This Day in Sports History - 5/29/2010

Roy Halladay of the Phillies pitches a perfect game to defeat the Florida Marlins, 1-0, at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. The lone run of the contest is scored in the third inning on a three-base error by Marlins CF Cameron Maybin. Halladay faces three pinch hitters in the ninth inning. Ray Lamb hits a fly ball to deep center field where Shane Victorino snags it. The final out is recorded when Ronny Paulino hits a grounder to third baseman Jaun Castro, who fires the ball across the diamond to first baseman Ryan Howard. Halladay throws 115 pitches and strikes out 11. It is the second perfect game of 2010, following the gem by Dallas Braden of the Athletics on May 9. It is the first time since 1880 that there have been two perfect games in a season.

Mark Buehrle

The Miami Marlins who have already added Heath Bell & Jose Reyes this offseason signed Mark Buehrle to a 4 year $58 million contract. Buehrle is a 3 time Gold Glove winner, has started 362 games since 2001 and is 39 wins away from 200 in his career. Buehrle looks to be the #2 starter behind Josh Johnson and ahead of Ricky Nolasco & Anibal Sanchez.

Related Posts:

1. The Icky Shuffle: MLB Free Agency 2011
2. The Icky Shuffle: Best by the Numbers - Chicago Edition
3. The Icky Shuffle: My Top 10 Favorite Left Handed Pitchers

Jose Reyes

The Miami Marlins have signed Jose Reyes to a 6 year $106 million deal. In 2011 Reyes played for the New York Mets and led the National League in Batting Average and triples. He also was in the top 10 in OBP, runs, stolen bases & hits. Reyes is a 3-time All Star & has a career stolen base percentage of just a bit over 80%. The one issue with Reyes over the past few years has been his health, so the one question is can he stay healthy? Only time will tell.

Related Posts:
1. The Icky Shuffle: MLB Free Agency 2011
2. The Icky Shuffle: Heath Bell
3. The Icky Shuffle: This Day in Sports History - 5/20/1999

Heath Bell

Closer Heath Bell signed with the Florida...um...Miami Marlins on a 3 year $27 million deal with an option for 2015. He took over as Closer of the Padres after they severed ties with future HOFer Trevor Hoffman. He has 134 career saves and his save percentage is 83.7%. From 2009 - 2011 Bell was top 5 in the NL in Saves and in 2007 & 2008 was top 5 in the NL in Holds. The Marlins have built a new stadium and it has allowed them to go out and spend some money.

Related Posts:

1. The Icky Shuffle: MLB Free Agency 2011

2. The Icky Shuffle: This Day in Sports History - 10/25/2003
2. The Icky Shuffle: John Buck

This Day in Sports History - 10/25/2003

In Game 6 of the World Series, the last Series game played at the original Yankee Stadium, Josh Beckett of the Florida Marlins pitches a complete-game shutout on two days rest to beat the Yankees, 3-0. The win gives the Marlins the second world championship in their eleven year history; the first was in 1997. For both, the Marlins entered the playoffs as a wild card.

Andy Pettitte & Trevor Hoffman

The final two players on my 25 Free Agents to watch are Andy Pettitte and Trevor Hoffman. Both players decided to retire instead of returning for another season. Pettitte has a career record of 240 - 138 and 2,251 strikeouts. He also has the most postseason wins with 19. Hoffman, who started as a SS in the Minor-Leagues, had 601 career saves. Included in that were nine seasons of 40 or more saves. Hoffman is known for his change-up like Bruce Sutter is known for his splitter or Mariano Rivera is known for his cutter.

Related Posts:
1. The Icky Shuffle: MLB Free Agency 2010

John Buck

John Buck recently signed a 3 yr. contract with the Florida Marlins. In 2010 he played for the Toronto Blue Jays and batted .281, hit 20 homeruns and drove in 66 runs. But in many ways his largest impact on the team was his ability to handle a young pitching staff. With the loss of Dan Uggla and Cameron Maybin in trades Buck can step into the middle part of the line-up and make major contributions.

Related Posts:
1. The Icky Shuffle: MLB Free Agency 2010

2. The Icky Shuffle: The Best & Worst of Trade Deadline Deals

3. The Icky Shuffle: OLD FACES IN NEW PLACES

Frank Luntz's Focus Groups on Hannity

Frank Luntz is a pollster who often has Focus Groups on Hannity. Here are two Focus Groups, one from Florida talking about Pres. Obama and the job he's done, and one from California talking about candidate Meg Whitman and the illegal immigrant she had working for her.


Florida Focus Group:






California Focus Group:

Florida Senate Candidates Charlie Crist & Marco Rubio

Here are 2 seperate videos, one of Charlie Crist & one of Marco Rubio on the television program "On the Record". Governor Crist's appearance happened first so it is the first of the 2 videos.