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.