Fish Bytes

Logan Morrison talks about his return to the Marlins' lineup; Coghlan on his calf; roster updates

NEW YORK -- Logan Morrison was all smiles Sunday morning sitting in the Marlins dugout. 

The 25-year old first baseman, who is trying to battle back from two surgeries on his right knee over the past year and a half, was happy to be back with his teammates and in a major league lineup for the first time since last July 28. Is his knee finally 100 percent?

"I don't think it's 100 percent, but it's pretty close," said Morrison, who spent all of spring training walking in an anti-gravity suit on a treadmill before finally beginning a 16-game rehab assignment last month. "I'm happy with it. Hopefully I can stay away from walls and the adrenaline doesn't get the best of me.

"When I first started sliding on it, it bothered. But the last couple days sliding on it hasn't bothered it."

After learning mid-game Saturday in Birmingham he was flying up to New York to join the Marlins Sunday, the always easy going Morrison said he sent a text message to manager Mike Redmond during the 20-inning game saying 'I guess I'm flying to New York to pitch.'

Morrison hit just .179 with two homers, 10 RBI, six walks and four strikeouts over 56 at-bats during his time in Single A Jupiter and Double A Jacksonville. But he's confident his hitting stroke will eventually come back. "It's what I do," he said. "It will come back."

What does he hope to bring a team that has a 17-44 record, worst in the majors?

"I don't have any secrets for them. I don't have any cure-alls," he said. "It's just going to be about going out and competing. Turn it around a little bit. Just because we're young doesn't mean we're not good. We have all the talent in the world. Play like you know you're going to succeed. Call it cocky, call it arrogant, fine. When you go into second base and a guy hits into a ground ball double play let him feel you. If he turns that one, he's not going to turn the second one. That's how you've got to play. That's how I play."

DISAPPOINTED COGHLAN HEADS TO DISABLED LIST

The last thing Chris Coghlan wanted just as he was beginning to turn his career around was another trip to the disabled list. But that's where the 2009 National League Rookie of the Year is headed after losing his three-week battle with numbness in his right calf.

"My muscle is not firing. It hurts. It feels like a real tight feeling that I can't push," said Coghlan, who is supposed to undergo an MRI on Monday. "The DL sucks. I've been waiting a year and a half for this opportunity I got, so that sucks even more. It's disappointing. I'm frustrated, but at the end of the day I did what I could do. I grinded through it, and this is what's just in the cards for me. I've got to turn the page, be positive and do whatever I can do to get back here as soon as possible."

A pinch-hitter and reserve for the first month and a half of the season, Coghlan found his way into the starting lineup on May 18th and hit .343 with a homer and 9 RBI over his last 18 games. With a crowded outfield full of young prospects, the Marlins have talked about moving him to third base. It's a possibility that's where he'll be when he returns.

STANTON COULD BE BACK MONDAY

> All-Star right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, rehabbing in Single A Jupiter and trying to come back from a Grade 2 hamstring strain, text messaged Redmond and trainer Sean Cunningham Saturday to tell him he's ready to go.

Although he's gone hitless in the four rehab games he's played in -- including a double header Saturday -- Redmond said just having Stanton back in the lineup will be huge. It's likely the Marlins will send first baseman Casey Kotchman, 0-for-20 this season at the plate, to the disabled list on Monday with a strained oblique to make room for Stanton on the roster.

"It's a great presence to have in our lineup," Redmond said. "Even if he takes, he's going to walk. If he's ready to go, he's ready to go."

> Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi was scheduled to make his fourth and final rehab start in Double A Jacksonville Sunday.

> Redmond said right-hander Henderson Alvarez, who threw a 55 pitch simulated game Saturday, will likely begin his rehab stint next week.

> Second baseman Donovan Solano, whose gone 6-for-10 with an RBI in three rehab game starts down in Jupiter, is available to return this week. But the Marlins haven't decided yet what they're going to do.

"Solano's available," Redmond said. "But we still have to evaluate where he's at. We got a lot of guys that are close and we've talked about having some decisions to make. We have to sit down and figure out where these guys are at. We knew we would be getting guys back. Of course it all works out you get them all back the same week. It's a good situation. We're getting the lineup we thought we'd have when we left in spring training back. That's good."

> Saturday hero Kevin Slowey, who pitched seven scoreless innings of relief, will now pitch on Wednesday. He was scheduled to make his next start on Tuesday, but Redmond has moved right-hander Jacob Turner up a day and flip-flopped their spots to allow Slowey to gain an extra day of rest. 

Zambrano: Zack Greinke was fish that wiggled free

     MILWAUKEE -- The Marlins had all but fire-branded a Miller Park "L" on Zack Greinke when it all came apart in an error-filled collapse. The Brewers, who trailed 5-2 entering the fifth inning and 5-3 going into the sixth, pulled off a rescue act to spare Greinke his first-ever loss at Miller. Greinke had gone 15-0 there. But three Marlins errors -- two by Hanley Ramirez -- ended up costing them.

     Carlos Zambrano, who was on the mound for the Marlins, likened it to a big fish that got away.

     "I almost had him," Zambrano said. "But he ran away from me. It's like when you're fishing, and you've got the fish, you've got the fish, and you bring it in, you bring it in, and then when you almost have it to the boat, it escapes."

     Zambrano had words with Greinke early in the game after the two pitchers delivered inside pitches. After Zambrano plunked Ryan Braun in the first inning, Greinke brushed back Zambrano in the next. When Zambrano completed the at bat by grounding to second, he said some words to Greinke as he trotted by the mound on his way back to the Marlins' dugout.

     "I didn't say nothing bad to him," Zambrano said. "I didn't curse. I didn't say any bad words. I just passed by him, had a few words."

     Zambrano said he did not try to hit Braun, that he threw a sinker that got away from him (Zambrano ended up walking the next three Brewers hitters, so his control was clearly not there in the first inning).

     "I've got nothing against Braun," Zambrano said. "He's a great player and I respect him."

     Said Guillen: "If Carlos is going to hit somebody, he's not going to throw 82 miles per hour. If you're going to hit somebody, throw 100. I don't think at all he tried to hit him. With Greinke, I think he pitched in to Carlos. I think. (Guillen, laughing) Carlos should kick his (butt) then if he think he hit him. I would like to watch that fight, see how Greinke's going to fight."

The D-Train reaches the end of the line

      The word out of Baltimore is that Dontrelle Willis, who burst onto the scene with the Marlins in 2003, became a fan favorite with his quirky delivery and infectious smile, and flamed out as a pitcher right after he was traded, has decided to retire.

        "I think Dontrelle Willis was the reason why the Marlins won (the World Series) in 2003," said Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen, who was the team's third base coach the season Willis came up from the minors as a rookie and made an instant splash. "Obviously it takes 25 guys to win the World Series. But I think this kid when he arrived to Miami, he took the pitching staff to the next level. For two or three months, he was unhittable. And then Beckett and those guys started to pick it up."

       Said Josh Johnson, who was on the '06 and '07 teams with Willis: "He loved playing the game, so it comes as kind of a shock. He was impressive, could throw any pitch at any time. He is always rooting for every guy. Never played favorites. He was always cheering for everybody, wanted everybody to do well, just a good -hearted person."

       When Willis and Miguel Cabrera left the Marlins in the controversial trade with the Tigers following the '07 season, he ranked as the franchise's all-time wins leader, a record that was eclipsed earlier this season by Ricky Nolasco. But he was never the pitcher with anyone else that he was with the Marlins. Willis lost his ability to throw strikes and never regained it.

       The Willis that Guillen remembered with the Marlins wasn't the same pitcher he saw on the mound for Detroit when he was managing the White Sox.

       "He was bad," Guillen said. "The few times he pitched against us, I thought he was hurt, and I called him to see what it was. He couldn't throw strikes and when you're not throwing strikes, you announce your retirement pretty quick. It's not just him. It's everybody. A lot of people say it was the mechanics. Well, he had the same mechanics all his life. He just couldn't find the plate."

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       Guillen said that Emilio Bonifacio, Edward Mujica and Juan Carlos Oviedo are all expected to begin rehab assignments later this week. Guillen said Bonifacio remains on schedule to rejoin the Marlins the first weekend after the All-Star break.

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       With the Home Run Derby less than a week away, Giancarlo Stanton got a feel for what it might be like when he took some practice cuts in early B.P. on Monday on Miller Park. The batting cage was rolled back (there is no shell for the Home Run Derby), and he departed from his customary practice of hitting to right by pulling most every pitch thrown to him by Joe Espada.

        Stanton hit a ball off the centerfield scoreboard, crushed three off the glass-enclosed restaurant on the second level, and launched one ball over the left field bleachers and clear out of the ballpark.

        "If I start trying too hard, it's going to be top-spin rollovers," Stanton said. "If I don't try to do too much, that's the only thing that's going to hurt me. But you've got to get a little bit of the feel. You just can't go the way I take B.P. and then change everything up for that day. So you've got to get a little practice when you do something like that."

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       The Marlins have a tough assignment tonight. Not only are they facing a team that's beaten them the last eight times they've met, but are facing Zack Greinke, who has ever lost (15-0) at Miller Park. Greinke is only the fourth pitcher since 1900 to win each of his first 15 home decisions with a team. The others: Johnny Allen (16 straight with the Yankees, 1932-33), LaMarr Hoyt (16 straight with the White Sox, 1980-82) and Kenny Rogers (15 straight with Oakland, 1998-99).

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       Lineups:

       Marlins: 1. Reyes, ss; 2. Ramirez, 3b; 3. Stanton, rf; 4. Morrison, lf; 5. Ruggiano, cf; 6. Dobbs, 1b; 7. Infante, 2b; 8. Buck, c; 9. Zambrano, p.

       Brewers: 1. Gomez, cf; 2. Morgan, rf; 3. Braun, lf; 4. Ramirez, 3b; 5. Hart, 1b; 6. Weeks, 2b; 7. Maldonado, c; 8. Izturis, ss; 9. Greinke.

       Umpires: HP -- Derryl Cousins; 1B -- Ron Kulpa; 2B -- D.J. Reyburn; 3B -- Dan Bellino.