Finally…

Summer is officially here and the Marlins have won their second game in June…it’s the 22nd. Last night, Javier Vasquez helped silence the Angels as well as the 11 game plummet the Marlins had been enduring within this dreadful month. Before tying a franchise-worst 11 game losing streak, the Marlins had lost eight to start the month. They beat the Diamnondbacks once, and then proceeded to start the streak.

I was watching SportsCenter yesterday when another random and unnecessarily specific baseball stat was mentioned (there are a lot of random and unnecessarily specific baseball stats). The Marlins are one of two baseball teams in history who during a streak of 20 games, lost 19, and 10 by one run. The baseball almanac must be huge. Ironically, the other team to accomplish, or unfortunately complete, that feat was the Philadelphia Athletics. The year this happened was 1943 when the Athletics were managed by the 80 year old Connie Mack. When the Marlins lost their 19th game, and the 10th one-run loss of their downfall, Jack McKeon was the acting manager. And you guessed it, McKeon is 80. Funny how patterns apepar. Even though 18 of those losses came when Rodriguez was manager this is still ironic.

The Marlins brought their bats to go along with good pitching (just the 2nd time this month that has happened). Gaby Sanchez homered in the bottom of the first. Mike Stanton was 3-4 with 3 RBI. The Fish manufactured a run in the second after two singles, a walk, and a sac fly by Omar Infante, who also had two RBI on the night.

Hanley Ramirez was back in the lineup and did a little bit of running when he stole a base in the sixth and then came around to score on Mike Stanton’s double. Hanley batted clean-up for the first time in his career, and the day after he was benched by McKeon. The three-time all star is having a seriously down season, undulating around the Mendoza line with just four home runs.

Leo Nuñez, who hasn’t had a whole lot of save opportunities in recent history, recorded his 20th save Tuesday night. Miraculously, he is tied for second in the majors with that total. Before the downfall, Nuñez was having an all star caliber season looking to notch 30 saves before the break. But since the Fish have made headlines for all the wrong reasons this month, any productive Marlin may be overlooked for the Midsummer Classic.