The blame should fall squarely on the shoulders of ownership and the front office for being either too dumb or too stubborn to fix the real problem on this team, the bullpen. It seems odd that in a year that saw the Marlins pen at one point (April & May) considered the best in baseball, we would also see it become a liability in the team’s quest for October baseball.

Among playoff contending teams only the St Louis Cardinals and New York Mets have bullpens that have blown more saves, 27 and 21 respectively. And although a blown save does not always equate to a loss in the end, its certainly not a stat worth ignoring either. Baseball gets much harder in October, if you want to beat a team, you don’t give up the lead when you have them pinned down for the loss.

The Marlins bullpen has been particularly worrisome as of late. Closer Kevin Gregg blew a 2 run lead in the 9th inning Friday night against the Cubs, his 7th blown save of the season. Then on Sunday afternoon Renyel Pinto imploded allowing 5 earned runs while striking out none and walking 3, all in 2/3 of an inning.

Ownership and management knew exactly what areas of this team needed improvement, areas that if not improved could cost this team a playoff spot, and they did what amounts to nothing. The single move the front office made was to acquire 38 year old Arthur Rhodes, slap a gold bow on him, and call the bullpen situation solved. Clearly it is not as the pen continues to cost the team games.

Clearly the players share the blame when a team fails to perform, but you can’t expect a player to perform above their abilities. The front office knew that ability was lacking in the bullpen and still did nothing, so if the Fish are golfing in October instead of competing for a World Series crown, all of us fans will have management to thank.