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Marlins back in contention
Less than three years after they were totally dismantled, the Florida Marlins are somehow contending for the NL wild card. They're young, emotional and ahead of schedule. Marlins manager John Boles told me that emotion and fire gets a kick start from second baseman Luis Castillo. The 24-year-old leads the league in steals and is second in hitting. Don't look for the Marlins to make a move to stay in the wild card race, though. Boles told me he doesn't want to touch his nucleus of young talent because management is trying to build a long-term winner.
Man in the boxThe Carl Everett incident could have been avoided with an innovation baseball needs -- a permanent batter's box. Most teams obliterate the back of the box by the end of the first inning, and nobody has a problem with that. So why did Everett digging out the inside line cause such a problem? Bottom line, baseball should figure out a way to make the box permanent and then enforce it all the time.
Expansion by subtractionThe talk in Atlanta during the All-Star break was about how balls are flying out of the park because nobody can pitch anymore. It makes me wonder why baseball's tribal council didn't put eliminating a team or two at the top of their list. Less teams would mean less AA and AAA caliber pitchers at the major league level, and that would be a very good thing for the quality of play.
For Pete's sakeI was in a charity game with Pete Rose over the weekend, and it made me think about how much Rose deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Nobody is going to match his hit record, the fans have forgiven him and he's been punished enough.Ozzie Smith, a 15-time All-Star, is a baseball analyst for CNN/Sports Illustrated and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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