Florida Marlins Should Be Beating Washington

The Marlins returned home Sunday night as a beaten-down team after being swept by the red-hot Rays at the Tropicana Dome. There was no fear because help was on the way.

The Nationals were waiting for the Marlins in Miami for a three-game set, so the Marlins had a chance to get well quickly, and their woes were quickly forgotten after a three-game sweep of the Nationals Wednesday night.

This tallies up the Marlins record to 9-0 against the Nats for this season, and it's good enough for them to share first place with the Phillies.

We all know the Nationals stink, and odds are their chances are good in breaking the 1962 Mets' record for the most losses in a single season.

With that said, winning nine straight against a bad team is something that should never be overlooked.

The Nationals are a MLB team, and they have starters who can pitch. With good pitching, they have a chance to win by eking out some runs, and the Yankees learned that the hard way when they played them at the new Yankee Stadium few weeks ago.

It's hard to sweep a three-game set against any team at any time. For the Marlins to sweep the Nationals three times is an accomplishment.

Go ask the Mets or the Twins if taking a series or getting a sweep against a bad team is nothing.

The Twins had a chance to win the AL Central Division by winning their final series of the season against the Royals after sweeping the White Sox to take an improbable lead for first place.

Instead, the Twins lost two of three to the woebegone Royals, which forced them to play Game 163 against the White Sox.

The Twins lost that Game 163, but that game was not the reason why they did not make the playoffs. It was because the Twins did not beat a team they should be beating in the Royals.

The Mets had their second straight collapse last season because they could not beat the Nationals and the Marlins in September.

Marlins fans are naturally stoked, and they should be because the last thing they need is to think about how their team not winning a series or failing to sweep that inferior team cost their team a playoff spot.

We talked about how the Marlins needed to take advantage of an easy schedule heading to the All-Star break, and the Marlins have done a good job of that by winning series after series.

They had a bad series against the Rays, but that's okay since the Rays have much more talent than the Marlins, and their World Series appearance speak for itself.

The Marlins have been rewarded for accomplishing their goal by being in first place.

For any critics to go pooh-pooh what the Marlins have accomplished, shame on them. It would have been embarrassing if the Marlins could not beat those teams.

This does not guarantee much after September, but at least the Marlins won't have any regrets.