Marlins' Stars Step Up As Expected Against Rockies

In sports, a team relies on their best players to win important games such as divisional games or playoffs.

The Rockies are at Land Shark Stadium to play the Marlins this weekend in a game that has wild-card implications with the Rockies' taking the lead in the Wild-Card race. This series is the type of series that the Marlins circled on the calendar few weeks ago.

The Marlins need to take the series if they want to gain some games in the standings this weekend, and their stars need to play at their best for the next three games.

The Marlins received that by Josh Johnson, Hanley Ramirez, and Dan Uggla last night in their 6-5 victory over the Rockies.

Johnson continues to prove why he is the Marlins best player and a Cy Young favorite by performing great against the Rockies.

At one point, Johnson flirted with a no-hitter until Garrett Atkins hit a home run in the seventh inning to give the Rockies their first run of the game.

It was vintage Johnson all night. He does what he does best in throwing strikes and forcing a team to hack at every pitch, and that what the Rockies experienced last night.

The Rockies are smart when it comes to hitting. They foul off pitches and take good at-bats to the point the opposing pitcher is fatigued in the middle of the game.

On this night, it was Johnson that told the Rockies to sit down by striking out 11 Rockies, which was his career-high.

Johnson averaged 15 pitches thrown per inning in this game.

What can anyone say about Johnson? He has been throwing the ball well since May, and he has not had a bad outing.

It makes one wonder if he is ever going to lose this season. After all, he has been 19-3 since returning from the disabled list last season in July.

Ramirez contributed his good night with his two hits that included a double in the third inning, and then scoring the second run of that game in that inning.

He also made several good defensive plays that helped Johnson's bid for a no-hitter.

Dan Uggla has played well post-All-Star break, and he continued his hot hitting by smashing a two-run home run to give the Marlins a 5-1 lead.

This is what the Marlins needed in a game that big, and the Marlins knew they could count on them to play well under pressure.

It says a lot about those three in how good they are and their ability to come up in a big game.

This is going to serve them well when September comes along.

They flourish well in playoff-type games like last night, and that's not easy to do.

It's gotten to the point now the Marlins expect this to happen out of their stars.