The Gauntlet is Upon Us

After being swept by the Cincinnati Reds and losing two of three to the Kansas City Royals, the Marlins still hold the lead for the National League East. However the gap between Florida and the three other division contenders appears to be paper thin. With only two games separating the four teams, the Marlins need to take advantage of every opportunity they get.

These opportunities may become more scarce in the near future. Over the next 30 days the Marlins will be playing 29 games, 16 of which will be on the road. Of the 9 series that make up this dreadful gauntlet, 6 are against teams with winning records. NL East rivals not named the Washington Nationals account for 4 of those series. While the Arizona Diamondbacks with their MLB-leading record account for another.

The Marlins will also be playing a 4-game series against the Cincinnati Reds, one of only two teams to sweep the team this season. Luckily for Florida, the games will be away from the Great American Ballpark where they have lost 7 straight games.

Today, the Marlins signed former Tiger Jacque Jones to a minor-league contract to help in the outfield.  At such a low cost, there is practically no risk to this deal especially with Josh Willingham’s back issues. Florida hopes Jones return to his 2007 season form where he batted .285 and knocked in 66 RBIs in 135 games.

However, in order to still be contending after this 30-day stretch, the Marlins need to see improvements in their starting pitching. Ricky Nolasco, Andrew Miller, and Burke Badenhop have combined for just 6 wins in 23 starts and have only lasted longer than 6 innings one time. The three pitchers all average less than 5 innings a start. On the contrary to this threesome, Scott Olsen has been pretty stellar in most of his outings this season accumulating an ERA of less than 3.00 and a WHIP of 1.17. Mark Hendrickson has been serviceable as well with a team high 5 wins in 9 starts. Hendrickson will need to bounce back from his loss against Cincinnati where he gave up 4 earned runs on 8 hits and 5 walks in just 5 innings of work. Marlins fans shouldn’t worry about Hendrickson though since his last loss prior to that game was in March during the season opener.

If the Marlins can get through this gauntlet of games and still stay in contention for the NL East, then they will be a playoff-contending team. The last game of this dreaful stretch will be played on June 18^th, a little less than a month before the All-Star break when starting pitchers Anibal Sanchez and Sergio Mitre are expected to be back. With this added boost in the rotation, the Marlins should be in a situation where they can win each game they play.