Things got off to a rocky start but the Marlins finished with a series win over their division rivals the Nationals. I was worried that the NL East would turn into a division of haves and have nots with the Marlins being the better of the have nots. The problem’s been, none of the top three teams at the top have broken away and with the Marlins two wins this weekend, they sit just 7 1/2 games back of first place. They have a long way to go, but with a good week, the Marlins may not be the sellers everyone expects them to be.
Miguel Cabrera continues to rake. He belted his nineteenth homerun in today’s game and the only knock on Cabrera is that his walk rate is down a bit. Yeah, he’s striking out a few more times too but he should touch 30 homeruns and with a nice run down the stretch, he could touch a 1.000 OPS for the first time.
Sergio Mitre has won his last two starts in four of his last five, he’s given up three runs or less and gone at least six innings. His walk rate is sick (19 walks in 96 innings) and that makes up for the fact that hitters touch him up at a .265 clip. He’s also on pace to give up less then 10 homers. It’s just a shame the Marlins haven’t given him more run support.
Next up is three against the defending champs, the St. Louis Cardinals. Byung-Hyun Kim gets the start in the opener and it’ll be Braden Looper who the Marlins hitters have to contend with.
