Four Tiny Tidbits On: The Marlins

Baseball is here! Inspired by an old feature on The Black Table, we're previewing the season by going team-by-team and distributing Four Things You Don't Know about them. Beginning tomorrow we'll be previewing World Cup soccer teams, so if you have suggested oddities on your team, send them to us at [email protected]. Today: The Florida Marlins.

• 1. They Drink From A Different Trough. In a game against the Chicago Cubs in July of 1997, the Marlins' Darren Daulton — who was pretty awesome on ESPN last night, wasn't he? — got the game-winning hit, and claimed afterwards that it wasn't really him that hit the ball, saying that the experience "awakened me to other realms." Since then Daulton has devised his own system of metaphysics, and claims that he can travel in time, fly, and tell the future. Daulton predicts that the world will end on December 21, 2012, at 1:11 a.m., which is the last date on the Mayan calendar. In the meantime, though, he says he would like a chance to manage a Major League team.

• 2. They Remember Little League More Vividly Than Most. The Marlins started six rookies on opening day this season, the first time in modern history that a Major League team has started that many.

• 3. They Throw Out The Baby Name Book And Go With Their Gut. Pitcher Joe Borowski named his son Blaze. Great name for a future Major League hurler, or a fireman, but pretty embarrassing if he turns out to be anything else.

• 4. Their Cookouts Are Probably More Interesting Than Yours. Left-Fielder Chris Aguila is a native of Reno, Nev., where he learned the Polynesian Fire Knife Dance, which he still performs with a group during the off-season.