With another near no-hitter in the books, the Marlins move forward looking to beat the Rockies for a second straight night. With a mark of 12-6, the Fish boast the third best record in the NL, and fourth in the MLB. This is tied for the best 18 game start in franchise history.
Anibal Sanchez almost made franchise history last night with a second no-hitter. I was watching the game for free on mlb.tv while I was writing about Chris Coghlan’s lead-off home run, and how it was important to the game. And this morning, everybody has been talking about Sanchez’s no-hit bid going into the ninth. The last no-hitter for Florida was thrown by Sanchez on September 6, 2006. The Marlins have four no-nos in their history.
The strange stats that are kept in baseball, or any sport for that matter, never cease to amaze me. So I was wondering if there was a team stat for the most no-hit bids into or past the fifth inning in one season without actually completing a no-hitter. If that stat is kept, the Marlins certainly lead it right now with four. Now I certainly hope that a Florida starter can complete a no-hitter this year, and Edwin Rodriguez does too.
After the game last night, he talked about having five or six months left in the season, and they’ve already been on the verge of a few no-hitters. He said we’ll see one before the end of the year, and he’ll take two if they’re there.
I’ll take two no-hitters as well…that would be nice. Another one of my preseason predictions was Ricky Nolasco throwing a no-hitter. With the way things are going, why not? He has had shut-down games before, so I think he’ll be the next one to come close this year. But I shouldn’t speak too soon because Josh Johnson has another start before Nolasco…we shall see.
On the offensive side of the plate, the Marlins have picked up the power slack jacking five homers in their last two games. Hanley Ramirez is still yet to hit one. Ramirez’s power numbers have dropped steadily over the past three seasons. Coming from a career high 33 bombs in 2008, he hit 24 in ’09, and just 21 last year.
Florida might not have a 40 home run hitter, but they have a few guys that will consistently rake 15-25. Mike Stanton is getting to that 40 homer range, but I think it will be a few seasons before we start seriously considering that…prove me wrong, Mike.
Hopefully the Marlins can get through the next 2-4 weeks without Logan Morrison. He is currently waiting out a lisfranc sprain (foot). If Florida can get through these weeks keeping up their winning ways, they’ll have some serious momentum moving into the summer.
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