Shake shake shake, shake that line-up

After the Marlins got mowed through by a buzzsaw known as the Dogders last week and Josh Willingham was placed on the DL, Fredi Gonzalez decided to shake things up a bit with the lineup.  All things considered it paid off against the Padres, and hopefully will work throughout the next two series as well.  I'm sure when Willingham comes back, he will only improve the re-shaped lineup.  I like the way that it's been retooled for a number of reasons.

Although there isn't a great on-base % guy at the top with Ross and Amezaga, at least Alfredo will take pitches and make contact.  I looooove Hermida hitting in the #2 hole.  He is a patient hitter, and will certainly see more fastballs than Dan Uggla did, partly because of who is hitting behind him.  Hanley Ramirez is the best hitter on the Marlins- and the best offensive shortstop in the NL.  It makes all the sense in the world to bat him third.  This way a HR in his first at-bat puts 2-3 up on the board, not just 1, and his doubles into the right-center gap will mean more with men on base.  With Jacobs batting cleanup right now and Cantu or Uggla following him, you have lineup that 1-5 goes S-L-R-L-R.   That makes pitching mathups later on in the game a nightmare for oppossing managers.  And then you have Luis Gonzalez batting 7th, and his average should be higher, as he seems to hit the ball hard every game, but always at a fielder.  I like the way the lineup looks, now hopefully the starting pitching will follow suit and be better after the shake-up in the rotation.  Badenhop and Miller each looked better in their last outings, but let's see them string a few good starts in a row together before I start doing jumping jacks.  (at least they've looked better than Hughes and Kennedy in NY, though that's not saying much)

So with an upcoming series with the Brewers (nope, this isn't last week's blog, the Fish are playing them again) the Marlins have a chance to finish the homestand on a positive note.  Though a 2-1 series win would only give them a 4-5 homestand, winning 4 of the last 6 would be a nice turnaround after the way it started.  The pitching matchups certainly favor Florida (how many times have we been able to say that this year?) against the Brewers.  I'm curious as to how the Marlins will have finshed their season series' with the Pirates and Brewers before they even see the Phillies? The Fish must feel like they are nomads who've settled in the NL central with the way the schedule has been thus far. I know in the end it will all even out, but I'd just like to see the schedule spread out a little bit more over the course of the season. 

Let's go Fish!!!! Let's see Scott return to being the MAN tonight!!!!!