Who Ordered the Marlin Roll?

The Florida Marlins have come out of the gates firing on all cylinders. They absolutely leveled the Nationals in an opening series sweep while storming out to the only undefeated record in the bigs. Then they brought down the hurt on the hated Mets with a two-to-one series beatdown, culminating with young Marlins starter Josh Johnson playing David to New York ace Johan Santana’s Goliath. The defending World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies are next in line to take a Mighty Thor-like hammer to the face courtesy of the Fish.

As usual, superstar shortstop Hanley Ramirez has set the tone. Ramirez hit a paltry .184 in spring training, while fighting with the powers that be for making him cut his hair. However, once the games started counting, HanRam came out en fuego, hitting .348 with several multihit games and leading the team in both home runs as well as in overall badassery. Other players soon followed suit, such as the always-reliable Dan Uggla, and everybody’s favorite new Fish, Emilio Bonifacio. The Marlins will look to keep their hold on the NL East this Friday night when they take on the Phillies at Dolphin Stadium.
Fri., April 24, 7:10 p.m., 2009