A Deep Fish Fry

Quick, which team in MLB has the best winning percentage? Boston? Arizona? Chicago? Oakland? Minnesota? Any team in New York city?

No, its the Florida Marlins who at 23-14 have a .622 winning percentage. It is the best start in franchise history and they are in the midst of a 7 game winning streak.

And none of the pundits saw this coming. Which begs the question, if you were an unsuccessful GM, why are you the lead analyst for your sport?

Anywho, even good ol' BSPN, er...ESPN...is taking notice. They have acknowledged that perhaps times are changing as the Marlins have signed Hanley Ramirez to a 6 year deal (just wait for the theories to start coming out about how the Marlins are going to shop the young superstar). Even paying great complement to Ramirez calling him one of the 5 best players in baseball.

About time someone noticed, huh?

It's still amazing to me that a sport such as baseball can be overlooked in some places by even their talking heads. Still, the Marlins are getting it done and right now, look unstoppable. Dan Uggla has been red hot hitting 3 home runs in the Nationals series sweep along with 7 RBIs. The starting pitching has been much more consistent and the staff ERA over this streak is a paltry 2.20.

Now they will head into Cincinnati who is nursing a 15-23 record. Seems to be at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Marlins. But they will have their work cut out for them.

Marlins Sweep Brewers

No sausage races, just cold cuts. The Marlins are running hot these days and treat their guests rudely with a sweep coming off the heals of a series win against the Padres. They outscore the Brew crew 25-10 in the sweep, and have even won 5 of their last 6 games.

With tonight's win, the Marlins are 6 games over .500 at 20-14 and hold sole command of the top spot in the NL East.

The Marlins young pitching seems to be coming around a bit as Badenhop has served up two quality starts in a row. The offense is clicking even with Josh Willingham on the 15 day DL.

Next up? The Washington Nationals. The Marlins will look to continue to dominate their rivals to the north and build on their first place hold.

Totally Sweep: Marlins Sweep Nats

Of all the surprise teams, none should surprise the baseball fans around the nation more than the 1st place Marlins. Why? A $21M payroll, which is almost half of what the next lowest payrolled team in the league maybe?

That is a start.

With tonight's win, the Marlins were able to do something they haven't done in three years - sweep the Nationals in DC. In their brand spanking new ball park, nonetheless, the Marlins defeated the Nationals with timely hitting, solid defense and gasp - good pitching.

The holy trinity for baseball success has seemed to allude this team at times over the past few seasons, but tonight it all came together in what is shaping up to be a very interesting season for the young ball club.

Jorge Cantu, a Devil Ray castoff, has come into camp and won the starting third base job with impressive hitting in spring training and solid defense. Tonight, he was three for four with two RBIs and helped the Marlins to their 6th win while also building his hitting streak up to 5 games now.

Sprinkle in some defense: three double plays tonight up the middle for the Marlins, the most dramatic coming in the bottom of the ninth to end the game. Solid defense for a team that showed a big dropoff last season, especially up the middle of the field. Yet it was Josh Willingham's drop that actually saved the game tonight. In the bottom of the ninth, Nick Johnson hit a rocket to left field that would have gone over the wall if not for Willingham's desperate attempt to snag it - the ball fell out of the Hammer's glove, but saved a run for the Marlins.

A little pitching - Mark Hendrickson got the Marlins through 7 innings which is almost a miracle at this point considering no Marlin starter has been able to get through 7 innings so far this season. Kevin Gregg braved the ninth, even though he wasn't sharp he got it done by inducing the double play from ex-Marlin Paul Lo Duca.

And that is how a sweep is built: Marlins show off their bats in the first two games, then show off their growing games as they fight and scrap for runs and eek out a heady win with timely defense, solid hitting and gutsy pitching.

Look out everyone. The next test will be Houston.

Marlins in First Place

As dramatic as a walk off home run last night was for this team, Mike Jacobs raised the stakes and pulled off another amazing feat - a grand slam home run.

It didn't directly win the game, but was a large factor in the 7-3 result. Jacobs' grand slam all but took the wind out of the Pirates sails, and no raid was to be had. With this win, the Marlins assured their first home series win of the season, but more importantly moved into sole possession of 1st place atop the NL East standings.

Need proof? Just look at the standings in the column at the right!

Imagine that. The Marlins are playing spirited baseball with a can't lose attitude. They looked outmatched in a few games against the Mets but seemed to have bounced back this series. Just look at the pitching of Mark Hendrickson tonight as compared to how he performed in the season opener a few days ago. Instead of tripping up in the 4th, he made it to the sixth inning tonight. And for the bullpen, that is two nights in a row the starters have made it the 6th, sparing their arms for a few more days.

Tomorrow in the afternoon the Marlins will look to close out the Pirates and possibly remain in 1st place. Even if it is just for now there is no harm in dreaming about a possibly great season.

And Wes Helms, acquired by the Marlins tonight, is coming along at just the right time.

Marlins 2nd Win is the 2nd Walkoff

I don't know if I can take a season full of walk off wins, but hey, the first two this season for our boys in Teal have been just that - exciting.

The first hero was Robert Andino, a shortstop prospect that I have been writing off ever since we drafted him. But he is emerging as not just another slick-fielding prospect but one with, gulp, a bat. I still can't believe I am saying that.

Tonight's hero, however, was Mike Jacobs. The 3rd year 1st baseman has been hitting the ball very well all season but tonight finally broke through - and he knew it. Big Jake has always had a kind of swagger to me, a kind of gunslinger assurance that kind of reminds me a bit of Will Clark. Not the cocky gunslinger type so much, but his smooth lefty swing. Well tonight, after he got a nice pitch from Franky O (I am not going to try and spell the Pirates' relievers name...), he dropped his bat head about belt high and watched the ball sail into the right field bleachers for the Marlins 2nd win of the season - which, incidentally, was their 2nd walk off of the night.

You could tell it was gone, too. Jacobs spit a minor rainstorm out of his mouth after he hit it and started his trot around the bases. Immediately, the bench cleared, tossing helmets and gloves back toward the dugout as the win was ensured, and gave Jacobs his victorious beat down at home plate.

And he escaped without getting a cream pie in the face.

So, the Marlins will face the Pirates for 2 more games to close out the series. Perhaps the most exciting thing after all won't be the Brett Michael's concert after the game tomorrow night. And that is how it should be - your Marlins are playing gritty and fun baseball. Now, it is just about making it more consistent and who knows how things will progress for this team this 2008 season.

Marlins On Two Game Win Streak

One against the Phillies and now another against the Mets. The Marlins are, dare I say, rolling. Frank the Tank would be proud:



Ok, so I shouldn't get too excited. After all, it is just two games. Yet, this is a sign of hope as the Marlins have been able to come together against two division rivals and with another chance tonight against the Mets, who knows? It is a little late to crash the Wild Card party, but it isn't too late to crash someone else's season.

Marlins Dead in the Water?

Seems like it is over too quickly for the Marlins this season.

Suffering injuries to 3/5ths of their stellar starting staff from last season hasn't been kind either. Then again, neither has this coaching staff.

Incidentally, they may all get an incomplete considering the injuries to this team but make no mistake, the Marlins have taken a big step backwards this season. There was a lot of hope and expectation for this young team coming into the season, building on the rookie seasons of Josh Johnson, Scott Olsen, Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Mike Jacobs and even Anibal Sanchez and Ricky Nolasco. Olsen has turned into a headcase; Jacobs, Johnson, Sanchez and Nolasco have all been injured while only Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla have been able to consistently get into the starting lineup each day.

And it shows.

On top of this struggle, the Marlins made changes to their coaching staff and it doesn't seem to have paid off at all. Girardi left, mostly because he blew out the starters and didn't play the right personnel - and the fruits of that destruction have come to bear as we see Josh Johnson is now out for the rest of this season and possibly next. Yet the hiring of Fredi Gonzalez, met with some fanfare since he is a local kid, has turned out to be a quagmire.

Gonzalez has yet to show any kind of leadership abilities, instead deferring mostly to bench coach Carlos Tosca. The lack of direction shows on the field as these young players tend to go up and down like elevators but never seem to find ways to get out of funks or focus on being professionals day to day. That is not to say that the Marlins have huge problems with their personnel, yet only to say that the challenge of great players is their potential and developing it to its fullest. Miguel Cabrera was battling a big weight issue and the Marlins seemed to lack any courage in addressing it and challenging Cabrera. Dan Uggla went through a big slump and very little got better for him as did Jeremy Hermida. These young players need to have a plan in order to get out these slumps or spells where they just play bad and the Marlins staff seems to side-step the opportunity to hold them accountable as professionals.

It just seems that there is too much focus on personal feelings with this group and a fear to do what is necessary to win.

Say what we want about Girardi, but his crew cut no-nonsense approach made him the focus of the team from the players and no one questioned who was in charge in that dugout. In fact, that may have been what got him fired in the end - he couldn't stop himself. Fredi seems to be the opposite - he doesn't know where he should begin.

As a result, the Marlins have performed worse despite their strong offensive numbers and their talent. Mistakes like letting Armando Benitez even set foot on the field continue, while former problems - Randy Messenger and Jorge Julio, for example - continue to improve.

Byung-Hyun Kim was a shrewd move for Julio, but now he has been placed on waivers and picked up by Arizona. A payroll move and a signal that the Marlins brass is waiving the white flag for the remainder of this season. They might as well get rid of the coaching staff too since they have seemed to all but run the Marlins into the ground now.

There is little to watch for right now other than the development of young talents like Jeremy Hermida and Rick Vanden Hurk. Of course Miguel Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez are having fine seasons and are worth the price of the ticket alone to watch each night. In fact, that is the problem - these young guys have talent and deserve to put it on display and win. For some reason, it isn't working out right now.

Miggy Hits Two, Marlins Hanging in There

Still 7.5 games back of the NL East lead, but the Marlins are looking better these days taking two straight against the Washington Nationals.

And it couldn't come at a better time.

With David "Little Napoleon" Samson mouthing off over the Ichiro extension, the Marlins need to make some noise of their own - and for the positive.

Still, climbing back into the NL East race is a remote possibility. The pitching has started to come around - the Marlins bullpen is as good as ever with Kevin Gregg putting up incredible numbers as the team closer - and the hitting is, too.

Check out Miguel Cabrera hitting two bombs to help the cause, and Josh Willingham dinging his 14th on the season. For Miggy, that is numbers 20 and 21 sailing over the fences.

Who knows, maybe a nice little run is there for the taking? We'll see. Next up will be the Cardinals, who have had their share of controversy as well.

Marlins Take 2 from Mets, Back at .500

With 2 wins in a row in New York, the Marlins have completed their ascent back to the .500 mark and are now 3 games in back of the Braves for first place.

The Marlins are 3-2 on this current road trip, going up against their division rivals the Phillies and Mets during this stretch. The Marlins have shown that the offense is going to be there, as they have scored over 5 runs in this 5 game stretch 4 times.

As for the pitching, it is coming around. Henry Owens, acquired from the Mets this past offseason, has been stepping in as the closer and even closed out his former team in last night's win.

The Marlins will go for the series sweep today at 1:10pm in NY, and will have a chance to get over .500. Sanchez vs. Perez for the pitching matchup.