Winning Out West Can Get Marlins Playing in October

The Florida Marlins have enjoyed a nice recovery thanks to Interleague play. Taking two of three against the Yankees and sweeping the Orioles have helped them climb back into NL East contention.  

There seems to be a battle for the team RBI lead. Hanley Ramirez currently has 47 thanks to two grand slams in the Baltimore series. Jorge Cantu is in second with 46, while Cody Ross and Dan Uggla are tied for third with 45. Emilio Bonifacio has 13 stolen bases, while Ramirez has 11. 

Chris Coghlan has started to turn his bat around with a .265 avg. Ross Gload is hitting .297 while Brett Caroll is hitting .302 and Ramirez is hitting .335. As long as Gload and Carroll keep contributing consistently, it will be hard to bring backup Cameron Maybin from New Orleans off the bench.

With Matt Lindstrom going down for at least a month, the Fish will count on Leo Nunez to nail down the saves or perhaps using LaTroy Hawkins or Luis Ayala.

Burke Badenhop has done a phenomenal job keeping the Marlins in close games with his 3.60 ERA. Sean West has been doing a solid job in the rotation with a 3-2 record and a 3.38 ERA.  

If Ricky Nolasco's can somehow turn around his season, the Fish can be alphas. Josh Jonson is a solid 7-1 and recently dominated the Yankees in an eight-inning performance. 

They have a west coast trip to San Francisco and Arizona for a seven-game road swing to end the first half. The Fish open the break with the Phillies, then they head out west again to Los Angeles and San Diego. Those are the biggest stretches of the season.

A .500 or better record on that stretch would help the Marlins contend, if not for the division, at least the wild card.