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Debate the NL East with Jayson Stark!

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BAMAPHIN 22

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THE CASE FOR THE MARLINS

OK, it's time to stop obsessing on the Marlins' run differential (minus-25). And their rotation ERA (5.15). And those messy defensive numbers (12 more errors than the next-worst defensive team in the National League). They're 98 games into the season. So who cares what their record ought to be. The Marlins are deep enough into the season that they are what their record says they are--namely, one very dangerous team. They lead the major leagues in homers (140). They have nine walkoff wins and 27 comeback wins. And their starting pitching is looking better all the time, with Josh Johnson off the DL, Anibal Sanchez not far behind and their best pitching prospect, Chris Volstad, finally in the big leagues. So why are people so quick to assume this team is going away?
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THE VERDICT

The fashionable choice would be to pick the Mets, but I'm not going to let the last couple of weeks talk me into that. If I line up the Mets and Phillies, I'm hard-pressed to find an area in which I think the Mets are substantially better. The Phillies have outscored them, outpitched them and outfielded them. And you can look that up. I'd take the Phillies' lineup and bullpen over the Mets' lineup and 'pen. And while the Mets may have better starting pitching, the Blanton trade and those never-ending Pedro Martinez questions have narrowed that margin considerably. The Phillies haven't played well for a month now. But the Mets have enough age, health and chemistry issues that I'm still picking the Phillies to win the East. Disagree? Go right ahead. That's what we're here for.
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The Marlins can definitely win the east this year. I don't think the Phillies or Mets are any better than them.
 
The Phillies are still in first place with majorly cooled off Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins who offensively is not productive at all. They are still in first place with Brett Myers pitching awful, if he returns to anything close to what he usually is, heck help the team to go 500. in the rest of his starts (they are 4-13 in them as of now) and Joe Blanton steps in to be a little better than Awful Eaton i see no reason why they wont win the East.
 
SpaceMountain16 said:
The Phillies are still in first place with majorly cooled off Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins who offensively is not productive at all. They are still in first place with Brett Myers pitching awful, if he returns to anything close to what he usually is, heck help the team to go 500. in the rest of his starts (they are 4-13 in them as of now) and Joel Blanton steps in to be a little better than Awful Eaton i see no reason why they wont win the East.
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Because the Marlins are better and they own them. :D
 
SpaceMountain16 said:
The Marlins lack of pitching will catch up to them.
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If Johnson is healthy, he can be an ace (he was the best pitcher 2 years ago), Olsen has been solid all yar, and Nolasco has been tearing it up in recent months. Volstad has also looked pretty good in his 2 starts.
 
you cant expect all those picthers to do great each time..most likely half the names you just mentioned will falter
 
They're like 27th in ERA aren't they? They are skating on thin ice if they hope to win with HR's all the time. Believe me i know the Phillies have been doing that for years.
 
im a marlins homer ill admit

but the thing about this team is that they go out and expect to win...impressive for a young core with a sprinkling of vets such as gonzalez, helms, and amezaga that add to the bench and fill in very well for the regulars when missing...

and their pitching...while statistically not very good, has shown signs of improvement...and with a good year from nolasco, a very consistent year from olsen, volstad looking like the real deal, and others like miller and tucker showing flashes of brilliance...it tells me that the marlins are getting better pitching wise

and when our bullpen is really on...like the past couple of weeks...they make teams look silly...if tank can get his act together and the pen continues to play well...

then there is no reason whatsoever that the marlins wont stay right in this race...this team is gritty and full of a bunch of guys who fight tooth and nail til the last out...

im not going to say they will win the east...but the marlins will sure scare the panties of the phils and muts when its all said and done
 
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