Marlins Lose Rubber Match to Phillies

In what was a crucial series ending game for the Marlins, the pitching staff blew a 5-1 lead and cost the Marlins the division lead heading into the upcoming series in Atlanta. Instead of being comfortably ahead with a 1.5 game lead over Philly, we head into one of the toughest places to win this season down half a game and reeling from losing two straight NL East series.

It figured that at some point the bottom would start to fall out for this pitching staff. They've done a nice job keeping the Marlins in close games for the most part, but I think they are starting to wear out. The absences of Josh Johnson, Sergio Mitre and Anibal Sanchez have been a killer to the starting rotation, who have had to rely on unproven young players and journeymen to get by.

Still, there is reason to believe the Marlins can keep the pace. The Phillies won the series but have been playing as well as any team in baseball of late, so there is no shame in losing to them. Especially when it just as easily could have been the Marlins coming out of the weekend with a 2-1 record. When their young pitchers return, at least one of them can be counted on to give us a quality start more often than the current guys in the rotation. That means less pressure on the offense. It also means the impact of our crappy defense is minimized.

In any case, tough weekend for Marlins fans, but still it is nice to be following a team that is still in contention 1/3rd of the way through the season.