Good news: the Marlins now have 103 homeruns on the season – the most in the majors. Bad news: the pitching has been a bouillabaisse of pure unadulterated mediocrity.
That was pretty much the case this past weekend when the Fish visited the Strip Club Capital of the World and faced their cross-state rival Tampa Bay Rays. On Friday, the Marlins got off to a quick start, jumping to an early 2-0 lead. But then everything went to shit as the Rays became Ike to Marlins starter Ryan Tucker’s Tina and pounded him to the tune of five runs on seven hits. Final: Rays 7 Marlins 3.
Then on Saturday, the Rays got to Mark Hendrickson, scoring three runs on just four hits, while the Marlins bats evidently decided to take the day off and visit the Penthouse Club (no word on whether they made it rain or not). Final: Rays 4 Marlins 1.
On Sunday, thanks mostly to a couple of homers by Wes Helms and Mike Jacobs, the Marlins offense finally woke up just in time to hand young flame throwing Ricky Nolasco his first-career win and avoided the sweep with a 9-3 victory (Nolasco did his part, ending up one strikeout short of a baker’s dozen on the day).
It’s clear that this Marlins team will have to live or die with its bats. And that’s not going to cut it down the stretch. The pitching needs to get better. The potential is there, but it needs to find some consistency. Otherwise, we’ll just be dealing with a whole other level of sucktitude in Marlins lore. And no one wants that.
- Chris Joseph
