The New York Yankees have a 3-game series this weekend against the Florida Marlins. One of the pitchers they could be facing is Chris Volstadt. An interesting little article in the MLB Insider section of the May 18 issue of ESPN the Magazine shed a little light on his background. His dad was a golf tutor to Hall of Famer Jim Palmer. This was a great help to Chris when he was in little league growing up in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. He had a very awkward delivery. As a favor to his dad, Jim Palmer gave him some tips. The result: Chris Volstadt grew up to be 6'8". He's got a killer sinking fastball that causes opposing batters to hit a lot of ground balls. Through the month of April, he had an ERA of 2.67. How's will he fare against the Yankees? Well, since April his ERA ballooned to 3.46. His last start was against the Cardinals. He gave up a career high 6 runs in 5 2/3 innings in the Florida Marlins loss to them. I believe if the Yankees end up facing him at some point this weekend, it's going to be straight up domination. If the Cards can jump on Volstadt like that, so can the Yankees. Don't miss out on this upcoming series this weekend.
One sidenote on the Florida Marlins: the consensus is that they have a crappy ballpark with a lot of rainouts. I guess it's not easy when you share a stadium with the Miami Dolphins. Football is more rain friendly than baseball is. Nobody wants to come to their games, hence one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. Within the next few years, that's going to change. The city of Miami has approved construction of new stadium at the site of the old Citrus Bowl. It's going to have a retractable roof. That's going to mean more fans attending their games, which means more money coming in, a name change from the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins, and possibly a higher payroll. Ultimately, being able to pay $$$ for better talent. When this stadium is completed, I don't want to hear any excuses that the Yankees dominate them because of their higher payroll.
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Keywords: Florida Marlins, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals
