Well, the possibility of the playoffs has disappeared for the Marlins, but their manhood has not. Even when there is no grand prize to fight for, there are small victories still to be won, like not losing any more games to the 99 loss Washington Nationals. Josh Johnson pitched the Marlins past the Nationals Wednesday night for a 9-4 victory and improving his record to 7-1.

Johnson pitched 6 innings giving up 2ER. The night belonged to the Marlins’ future stars however as Cameron Maybin and Gaby Sanchez got starts in Wednesday nights game and drove the offense for the Marlins. Maybin went 3 for 3 on the evening and scoring a run before being removed from the game with an injury. Sanchez, making his first start for the Marlins, went 3 for 5 with an RBI.

With the victory tonight, the Marlins are assured of a winning record for the 2008 season, their 5th winning record in the franchises 16 year history. A winning season this year would be their first since 2005. As we saw Wednesday night, Marlins fans can hopefully get used to several winning seasons in a row after this season. Even if the Marlins should lose Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, and/or Jorge Cantu, we saw that with Cameron Maybin and Gaby Sanchez joining Hanley Ramirez, Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, and Chris Volstad the Fish have the ability to contend in the near future. A successful finish to this season can be rolled over into next season and beyond.