Marlins Journal

The Marlins swept the Devil Rays this weekend and they pushed themselves to with two games of .500.  More importantly, they’re just a single game back of the third place Phillies and they’re hardly out of the hunt, sitting just 7 1/2 games back of the always tough Mets.  Bottom line, we’re almost two months into the season and the Marlins, while not playing great, are treading water.

Dontrelle Willis had one of his best starts of the season on Saturday.  He struck out seven and gave up just two runs while matching a season high seven innings pitched.  He’s now 6-3 but his stats don’t point to such a good record although this latest start is encouraging.

James Shields had another nice start yesterday despite not picking up the win.  It’s the third time this year that’s he’s gone at least seven innings and given up one run or less and he has a very impressive .199 batting average against and he’s struck out 62 in 67 1/3 innings.

Miguel Cabrera continues to rake and he now has a nice five game hitting streak, with three of the games being two hit games.  The power drought is a little worrisome (he hasn’t hit a homerun since May but he’s driving in runs again, which is what we need.  He’s also getting on base, which is shown by his .395 OBP.

Gaby Hernandez was highlighted today in Kevin Goldstein’s Monday Morning Ten Pack.  He had an interesting, yet encouraging start Friday night. And then this is an interesting story on Jeremy Hermida’s and his knee rehab.

Next up is three against the Phillies and a series win would put them closer to passing another team and closer to .500.  A sweep would mean a six game winning streak and probably a news story or two about the team.  Scott Olsen has his work cut out for him in the opener because he has to face Phillies ace Cole Hamels.