Andre Dawson has finally been elected to the baseball Hall of Fame.
“The Hawk”, who finished out his career with the marlins in 1995 and 1996 and is currently a member of the Marlins front office is a former NL MVP and ROY. He was an eight-time all star, retired with 438 home runs and 1,591 RBI.
A Miami native, Dawson becomes the first Marlins player inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Chris Coghlan has earned a well deserved recognition after being named the National League Rookie of the Year. Coghlan’s rookie year started in May and took off after the All-Star game when he lead all of baseball in hits and batting average.
While this year’s NL rookie crop was very strong, Coghlan’s record setting run in August and September combined with his overall .321 average (as well as 9 homeruns and 47 RBIs) pushed him over the edge. Coghlan’s patient and consistent approach at the plate made him a strong presence in the Marlins’ lead-off spot. He quickly began to accumulate multi-hit games and avoided long slumps. He recorded 47 his in both August and September, the most the league has seen in 30 years.
Coghlan edged out J.A. Happ of the Phillies 105-94 after receiving 17 first-place votes, 6 second-place votes, and 2 third-place votes. Amazingly, he still won even though he wasn’t named on 7 ballots (while Happ was named on all 32).
Congratulations to Jorge Cantu on being named the NL Player of the Week. He is the second Fish to win the award already (Josh Johnson won it last month). Unfortunately, Cantu’s .346 average with 4 HR and 15 RBI wasn’t enough to earn the fish more than 3 wins last week.
Rich and Tommy just reported that Hanley Ramirez has been named the National League Player of the Month for June. He is the first Marlin to win this award since Jeff Conine in 1995. More details to follow.
Ramirez, who leads all NL shortstops in votes for the All-Star Game, hit .298 (34-114), with six doubles, a triple, 10 home runs, 13 RBIs and 27 runs scored in June. Ramirez, who added 13 walks and was 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts, led the NL in home runs, runs scored and total bases (72) over the month.
Ricky went 2-0 this week with a 1.23 ERA, dominating two good teams (Philadelphia and Tampa Bay). In last night’s game against Tampa, he struck out 12 and was one out away from the Marlins’ first complete game since 1962 [Update: For those who didn't realize it, that was a joke. The Marlins are on course to set the MLB record for the most consecutive games without a complete game. The last Marlins complete game was on September 10, 2006 when Dontrelle Willis shutout the Phillies 3-0]..