Monday’s day off didn’t slow down the Florida Marlins one bit. The Marlins had Monday off to await the Houston Astros arrival in Miami for a 3 game series. The Astros were finishing up a 2 game series with the Chicago Cubs in Milwaukee on Monday, giving the Marlins a day off. Apparently the Marlins weren’t in need of the time off, they came out firing Tuesday night and downed the Astros 5-1.

The Marlins were up against Houston’s red hot ace Roy Oswalt who brought a franchise record 32 1/3 scoreless inning streak into Miami, and the Marlins didn’t wait long to ruin his fun. Jorge Cantu hammered a 3R-HR in the bottom of the 1st inning putting the Marlins up 3-0, it was Cantu’s 27th HR. Later in the inning Cody Ross knocked a double to deep center scoring Dan Uggla and putting the Fish up 4-0. In the 2nd inning Mike Jacobs hit a double to deep center scoring Hanley Ramirez and putting the FIsh up 5-0, providing all the runs Chris Volstad would need.

Rookie Chris Volstad, facing Houston for the first time in his career, didn’t need the 5 runs but used them anyway. Volstad went 8 solid innings allowing 4H and 1ER while striking out 4. The 5-1 victory ran the Marlins winning streak to 6 games and has helped put them back into the playoff picture, if only on the fringe. The Marlins have improved their record to 78-72 and now sit 5 games off the pace in both the NL East and NL Wild Card races.

It is not insane to still consider the Marlins a contender for the playoffs. The New York Mets lost tonight for the 3rd straight time, and 2nd in a row against the Washington Nationals. One can’t help but wonder if they are headed for another September collapse. Philadelphia is playing better, but are still beatable. Either way, they don’t have to overcome both teams to make the playoffs. The Marlins need only surpass Houston and the Milwaukee Brewers outside their division and the Mets within, to earn the Wild Card. Two games remain against the Astros and Milwaukee, who just fired their Manager Ned Yost, are spiraling out of control losing 11 of their last 14 games. The season is far from finished and the Fish appear to still have some fight in them.

The Florida Marlins are showing some real spirit as the season draws to a close and are perhaps looking to make the NL East race a little more interesting the last two weeks of the season. The Marlins entered Sunday’s series finale with the Washington Nationals looking to extend their win streak to 5 games and sweep the Nationals.

Marlins’ starter Anibal Sanchez had a solid outing going 7 innings allowing 3R (2ER) on 4H while striking out 7. Sanchez left with his team trailing 3-1 and in the top of the 8th things went from bad to worse, Doug Waechter came on in relief and allowed the Nationals to blow the game wide open giving up 4H and 3ER while getting NO outs. Andrew Miller came in, got 2Ks and retired the Nats, but the damage was done.

The bottom of the 8th would prove to be just as offensive as the top however. The Marlins scored 7 runs, capped by a go ahead single from Josh Willingham and erased a 6-1 deficit and finished the 8th leading 8-6. Joe Nelson (1ER), Kevin Gregg, and Arthur Rhodes combined to pitch the 9th inning and finish off the Nationals 8-7. Andrew Miller got credit for the win and Arthur Rhodes earned the save.

The come from behind win, the Marlins’ 40th of the season, extended their win streak to 5 games and brought them within 6 1/2 games of 1st place in the NL East. Before you go dumping on the Marlins win streak, the first 2 wins came against the playoff contending Philadelphia Phillies and 3 against the recently hot Washington Nationals. Granted the Nationals went on a 12 game losing streak in August, since that time however they have gone 12-5.

The Marlins are off Monday and then open a 3 game series Tuesday-Thursday with the red hot Houston Astros and then welcome the Philadelphia Phillies to Miami for a weekend 3 game series. Lets not count our Fish out just yet, there is time to make things even more interesting in the NL East race. Not to be ignored either is the fact that the Marlins have quietly crept within 5 1/2 games of the NL Wild Card.

One has to wonder where this Florida Marlins squad has been hiding the past month. The Marlins extended their win streak to 4 games in beating the Washington Nationals 4-2 Saturday evening, and in so doing set another record and got closer to setting another.

Josh Johnson pitched 6 strong innings giving up 6 hits and 2ER while getting 9Ks. Johnson has been on fire since returning July 10th from Tommy John Surgery. Johnson has stifled opposing batters allowing 3ERs or less in 11 of his 12 starts this season and improved his record tonight to 5-1. Matt Lindstrom pitched a scoreless 9th inning to earn his 4th save in 5 opportunities.

As for the record, in the 2nd inning Hanley Ramirez hit his 30th homerun of the season making the Marlins infield trio of Dan Uggla (30), Mike Jacobs (32), and Hanley Ramirez (30) the 2nd infield trio ever to hit 30 HRs each in a season. In 2001 the Oakland Athletics infield trio of Jason Giambi (38), Eric Chavez (32), and Miguel Tejada (31) were the first trio ever to accomplish the feat.

More importantly, the Marlins are on the verge of having 4 infielders hit at least 30 HRs each in a single season. In the 1st inning Jorge Cantu knocked his 26th HR of the season into the seats to give the Marlins the lead early. Cantu has 14 games left this season to get 4 more HRs, here’s hoping he can get there!

Tonight was further proof that the Marlins have a solid infield established and they need to do what they can in the offseason to keep Cantu, Jacobs, and Uggla to continue playing alongside of Hanley Ramirez. Yes, they are each prone to errors, but as evidence by the number of homeruns they are more than capable of making up for defensive lapses by putting up runs. The Marlins need to focus on improving their starting rotation and more importantly the bullpen. The Marlins clearly have a solid 1-2 punch with Ricky Nolasco and Josh Johnson, the question is can Anibal Sanchez ever regain his form, can Scott Olsen be consistent over a full season, and will Chris Volstad continue to blossom? The bullpen is a bigger mess and needs to be addressed first. Keep the infield nucleus intact and build a team around them.

It would appear that the Marlins, as individuals and as a team, have decided to save their best for last. Unfortunately this best effort comes at a time when they are counted out by most, and in reality probably are finished as far as the playoffs are concerned. Nonetheless, Friday night’s game against the Washington Nationals saw the Marlins take some positive steps forward and even reach a milestone.

Scott Olsen got his first win since July 19th, ending a stretch of 10 starts in which he had either lost or not factored into the decision. Olsen worked 6 innings giving up 6 hits and 1 ER. Kevin Gregg again excelled in his new role as a middle reliever pitching a scoreless 7th inning. Joe Nelson pitched a scoreless 8th, and Matt Lindstrom got his 3rd save pitching a 1-2-3 9th inning. The Marlins held on for a 2-1 victory over the Nationals.

Friday night’s win was the 3rd in a row for the Marlins who have not won more than 2 games in a row since winning 4 in a row just before the All Star Break in early July. If nothing else, this young Marlins team has shown they can overcome adversity. They were hot out the gates in April and May, hung around the division race through June and July, but faded in August costing themselves a playoff spot. Nonetheless, they have been able to put a putrid August behind them, and rebound in September to play decent baseball to finish up the season. So far in September the Fish are 6-4 and playing much better baseball.

Lastly, the Marlins set an MLB record last night in the 4th inning. Jorge Cantu tied the game at 1 when he hit his 25th homerun of the season. The Marlins are the first team in MLB history to have 4 infielders hit at least 25 homeruns each. Mike Jacobs (32), Dan Uggla (30), Hanley Ramirez (29), and Jorge Cantu (25) have combined to hit 116 of the 188 homeruns the team has hit this season. Even though this corps of infielders has a pension for errors, they also have the ability to make up for them on the offensive side and perhaps are worth spending some money in the offseason to keep together. Pitching, relief pitching in particular, has been the Marlins true achilles heal this season and should be the area the Marlins focus on improving in the offseason, not the infield.

Die hard fans may not be able to see the reality of the situation, but even Florida Marlins’ players are starting to see the writing on the wall. It is becoming increasingly likely that the Florida Marlins are not going to make the playoffs. Though the Fish are showing signs of life the past few days, the New York Mets show no sign of stopping their hot streak and as the days tick away, the Marlins can play as amazingly as they like but if the Mets don’t cool off it won’t matter.

Marlins’ 2nd baseman Dan Uggla knows the role the Marlins now play though and, despite the smile on his face, was dead serious Wednesday night when he said “Our chances might be pretty slim to none, but anybody we can take down with us, we’re going to do it. If we’re not going, we don’t want anybody else to go”. The Marlins role may now have been reduced to “spoiler”.

Wednesday night the Marlins put their spoiling skills on display. Last season it was the Marlins who on the last day of the season defeated the Mets, allowing the Phillies to win the NL East and go onto the playoffs and send the Mets home for October. This week, the Marlins decided to return the favor to the Phillies. On Monday, the Phillies were within 1 1/2 games of the New York Mets, but losses to the Marlins on Tuesday and Wednesday left the Phillies 3 1/2 games out and the Mets with some room to breath. Ricky Nolasco was on fire again striking out 8 while allowing 3 runs in 7 2/3 innings of work. Nolasco improved his record to 14-7, and the Marlins improved to 74-72. Now the Marlins return to Miami for a 9 game homestand, with 3 game apiece against Washington, Houston, and Philadelphia, maybe the Fish aren’t done yet.

Tuesday afternoon, the fight to get the Florida Marlins a baseball only stadium cleared a major hurdle. The Marlins have long been fighting to get their own place to call home and solidify their future in South Florida. The Marlins do have a $515 million, 37,000 seat, baseball only stadium plan all put together. This new stadium is planned to be placed on the sight of the old Orange Bowl in Little Havana. The Marlins have long sought this retractable roof stadium to help avoid the many humid days and rainy nights that Miami experiences.

The new ballpark is part of a greater project by the government to revitalize the Little Havana area, a fact that the government has pushed in its shared battle with the Marlins to get this stadium approved and under construction. Tuesday judge Jeri Beth Cohen ruled that the Marlins/Government plan meets the key “public purpose” test. This is a crucial step because the 7 lawsuits filed against the Marlins/Government claim that the use of this land for this purpose, and with taxpayer money, does not meet any public good.

While the majority of the Marlins ballpark is being paid for with taxpayer money, in this case it is not a bad thing. Normally we see owners hold cities hostage with threats of “buy me a new stadium or I’ll take my team somewhere that will”. However, with the University of Miami Hurricane football team now playing up at Dolphin Stadium, it was inevitbale that the site of the Orange Bowl would eventually have been transformed using public money in the interest of “revitalizing” the area. Is it really a bad thing that the Marlins should get to profit in the process? The government has a roughly $3 billion revitalization plan for the area, so in the grand scheme of things, the percentage of that being devoted to a new stadium is small.

Major League Baseball is full of examples where teams have requested new stadiums with the promise of signing new players and putting a winner on the field. Unfortunately those examples never work out. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals are the two most recent examples. Pittsburgh citizens forked over the cash for PNC Park, and the Pirates still stink. The Nationals just opened their new stadium this season, and we all know how “good” they are. The Marlins on the other hand have already showed they are willing, with the promise of this new park on the horizon, to spend some cash. Owner Jeffrey Loria (and by no means am I taking his side here, he’s an example of a terrible owner) gave Hanley Ramirez $60 million over the next 7 years to remain in Miami. Now that he has seen judgement fall in his favor for the new stadium, one can only hope he will step up and keep some other key players, and perhaps even ADD players this offseason instead of hosting another fire sale of Marlin talent.

The Marlins put on an offensive display Tuesday evening in Philadelphia, and it almost wasn’t enough. The Marlins put up 3 runs in the top of the 1st and 4 more runs in the top of the 2nd giving rookie Chris Volstad a comfortable cushion to pitch with. Unfortunately Volstad would leave after the 3rd inning, having been hit in the thigh by a hot shot back up the middle. The Marlins were winning 7-1 when Volstad left, after that point things got interesting.

Eulogio De La Cruz relieved, if you can call it that, Volstad. In 2 innings of work De La Cruz was knocked around and gave up 5 hits and 6 ER. Kevin Gregg pitched a solid 7th inning to get credit for the win, while Matt Lindstrom got the final out of the game and got credit for the save, his 2nd.

Philadelphia starter Kyle Kendrick didn’t fair well himself, giving up 7 runs in 1 1/3 innings of work. Cody Ross, Jorge Cantu, and Mike Jacobs homered in the game and Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez had key RBI shots as well. The Phillies and Marlins used a combined 15 pitchers to finish their 9 inning game. The Marlins used 8 different pitchers and the Phillies 7. In the end, the Marlins were able to hold onto their early lead and won 10-8.

The win knocked the Phillies back to 2 1/2 games off the pace in the NL East and kept the Marlins very slim playoff hopes ticking. The Fish remain 8 1/2 games back with one more game against Philadelphia this week before starting a weekend set with the Washington Nationals. Lets hope our Marlins from April/May show up against the Nationals, maybe we can make the NL East a little more interesting down the stretch!

Monday night we may very well have seen the final nail driven into the coffin of the Florida Marlins 2008 season. Anibal Sanchez was again shaky (at best) and gave up 5 ER in 1 2/3 inning pitched and put the Marlins in the hole from the get go.

The Marlins did manage to show some fight and try to get back into the game. After Sanchez gave up 2 ER in the bottom of the 1st, the Fish came out in the top of the 2nd and tied the game at 2. Sanchez couldn’t work with the fresh start however and gave up 3 ER in the bottom of the 2nd before being pulled in favor of Mark Hendrickson. In the top of the 3rd, the Marlins tacked on 2 more runs and got within 1 run. Hendrickson kept the Phillies in check giving up only 2 hits in 3 1/3 innings of work.

Then however Andrew Miller and Joe Nelson gave up a combined 3 runs in the 7th inning. Again the Fish fought back, putting up 2 more runs in the top of the 8th, but the comeback fell short. The Marlins eventually lost 8-6.

Even a Marlin loving, fervent fan like myself has to admit that the chances of the Marlins making the playoffs is now very very bleak…most would say hopeless. After winning back to back games for the first time in 1 month last Wednesday and Friday, the Marlins dropped the last two against the St. Louis Cardinals and tonights game against the Phillies to go on a 3 game losing streak. The losing streak means the Fish are now 8.5 games out of 1st place in the NL East and should perhaps start getting their winter travel plans together and find their golf clubs.

Wednesday’s series finale against the Atlanta Braves went according to plan for the Florida Marlins. Needing a win to keep pace, the Marlins defeated the Braves 5-3 to take the series, winning 2 of 3 games. Hanley Ramirez homered and doubled to lead the Marlins in their victory. Rookie Chris Volstad was again extremely effective, but left with the game tied at 3, reliever Doug Waechter got credit for the win.

However, the win and the stats are not the story of the game, the story is the 600 people that showed up to watch the game. Thats right, not a typo, 600. No, not 6,000, 600. Yes, it is true that 11,211 tickets were SOLD for this game, but only 600 people came to the game. A wonderful South Florida afternoon was wasted on unappreciative fans that don’t know what they have. Lets look at some important figures. The Marlins have long suffered the worst attendance in the league, averaging 16,576 fans this year, and have had a total of 1,176,916 come out to Dolphin Stadium for games. Dolphin Stadium holds 36,331, meaning that the Marlins average a less than half full house.

These figures are pathetic when you consider that the average cost of a ticket for a Marlins game this season is $18.69, 24th (out of 30 teams) in Major League Baseball. The cost index for the Marlins is also extremely low, $164.26 will get you on average 4 tickets, 2 small beers, 4 small sodas, 4 hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs, and two adult hats (according to an MLB Team Marketing Report published on Boston.com). This number ranks 21st among the 30 franchises in baseball in this category.

What this all means is that a Florida Marlins game is very economical and affordable, yet only 600 people showed up to see the game. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? For a city that put up a stink when MLB threatened to contract its worst teams, or allow them to move, where are these same people to suppor their team now? The threat is over so you disappear? Let me tell you what is wrong with this, 3 simple things. First off, few people go to a Marlins game and buy all the things included in the cost index, so in reality 2-3 friends could enjoy a Marlins game for $50 each, easily! Second, this is not a Marlins team that is on the verge of finishing the season with 100 or more losses. They are a winning team, and though they may not make the playoffs, this is a quality team with great talent and is set up (assuming our wonderful owner doesn’t decide to have a fire sale in the offseason) to do well again next year. Lastly, are the people of Miami telling me they would actually prefer to go to work on a Wednesday afternoon and be chained to their computers and desks than sit outside at the ballpark, have a cold beer, and catch some baseball?! I guess the economy in this country is better than most think, 10,611 South Florida residents had money to burn since they decided to purchase tickets and never show up.

Often in life we have to look to minor actions to find victory. With the Florida Marlins slumping horribly in August, finishing the month below .500 and not winning two games in a row at all during the month, you need to look to the small things for victory. On the next to last day of the month, New York Mets’ pitcher Mike Pelfrey provided the Marlins a victory with some puzzling, if not all together stupid remarks.

During a 4-3 loss to the Marlins on August 30th, Pelfrey plunked Marlins’ outfielder Cody Ross with 2 strikes against him. Normally one of two things happens, the benches clear as the plunked player charges the mound and the opposing teams clear the benches in a show of force, or the plunked player calmly takes his base. Pelfrey decided to stoke the flames a little and comment that he “did Ross a favor” by plunking him with 2 strikes against him.

Baseball is full of guys that run their mouth, but this event is quite unusual. Typically you see experienced and/or All Star caliber players run their mouths to the media about other teams and/or players. Pelfrey is none of these things. In his 3rd season in the majors, Pelfrey is in his first season in which he has started all the games he’s appeared in, and while he has a decent record at 13-8, his career record is 18-17 with a 4.34 ERA, far from All Star. To top it off, Pelfrey is 0-3 against the Marlins this season in 4 starts (his one no decision was still a loss for the Mets) and has an ERA of 7.91, so he really has no standing to talk smack about the Marlins in general. As for Ross, he is 3-9 with a double, triple, and 3 RBIs against Pelfrey. It would appear to me that Ross is in no need of “charity” bases from Pelfrey, he’s more than capable of taking them from him on his own.

Pelfrey should perhaps wait a few more years, make sure he is going to actually become something in the MLB before he goes running his mouth about a team and player that have his number this season. He does himself no favors either as the Marlins will no doubt eagerly anticipate their next meeting with Pelfrey.