Scott Olsen wasn't at his best yesterday but there is a reason, other than he had to get up early and pitch when the Big Orange Fireball was in the sky .

Marlins left-hander Scott Olsen said he can't remember ever pitching in a game where his velocity didn't top 90 mph. It didn't top 87 mph on Sunday.

Neither Olsen nor the Marlins sounded worried. Olsen said he felt physically fine and suggested the drop in velocity might be related to his previous outing, when he threw 121 pitches in 8 2/3 innings, both career highs.

"I've never thrown that long before,'' he said of his start May 6 against Milwaukee, "so there may be a little carry-over affect. But I thought I did a good job of pacing myself between last start and this start throwing-wise, not doing too much. We'll go out there on Friday night against Kansas City and see what happens.''

Going 8 2/3 and throwing a 121 pitches takes a toll, especially in May.  Now that the bottom three in the rotation are starting to go actually five innings and sometimes more, it seems it would be best not to extend Olsen or Hendrickson more than necessary, just to save the bullpen.

In the early part of the season there is nothing wrong with getting a few more innings out of the starters who are producing. However, now that the bottom three are coming into form, it maybe time to let the bullpen bring the game home after the seventh for the top two starters..

As it stands right now, Olsen is on a pace to throw 217 innings in the regular season.  The injury nexus is 170 innings and Scott is only 24 years-old.  And losing Olsen, is not an option.