Will The Real Marlins Please Show Up

It's a good thing Freddie Gonzalez was already bald otherwise he would be pulling his hair.

The Marlins started the season red-hot. 11 and 1 out of the gate. Yes, it included six games against the Nationals but also games against the Mets and Braves.

They then proceeded to loose the next seven straight. Win three, loose four, win one, loose three. They seem to playing well in Colorado (a place were they have not done well). The strange thing to me is that the starting pitchers went 20 games without a win. This is the strength of the team!

The loosing streak has seen blown saves, bad pitching, bad defense, and bad luck a couple times. (I do have the opponents credit. I saw Volquez shut down the Marlins for 8 inning with a great performance.)

The starting pitching will be fine as long as the core (Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad, Ricky Nolasco) remains healthy. The bullpen will be up and down because we do not have experienced late inning stoppers. This is one are were some more moves will be made through he season.

Jorge Cantu and Hanley Ramirez are carrying the offense. John Baker and Jeremy Hermida are fine for now with some timely hitting and good OBP. Dan Uggla and Cody Ross have a decent amount of RBIs for their averages but more is expected from both.

Cameron Maybin and Emilio Bonifacio look overwhelmed at times at the plate. Both are providing good defense but their bats are hurting. I do not understand why Gonzalez bats them where he does. They should bat 2nd and 7th to have some protection / pressure on the pitcher. If one of them bats second, put Ramirez at the top to get on in front of them. They will see more fastballs. In the 8th spot they will be pitched around some in front of the pitcher. You need someone more experienced and patient.

The front office made a move to bring Chris Coghlan (3B, corner OF) to get another bat in the lineup. He was drafted out a Mississippi program that has produced some good major league the last decade. In the

I still stand by my earlier prediction of a 2nd place finish in the NL East. This is young exciting team to watch. They will frustrate you at times but it will be fun seeing them grow up.