First-Place Marlins Top Nationals 10-4

First place? What?! It may be the first couple weeks of the season, but I fully expected the Marlins to already be out of playoff contention by now. Somehow they've managed to put together a 5-3 record and a 1.5 game lead in the NL East Division.

Obviously there are 154 games left and it means nothing. Florida could just as easily drop 10 straight starting tomorrow. But for now, it's a nice feeling to be on top. We haven't had that in South Florida in months. Heck, both of our baseball teams are making us proud for once.

The run has been largely in part to the power bats (Mike Jacobs comes to mind, with 4 homers in 5 games, including 2 last night against the Nationals) and the bullpen. The offense is appreciated, but I will continue to say I prefer an offense based on average rather than power. Eventually the home runs will stop and then what happens? Jacobs is having a nice little stretch, but he was batting .187 before his barrage last night.

Regardless, it's nice to have some wins in South Florida. Hopefully the return of Jeremy Hermida will further improve this team and they might actually stick around for a while rather than fade into obscurity by May.