Wow can those Marlins slug that ball!!!! Who knew? Well, any real Marlins fan knew what this offense was capable of doing going into the season.  So although the baseball world was shocked on Friday when our fish hit a record 6 home runs (welcome to South Florida Mike Rabelo) we pretty much knew that this club can rake with the best of them. However, Saturday and Sunday were large lessons learned for the Marlins. You can’t score 10 runs every single night. At some point the starting pitching has to carry you, because when the opponents’ pitchers shut down your offense, one or two runs can make the difference in the ball game.

Now, I know that Olsen and for the most part, Hendrickson have been able to pitch effectively and keep the game close. Until the rest of the rotation comes back, the young starters need to learn how to do the same. The Marlins lost the last 2 games of the series with rookie starters on the bump, so you can live with that. You’re going to experience growing pains with a young starting staff, but boy were they impressive regardless of the losses.  Although Miller’s ERA is quite high, he does have a lot of strikeouts. The walks are high too, but once he learns how to have better control, he has the makings of being a future star. His high-speed fastball and slider combo remind me a little of Scott Kazmir. He really only had 1 bad inning on Saturday night, and was able to last through 5.  I think Miller should be allowed to stay in the rotation and learn at the big-league level, so long as he shows that his IS learning and improving every time out. 

Burke Badenhop bunny-hop day!  I think that should be a promotion at the ballpark later in
 the
 year when Badenhop pitches.  Instead of letting the kids run around bases after the game,
 why not have them do the bunnyhop? Just a thought.  In any event, Burke made his first start on Sunday, and didn’t look too terrible. He gave up a few HR in a ballpark that gives up a lot of them, but it was encouraging that he didnt walk the ballpark and kept his team in the game through 5 innings plus. Now, obviously he must pitch deeper into games, but for his first start, although he certainly didnt look like the Red’s Cueto, I’ll take it. Hard to win with only 1 run of support anyway.  (cue the fade the next topic)

Which brinngs up the offense. Man shall not live on the homerun alone. And the Marlins have to learn how to push a run across without waiting for someone to hit a ball 450 feet.  Of the 11 runs scored this weekend, only 1 came on a hit that didn’t clear the fence (Amezaga’s single on Friday night). THAT has to change. Hitting longballs looks nice when the whole team is clicking, but opposing pitchers are too good to give up homeruns every single night. Florida is off to a good start, but if they expect to contend in a tough division over the long haul, they must *cue the baseball cliches* manufacture runs, build runs, play smallball, hit and run, etc. They have the ability to with the hitters they have, but they must look for that in their approach at the plate. How may baserunners did they have on Saturday night? Too many to be shutout that’s for sure.  I would like to see the hitters focus more on making contact at the plate instead of trying to jack one out. If they expect to win slugfests at home in their spacious ballpark, they are going to come back to Earth very quickly.   It’s a long ways to the fence there and they must realize that with a runner on second and no outs a little 80 foot ground ball to first is more producitve then a 290 foot flyout to left field.  I like our lineup, but it would be nice for them to sacrifce some of  their power for some more contact when the situation calls for it. I would rather do that and win games 5-4 and 3-1, than lose 5-0, 1-0, 7-2, and then win one 12-5, only to lose more. A more balanced approach at the plate will give more consistency to this offense, and consistency is what wins games.

Home sweet home. It wasn’t all bad on the road though, don’t get me wrong. In fact it was quite good. 4-2 on a 6 game road trip is a winning recepie no matter how you slice you. Next up is those pesky Braves. It would be nice for the Marlins if they could take the first one with Olsen going against young Jair Jurrjens; having to face Smoltz and Hudson back to back is tall order. Winning the first game will be crucial to establishing some momentum on this 6 game homestand. First place fish are coming home! Now come on out to the ballpark and support them!!