Swept by the Rays? No problem.

Not when the Nationals are up next on the schedule.

Not to disrespect my second-favorite team in the division, but after the way the Sunshine Series unfolded, a three-game set against the bowels of the NL East is just what the doctor ordered.

The Fish didn't even need their ace Wednesday afternoon to complete their third sweep of the Nats this season. Uh, and that's probably a good thing, seeing as it appeared to have slipped Josh Johnson's mind that he is, in fact, said ace. JJ only gave up one run, but struggled with his command from the get-go, giving up four walks and five hits in his shortest outing of the season. 

Josh exited the game after just 3 1/3 innings, which might be considered a bad thing for a team which does not employ The Hopper. Since the Marlins do, though, it was all good as Hop pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. 

It just wouldn't be a game against the Nats if there were no early deficit to overcome, so the Fish promptly fell behind in the first inning. They took back the lead in the third when Hanley knocked in two runs on a double (a double which, by the way, extends Hanley's RBI-streak to ten games).

*insert obligatory rain delay*

In the top of the seventh, Renyel Pinto was all like, "hey, they're making this way too easy on us," so he decided to challenge his team by giving up two walks, two hits, two runs and the Marlins' lead in just one-third of an inning. Cody Ross made up for Pinto's real bad pitching by going deep to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, Wes Helms grounded into a fielder's choice to score the go-ahead run in the eighth, Leo Nunez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, and voila! 

The Marlins are now 9-0 against the Nats this season, and are just a game behind the Phillies for first place in the NL East.

Official HLD&S Position: We heart the Natinals!

Game two of the series against the Nationals didn't start out so well for the Fish Tuesday night at Land Shark Stadium. 

That was in good part due to the fact that for some reason Sean West decided Nats pitcher Craig Stammen was the most imposing batter in the lineup. Seriously, Sean. A two-run shot to Adam Dunn, we get. A walk and a two-run single to Craig Stammen? Not as much.

Good thing this is the Nationals we're talking about. In that case we know that, obviously, a 5-1 deficit merely serves to set up the Marlins' come-from-behind victory.

Hanley was decidedly less intimidated by Stammen than Sean West appeared to be. He hit a two-run shot off the pitcher in the sixth inning, establishing a franchise record for nine straight games with at least one RBI.

And then, as is custom, came the rain. The obligatory deluge was at least kind enough to wait until Han-RISP drove in a few more in the bottom of the seventh, sealing a win for the Marlins when the game was called 89 minutes later.

The Fish are now two-for-two now in the rain-shortened game category this season, which almost makes us not care about nearly drowning in our seats last night. 

This afternoon the Men in Teal go for the sweep--and a 9-0 record against the Nats on the season. Ace Josh Johnson is on the mound; thousands of snotty-nosed kiddos are in the stands. Oh yes. It's Camp Day.

Or, I guess more accurately, things went pretty badly for the Marlins at the Trop this weekend, as the Rays swept the three-game series, shoving the Fish back to three games behind the Phillies and a game under .500.

Here's a quick (yet extremely informative) recap: The Marlins starting pitching wasn't too terrible overall, until Big Game Andrew struggled Sunday, but the bullpen pretty much made up for that, getting tagged with two losses in the first two games. Really though, first prize for making the sweep a reality goes to the Marlins cold, lifeless offense, which couldn't put much of anything together all series long and combined to go 2-for-68* with runners in scoring position (*this is a completely fabricated number. We're too lazy to look it up). I heard somewhere once that scoring runs can be helpful when a win is the goal. Maybe someone should fill the Fish in on that.

The Marlins teased their fans mercilessly in the top of the ninth Sunday, refusing to go quietly without one last display of the art of leaving men on base. The Fish loaded 'em up and even scored a run on a Wes Helms walk before ending the game with what they'd been doing all series long: leaving multiple runners in scoring position. Paulino and Gload struck out to finish things up, and that's all for the Citrus Series. 

The Marlins end interleague play at 10-8, going 1-5 against the Rays this season. Remember when we used to win more games against them than we lost? That was fun. Good riddance, Tampa Bay. 

The Nationals are looking really inviting right about now.

Although our multiple letters, emails and phone calls to the office of the commissioner of baseball have been ignored, we still maintain that "citrus" gives the Rays an unfair advantage in the matchup. 

Maybe it's the month of June. Maybe it's interleague play. Maybe it's Hanley's rediscovery of the joys of hitting the long ball. Or maybe we just find it difficult be intimidated by a team whose mascot is about as formidable as a cotton ball. 

Whatever the reason, the Fish keep winning, and we keep liking it.

The series finale was a good old-fashioned clubbing of the Orioles, as Sean West threw a shut out through six innings, and the Fish took batting practice off of Rich Hill in the meantime. Every Marlin in the starting lineup had a multi-hit game, save Chris Coghlan. Cody Ross and Dan Uggla each hit two-out, two-run shots, and Hanley hit another *yawn*--excuse us-- grand slam. We vaguely recall a time when those things were rare and exciting. Vaguely.

HLD&S would like to extend a warm welcome to Tim Wood, who made his Major League debut for the Marlins in the seventh inning, and was greeted heartily by being nearly decapitated before he went on to pitch two scoreless innings. We would like to extend a similar, though slightly less warm (let's say roughly room temperature), welcome back to Chris Leroux, who gave up three runs to Baltimore in the ninth inning. To be fair, we can certainly understand why a three-run ninth would be what the pitcher thought was expected of him.

The Marlins find themselves two games above .500 and only one game behind Philadelphia as they head to Tampa this weekend to finish up interleague play. Good thing devil rays are often* referred to as the birds of the sea. 

*by "often," we obviously mean once. On this blog.

And we aren't talking about the weather.

When Jorge Cantu slapped a single to left to score Bonifacio in the bottom of the 12th, a 5-year-old Orioles fan scrunched up his face, threw back his head and wailed unabashedly and inconsolably, tears gushing down his little cheeks. 

If it were socially acceptable for grown adults to express their feelings in such a manner, HLD&S would have created a similar spectacle in the top of the ninth, when Matt Lindstrom obliterated a beautiful start from Andrew Miller, a grand slam from Hanley Ramirez and the Marlins' 3-run lead.

"Stormy" recorded the first two outs in the ninth inning against the Orioles Tuesday night, then proceeded to give up two runs on four straight hits. After Lindstrom was lifted, Brian Sanches allowed a run to score, sending the game into extra innings. 

And that is the last time HLD&S will turn to our neighbor in the top of the ninth to remark on what a charmingly fast-paced game we are enjoying.

After a few scoreless innings from Burke Badenhop, and some stellar defense from the Fish, luckily--or perhaps more fitting a word would be miraculously--Bonifacio managed not to swing at four balls from Brian Bass to draw a leadoff walk in the twelfth. Emilio then took second on a wild pitch and scored on Jorge Cantu's single, almost making us forget about all the rest of his at-bats in the game. (Almost.)

We'll just save the whining about Lindstrom continuing to close. To say that Marlins fans are growing weary of the ninth-ining theatrics is stating the overly obvious, and anyway, who else is going to pitch the ninth? Kiko Calero is already on the DL, and Leo Nunez was taken out of the game in the eighth inning Tuesday due to an ankle sprain. Plus, given Fredi's "stick with him" position, resistance is futile. Matt Lindstrom is the closer, and we will all continue to experience elevated blood pressure, mild strokes, panic attacks and hyperventilation in save situations until he finally learns how to get that third out, or blows enough games to be demoted from his current role. 

Incidentally, after nearly every game Brett Carroll plays, there is an intense struggle between our desire for all major news outlets to shout from the rooftops the greatness of his cannon of an arm, and the selfish desire to keep Brettley as unheralded as possible so that teams will continue to foolishly try and run on him. What to do, what to do.

The Marlins seventh win in the last ten games brings them back to .500 for the first time since May 13th. 

Move along, Girardi and Burnett. There are some new... old faces in town tonight as the interleague parade of former Marlins continues at Land Shark Stadium. The good news, though, is that these faces will more than likely not attract a crowd of 30 thousand excessively noisy haters of the home team, or increase your chances of getting punched in the face at the ballpark by 67%. And we're perfectly OK with that.

Marlins fans may get a chance to see former Fish Robert Andino in action tonight at short as the Fish open up their three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles. Of course, we like Dino and we wish him the best in tonight's game, but most fans would agree that the trade has worked out very nicely for both teams involved. Andino has been impressing in Baltimore since Cesar Izturis went on the DL, and obviously Hayden Penn has been just huge for the Fish this season, so...  

And hey, remember Mark Hendrickson? He was really, uh, tall for the Marlins in 2008. We'll more than likely see him out of the bullpen at some point during the series, and if memory serves correctly, goodie. 

Tonight is Fox Sports Florida's Fantasy Auction to benefit the Florida Marlins Community Foundation's "Cornerstones for Kids" program. This means a couple of things. 1) About halfway through the night you will be willing to donate your entire life savings to the FMCF if FSN promises to stop broadcasting shots of their tiki doll instead of pertinent game replays, and 2) fans at the park and at home will have a chance to bid on some very exciting items, which the foundation has decided should not include HLD&S's suggestion of a prize pack that would be sure to bring in loads of cash for charity:

BE THE MARLINS GM FOR HALF AN HOUR! 

We're assuming it would take less than 30 minutes to have Bonifacio sent down. 

I guess if the goal is to not make as much money as possible, I can understand the foundation's exclusion of our suggestion this year. Bid on something, like our favorite Fish site does each year. It's for a good cause. 

It was a pretty depressing scene at Land Shark Sunday as thousands of dejected fans filed out of the stadium after Derek Jeter grounded out to end the game. 

Oh. Wait. This is a Marlins blog. After spending three days rubbing elbows with a stadium-load of New Yorkers, listening to louder cheers for Jeter than Ramirez and hearing deafening chants of "Let's go Yankees," we got a little turned around there. Strike "depressing scene" from the record, please. Let's go with "joyous event" instead. 

At least the small percentage of Dads sporting teal and black enjoyed a nice treat for Father's Day. (Well, as nice a treat as possible, anyway, when surrounded by thousands of sore losing Yankees fans who--according to reports from the stadium-- were all apparently spoiling for a fight.)

Of course, Matt Lindstrom did his level best to make the day even more special for the Dads in attendance, giving up two runs after recording two outs in the ninth. I guess he figured one-run nail-biters are far more exciting than a ninth inning void of theatrics and multiple runs, and he wanted to help make the game as memorable as possible. Mission accomplished, Matt. And thanks, as always.

After the Fish dropped two of three in Boston, Marlins fans are being "treated" this weekend to a three game series against everybody's favorite team, the New York Yankees.

I guess a teensy part of me can understand a bit of the hoopla surrounding the almighty Yankees and the fact that they have been so kind as to deign to make a royal appearance in lowly South Florida. Since a nice big chunk of SoFlo are transplanted New Yorkers, and since the Yankees are worshipped as gods, and since they visit here so infrequently, a little part of me gets it. But understanding the hype does not equal enjoying the hype. Absolutely NO part of me will like this. 

HLD&S made a decision after leaving Land Shark last night: We will never again complain about Mets fans taking over the stadium when our NL East rivals are in town. OK, we will, but during said complaining, we'll secretly be thanking our lucky stars it's the Mets, not the Yanks playing on our home field. Seriously. While Mets fans just may be obnoxious and loud enough to make a 50/50 split of fans seem more like 90/10, the jerseys don't lie. And for every fan sporting Marlins gear at Land Shark Stadium last night, another seven or so were decked out in the glorified Yankees pinstripes. They outnumbered us, outcheered us, and out...obnoxioused us by far.

Game one of the series didn't go so well for the Fish as rookie Sean West gave up five runs and lasted just 4 innings, and most of the Marlins bats decided that the middle of a ballgame against the Yankees was the perfect time to go into a collective coma. The bullpen (which, by the way, once again includes Renyel Pinto) was one of the few bright spots in the game. Unfortunately, holding a team scoreless when they're already up four runs only proves to be helpful if your team can manage to score in the meantime. That didn't happen. 5-1, Yanks.

Tonight it's JJ vs. AJ in what promises to be one of the most exciting match-ups of the season so far. It's a shame we'll be far too busy hating New York to be able to enjoy it.