Marlins Desperate for Momentum

In my last post, I detailed the Marlins' opportunity to look like contenders on their current homestand. Eager to prove my point, the Fish proceeded to get swept by the Tampa Bay Rays.

It was a pretty painful series to watch, as the Marlins played probably their worst ball all year. All the classic symptoms of this year's team were revealed in the Rays series, including shoddy defense, short and poor outings from starting pitchers, a truly unreliable bullpen, and streaky hitting. In Tuesday's opener, the Fish wasted a great start from Scott Olsen, as the bullpen would piss away the game, walking in two runs with the bases loaded. On Wednesday, rookie Ryan Tucker got bruised and refused like he didn't have Just For Men Gel, getting torched for 7 runs in 4 innings. Reliever Eulogio de la Cruz, called up from Triple-A the day before, allowed 5 runs without recording a single out, clearly an effort to make his ERA jump higher than his age. Then in Thursday's finale, Matt Garza threw a no-hitter through 6 innings, until SS1a Hanley Ramirez hit a home run to center field to break it up. The only problem was that Marky Mark Hendrickson started the game, which usually means that the team will be down between 4-6 runs by the time he leaves the game in the 5th. Disaster. Sweep.

So no big deal, right? Move on. Oh wait, we get to face Brandon Webb and Dan Haren in the next series. That's okay. The Fish swept a red-hot Dbacks team earlier in the year, beating both Webb and Haren in that series. The Marlins won last night's opener against Micah Owings, getting another awesome outing from Ricky "I Don't Chew, I Don't Dip, and I Don't Smoke" Nolasco. Tonight Andrew Miller takes the hill against Webb, with Superpimp Scotty Olsen going tomorrow against Haren. It'd be nice to win this series with Washington coming to town, so the Fish can finish strong before heading out on a long west coast road trip.

Some ideas and ramblings:

- This team will not contend long-term if Hendrickson remains in the rotation. He's a disaster and he has to go. I don't hate him as a long-relief/mop-up guy, that's what he's suited to. He can get a few guys out for two or three innings, but that's all he's got. Chris Volstad, where art thou?

- Nolasco is our bona fide ace. No question about it. Right now, he's the only guy we can consistently expect to last beyond the 6th inning. Olsen is pitching very well right now, and Miller is really starting to come around. If they can get Hendrickson out of there and plug in Volstad, this can be a respectable rotation by the end of July.

- Mike Jacobs sucks. There, I said it. He hits a 1- or 2-run homer every 4 or 5 games, and does nothing in between. Talk about a rally killer. He sucks defensively at first base, which is an accomplishment unto itself. I would love to trade him, but I doubt we'd get much more than a few below-average minor league arms. But it's possible that some team in need of a slugging DH could overlook his disastrous .264 OBP this season. That's right, 11 walks in 236 ABs, with 60 Ks.

- 3B Dallas McPherson has tied a PCL record with 7 straight games with a homer in Triple-A Albuquerque. He has 28 blasts on the season. Calling up D-Mac to play third and moving Cantu over to 1B is sounding pretty good right now...

- How bad is our bullpen right now? There's not one guy back there that I'd be confident giving the ball to with a small lead. A big part of this is overwork. Our pen is 5th in the Majors with 273 innings pitched. When our starters routinely get derailed in the 4th, it's a struggle to finish the game. Hopefully these guys can come back strong after the All-Star break and start shutting people down again.

Also, if you're interested in Marlins posts that are funnier than mine, and the best Photoshops this side of Tokyo, check out Adam Smoot at Bright Orange Seats. Here's a sample of some of his work - please to enjoy in good-natured fun: