Wild Feelings

Looks like this Marlins team is legit, huh?

They lost two games to the Yankees - by a total of 2 run. A pitching duel broke out in game 2 of the series between Dontrelle and Moose. It keeps getting better though for the Marlins, despite losing that game they were able to see Willis stake his claim as ace of this staff. Reassuring to the Marlins faithful, but more importantly, that will be a nice lesson to keep in D's back pocket.

Then game 3 rolled around - and being shown around the country on ESPN. All the Marlins did was drop their prospect, Anibal Sanchez (acquire from the Red Sox as part of the Beckett/Lowell deal), in front of the Yankee crowd to make his debut. And he responded by helping shut out the Yankees through 6 2/3 innings - the first time the Yanks have been shut out all season and the first time since September of last season.

Even the offense seemed to bust it open tallying 5 runs for Sanchez to help secure this win.

The bullpen is not just coming together anymore, but asserting itself and becoming more entrenched in their roles. Messenger, Kensing and Borowski locking it down tight.

The elements are in the mix - timely hitting, lack of fear, total confidence, great execution - in order to give the Marlins a spot in the wild card chase. Once again.

We'll stay tuned to see what happens as the learning curve for this team seems to be much shorter than we previously may have thought.