth (a Jorge Alfaro passed ball made one of the runs unearned). The Marlins bullpen allowed no runs across three innings and Tayron Guerrero shut the door on the Nats after a semi-shaky ninth inning. Guerrero still hasn’t given up a run in 2019. Jon Berti made his Marlins debut in today’s win. He drew a walk in his only at-bat, then created insurance with his baserunning, breaking up a double play and advancing to third on a wild pitch. Berti might be the veteran catalyst the team needed all along. And with tonight’s win, the Marlins have won their first series of 2019! FLIP IT. #JuntosMiami pic.twitter.com/djiwkJtNqY— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) April 21, 2019 This uncharacteristically big performance versus a perennial Cy Young candidate comes in the Marlins’ first game under the direction of hitting coach Jeff Livesey. Mike Pagliarulo lost the job on Friday night. Trevor Richards will be starting for the Marlins on Sunday as the team looks for its first series sweep of any kind since 2017. He’s matched up with Stephen Strasburg. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. Nationals vs. Marlins box score (MLB.com) Fish Picks answer key 1. Marlins 2. Under 3. Over 4. Yes 5. Marlins

Tonight’s Phinsider Question Of The Day is with the league having had their meetings and the ever evolving game of professional football, mostly centered around player safety (or at least they want you to believe this is their main priority while I will always assume that its all about the $$$) what changes would you like to see to the NFL? More games? Less games? Major rules changes? Some substantial change to the game of any kind? Why? What are the pluses that you see for your proposed changes to the league? As well as this post being the question of the day post it will also serve as a live thread to discuss, like in all the other non game live threads, pretty much whatever you so wish so long as it falls within the parameters of the site’s rules. If you are not sure as to the site rules (or maybe for whatever reason you have never even seen them) there is a full post covering the site rules as well as some other helpful hints under the tab at the top of the page labeled “LIBRARY”. Doing your best to follow the site rules will not only make the site enjoyable for everyone but will also keep you and Bill from getting close and personal with one another.

As another draft looms for the Miami Dolphins, both the team and its fans are wondering whether this will be the year that we finally see an effective, cohesive offensive line on the field for the Dolphins this season. It may not be easy. The Dolphins have a top tier player at left tackle in Laremy Tunsil, a decent starter at right guard in Jesse Davis, an underachieving, try hard guy at center in Daniel Kilgore and not much else. As always, it often helps to look at the team from a historical perspective to see what has happened in past drafts, as it relates to Miami’s offensive line. This team has a history of just missing out on some real studs in the draft, watching other teams pick, or trade, ahead of them and snap up the good players before the Dolphins can get them. We saw this in the first round of the 1995 draft, when in Don Shula’s final draft for Miami, Minnesota selected all America Ohio State tackle Korey Stringer with the 24th pick. You would think, that with the top two tackles off the board (Tony Boselli went 2nd, to the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars), Shula would have gone in a different direction, but no -- he plowed ahead and chose offensive tackle Billy Milner from the University of Houston with the 25th pick . Milner played in only nine games for the Dolphins. In 2004, the Dolphins were mired in what has become an irksome trend for them: instead of a viable player at a given position, they often instead prefer a gaping hole with a big neon sign above it that reads, ‘We Need __________, Bad’. In 2004, that gaping hole was the entire right side of the offensive line. Gaping holes with neon signs above them allows other teams to project who your favorite team is likely to select at a given spot, and then trade with another team that’s picking ahead of your favorite team, so they can draft that player before your team can get him. Shawn Andrews was the top guard available in ‘04, so naturally, the Philadelphia Eagles traded ahead of the Dolphins and selected Andrews with the 16th overall pick, leaving Miami to settle for hometown product Vernon Carey, from the University of Miami. Carey played eight seasons for the Dolphins, and had a decent career, but Andrews made two Pro Bowls in Philly before he got injured. Remember that embarrassing 1-15 season in 2007? To be sure, the Dolphins had lot of problems that year, including at the center position, but if the Carolina Panthers hadn’t taken center Ryan Khalil with the 59th pick, Miami wouldn’t have had to settle for pint sized Samson Satele with the 60th. Khalil would go to five Pro Bowls for Carolina, and not getting him was a big reason why the Dolphins had to burn a number one pick on Mike Pouncey four years later. It was in 2012, though, that the Dolphins really missed out, and did it ever cost them. Having finished with an identical record as the Buffalo Bills, the Dolphins’ strength of schedule was a couple of hundredths of a percentage point higher than the Bills’, which gave Buffalo the 41st overall pick and Miami the 42nd, in the top half of the second round. Former Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland wanted University of Georgia’s Cordy Glenn, but was forced to settle for Stanford’s Jonathan Martin, a quirk of fate that still haunts the Dolphins seven years later. Martin eventually imploded in Miami, and touched off the BullyGate scandal that made the Dolphins a national laughingstock. Glenn was good enough in Buffalo that the Bills were able to package him with some other picks and move up in last year’s draft to select their quarterback of the future, Josh Allen. 2014 was a similar scenario to 2012, but at least when Miami missed out on four time Pro Bowler Zach Martin, Ju ‘Wuan James didn’t bring any scandals to the Dolphins. He also didn’t go to any Pro Bowls, either and he now plays for the Denver Broncos. To be fair, many of the above events were beyond the team’s control, but they didn’t have to take the players they chose after better guys at the same position had already been selected by other teams. Aside from hoping that their abysmally bad luck takes a turn for the better, is there anything Miami can do for itself, to improve the offensive line? I would say yes. Get rid of that ridiculous finesse blocking system that both Joe Philbin and Adam Gase’s staffs used, and go back to a more physical, power based scheme. Maybe the X’s and O’s guys on the Phinsider can help me out a little bit here, but I’ve read that if you see the guards pulling on running plays, that’s an indication of a power based blocking scheme. Most of the top offenses I’ve seen the past couple of years, the Kansas City Chiefs, etc, have had their guards pulling frequently, and I didn’t see the Dolphins doing any pulling, at least in the games I saw. As I’ve said before, you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight and you don’t send finesse blockers to contend with the physical odd front defenses that are found in the AFC East. That’s the wrap for today, have a great week, everybody.

Game preview, lineups, news and props for Marlins vs. Nationals in Miami. Thanks for joining us for Saturday’s Marlins (5-15) vs. Nationals (9-9) game thread. Throughout the 2019 season, Fish Stripes is your home for daily Fish Picks prop bets. I posted the full introduction toward the end of Spring Training. The monthly points leader for March/April, May, June, etc. wins Fish Stripes merchandise prizes. (Do you know of any South Florida businesses who might want to sponsor additional Fish Picks prizes? Details here.) The Fish Picks leaderboard will update daily to let you know where you stand. Nationals Lineup RF Adam Eaton 3B Anthony Rendon LF Juan Soto 1B Matt Adams 2B Brian Dozier C Yan Gomes SS Wilmer Difo P Max Scherzer CF Víctor Robles Notes: Caleb Smith had his way with the Nats lineup in the series opener despite their early-season dominance against left-handed pitching (.287/.361/.512). They aren’t quite as potent against righties (.253/.335/.445). If José Ureña brings the same stuff we saw from him last time out, Washington is in for a tough matchup regardless. Marlins Lineup LF Curtis Granderson 3B Martín Prado RF Brian Anderson 1B Neil Walker 2B Starlin Castro C Jorge Alfaro SS Miguel Rojas CF Isaac Galloway P José Ureña Notes: In light of roster changes earlier in the day, we have Anderson getting reacquainted with right field where he spent the majority of his rookie season...Available off the bench in place of the optioned Austin Dean, Jon Berti was slashing .286/.490/.486 (157 wRC+) with Triple-A New Orleans prior to getting this opportunity. You can learn more about his hot start here. Berti’s spray chart from 2018 shows how he pulls most ground balls, but frequently hits fly balls to the opposite field. Baseball Savant Marlins Communications How to watch/listen/follow The game gets underway at 6:10 p.m. ET. Watch on FOX Sports Florida and via MLB.TV or listen on 940 WINZ. Saturday’s credentialed Fish Stripes photographer is Danis Sosa (@dsosaphotography). Fish Picks Please comment below or tweet to @fishstripes with your picks for the following props. The contest locks at first pitch. Which team scores first? (Nationals/Marlins) Over/Under 7.5 at-bats until Marlins get their first hit? (Over/Under) Over/Under 2:50 time of game? (Over/Under) Will Miguel Rojas reach base safely? (Yes/No) Who wins? (Nationals/Marlins)