Florida Marlins Make A Stand In Philadelphia

It’s been a weird couple of weeks for the Florida Marlins. Back on July 20, they headed out west and took five out of six from the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. Then they came back home and took four of six from the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs; two teams they are battling it out with for the National League Wild card.

After playing the Dodgers, Braves, and Cubs in consecutive series and taking six out of nine, I thought okay, the Marlins are going to make a serious run in the second half. Their defense and bullpen is suspect, but they have the starting rotation, they have an ace in Josh Johnson and they can hit. Then, they played the Washington Nationals—who recently seem to have forgotten that they are the Nationals.

The Marlins went into the house that Jesus Colome built and got swept. The last game of that series was disturbing if you are a Marlins fan (all five of you) because they blew a six run lead and lost 12-8. I thought the Marlins getting swept by the Nationals was odd because of two things. It was the Nationals, and the Marlins were playing so well.

After being swept at Washington, the Marlins headed to Philadelphia for a weekend series against the NL East leading Phillies. In my opinion this was do or die for the Marlins. Lose two out of three or get swept again and their season might have been over.

Well, the Marlins walked into Philadelphia and did some sweeping of their own. The Marlins swept the Phillies in a three game series, including a 12-3 spanking on Sunday behind ace Josh Johnson. The Marlins made a stand in Philadelphia and are in it to win it.

The Marlins are now four games back of the Phillies in the NL East and are three games back of the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants in the Wild Card race. The playoffs are a very real possibility for the Marlins.

This week is another big week for the Marlins, as they host the Houston Astros, and then the Colorado Rockies come in for a HUGE three-game set. I am smelling a running blog for one of those games.