Rest of Marlins Rotation Needs to Perform

Ricky Nolasco accomplished victories since the day he returned from the minors after a rough start to the season. He and Josh Johnson became co-aces for the Marlins.

However, last night was not Nolasco's night. The Astros hit most of Nolasco's pitches in his three and a half innings, and there was not going to be a comeback like Tuesday night for these Marlins.

It's hard to get down on Nolasco because great starters tend to have one or two bad outings during the course of the season. As great as Johnson pitched all season, he is due to have an outing similar to Nolasco in the near future.

This puts onus on Rick VandenHurk, Chris Volstad, and Sean West to perform well on a consistent basis because the Marlins can't keep relying on Nolasco and Johnson to win every start when they are out there even if they are great.

The back end of the rotation is one reason why no one thinks the Marlins are a playoff team, and it's up to those three guys to prove the critics wrong.

So far, VandenHurk has done a good job since the Marlins called him up. Can he keep this up for the next few weeks?

The Marlins better hope so because he might be the only starter in Marlins' back end rotation that can be counted on to win games.

It's hard to trust Volstad and West since they are inconsistent most often, and that has to change.

Volstad displayed a horrible performance on Tuesday night. The Marlins gave him a 2-1 lead in the third inning, but he gave it away by giving up five runs in the fifth inning that gave the Astros a 7-2 lead.

Volstad did not get a loss since the Marlins came back to win the game in extra innings. With that said, this is his second poor outing.

Volstad will give the Marlins a good outing, and then he performs badly for several outings before he turns in another good start.

The Marlins have to be frustrated with Volstad's performance. He has the stuff to get people out, yet his lack of command and control comes out in one inning, which he walks batters, gives up home runs, and gets hit around.

Marlins pitching coach Mark Wiley did all he could to get Volstad straightened out, but it hasn't worked out. Quite frankly, how has Volstad been any different than Andrew Miller?

It's gotten to the point that when Volstad pitches, it's an automatic loss.

At some point, Volstad needs to figure out how he can be an effective starter soon, and there are not many easy answers for him to accomplish that.

The scary thing is that it may take a while for him to be effective on a consistent basis. He does not have that many pitches to get hitters out.

West starts tonight against the Astros, and he was okay in his last start against the Phillies. However, he needs to go deep in games, and he needs to limit his pitches when he's on the mound instead of making it a long inning.

West has the same issues like Volstad. He gives up home runs, and control issues affect his ability to pitch on the mound.

At least with West, he can throw for strikes so he can have some sort of success when he is pitching.

What does it exactly say about Miller that the Marlins are not calling him up despite woes from West and Volstad? Miller was supposed to come back soon, but he showed no improvement in the minors so the Marlins made the right call leaving him there.

The guess is that VandenHurk will do well enough for the next few weeks, but who knows about Volstad and West?

If those two can't figure out what they can do to be effective, this team could be in trouble because it's hard to believe Nolasco and Johnson are going to be unbeatable.

Somehow and someway, Volstad and West need to do well.