Marlins Complete Sweep of Mariners
The Miami Marlins are one of baseball’s surprise teams so far this season. The team that has been just awful the last two seasons both home and away is at least figuring out how to win at home. Miami completed a three game sweep this weekend of the Seattle Mariners to move to within one game of .500 at 9-10. The Fish are 0-6 on the road so far but are 9-4 at home. If they ever figure out how to win a road game they will be really dangerous. Right now, they are a good team for bettors as we have a pretty good idea they will send the crowd home happy. The home team has won 15 of their 19 games.
Against Seattle they won with the aid of instant replay as Christian Yelich was initially called out on a force play at home but the replay showed he slid in safely with the tying run. Then the Marlins scored the go ahead run on a sac fly off the bat of Aideny Hechavarria to win the game. The win gave the Marlins a 4-2 home stand as they now go back on the road to face the division leading Atlanta Braves for three followed by another N. L East road series with the New York Mets.
The face that the Marlins are 19 games into the season and have the same record as their in state rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays has ton have Miami fans very encouraged. At no point in the last two years have they been close to the other MLB team from Florida. The Rays are considered to be a playoff contender, so staying with them would be a good thing for the Marlins. It is not likely they will be able to for 162 games though, but at least they can enjoy it while it lasts.
There are some guys in Miami now for the team to build around. Jose Fernandez looks to be an ace as good as nay in the game. He is 2-1 with an ERA of 2.86 and 33 strikeouts in his four starts. Giancarlo Stanton is having an All-Star start with 6 homers and a .315 average. Those are some former Marlin Miguel Cabrera type numbers.
The Braves will be a tough opponent for a team without a road win though as they are leading the East at 12-6. They will face Miami six times in the next nine games so if Miami wants to stay within shouting distance they had better figure out how to win away from home really quickly.
