The Miami Marlins suffered an ugly 4-0 loss last night at the hands of Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies, but tonight the Fish may indeed fare better. Josh Johnson will take the hill again, and though his last start was not the awesome Johnson we had been seeing in his previous few starts, there continues to be more and more proof that Johnson is returning to elite form. The Phillies will counter with the typically comical Kyle Kendrick.

Josh Johnson has had a series of good starts since his weak showing in the final start before the trade deadline. Even in his last outing, a quality start versus the New York Mets in which he struck out four batters and walked two, he was still impressive enough to pull out a win had the Marlins came away with any offense. Since the start of June, Johnson has a 3.08 ERA and has struck out 23.4 percent of his batters faced while walking 7.3 percent of them. In other words, typical Johnson stuff.

Kendrick has been his usual Kendrick self, so there is really nothing to add to his profile. At this stage, he is who he is, a guy who can fill out the back end of a rotation but is generally outmatched, which is perfect for the Marlins' awful lineup.

Lineup

The big story for the Marlins tonight is the debut of catching prospect Rob Brantly, who represents a bright light even though he is just a fresh body (although a decent-hitting fresh body presumably) in an otherwise black hole of a Marlins season at the plate for catchers. Yesterday, I discussed the numbers behind Brantly's 2012 breakout year and today Sam Evans discussed his five tools. Hopefully, he comes out and experiences immediate success for a Marlins team desperate for positive things in 2012.

Bold Prediction: Marlins def. Phillies 3-1