Fredi Gonzalez took to heart something Bobby Cox told him during his time in Atlanta.  Or at least I assume it was when he was with the Braves, but it really doesn't matter when it happened, so onto the story .

Again, though, Gonzalez dismisses any suggestion of complicated theory as an explanation for Florida's success so far. It requires no genius, he said, and instead he made reference to something mentor and Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox once told him.

"He said most managers get fired for one reason - they don't handle the bullpen right," Gonzalez said. "We have some pretty good guys out there."

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"It's almost to the point where anybody could do any job at any point," Gonzalez said of his bullpen after the win. "It's a nice problem to have.

Fredi's greatest in game strength as a manager this season has been his ability to manage the bullpen.  While I'm sure he gets advice from Mark Wiley, it is Fredi's decision to make.

The real test will come in July and August if most of the starters can't go deeper in the games than they are now causing the pen to become arm weary.  While he did sit at the feet of Yoda and all, there isn't much one can do with a dead arm pen.

Hopefully over working the bullpen won't be a season long problem.  Olsen should be good all season, if they don't allow him to throw an inordinate number of innings.  Hendrickson is looking solid.  Badenhop has promise.  I still think Nolasco will come around.  And then there is Andrew Miller, we will see about the young Mr. MIller.

If the starters can do their part, Fredi knows how to handle the relief.

Scott Olsen did all you could ever ask a starter to do last night .

He had a no-hitter until the fourth inning, gave up two hits all game -- on a night that arguably was the best of his career -- and won his fourth game of the season.

And he almost ended one of baseball's most embarrassing streaks. The Marlins have not had a nine-inning complete game from a pitcher since Sept. 10, 2006 -- a drought of 213 games. 

I'm a little confused here -- exactly why is not having a starter throw a complete game embarrassing?  The way the game is played today and given the strength of the Marlins bullpen, why in the world would you extend a starter to get a complete game, just so you can say he did?

The Marlins need Ollie for all of his starts in the 162 game season and complete games are overrated.  No true Marlins fan will look back on the season and say: "Sure we lost Olsen for the last month of the season, but that complete game at the first of May was really neat."

One hit, complete game shutouts are very similar to throwing a no-hitter and it takes its toll on young pitchers.  They tend to over exert themselves, when tired, in order to achieve the goal causing problems in future.

The crowd booed Gonzalez when he lifted Olsen, who threw 100 pitches through eight innings. But he was up to 121 after he walked Joe Dillon on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases in the ninth.

''You give him every opportunity [to get the complete game] and then you make a decision -- not a popular one -- but we gave him every opportunity,'' Gonzalez said.

While I am completely supportive of Fredi taking Olsen out of the game since I think it was the right thing to do.  I kinda like it that the crowd booed, though I didn't hear the crowd's displeasure with the decision while watching the game on television.  But it is good to know that the ones who paid for their ticket and endured all the hassles of going to the park were really into the game.

The Marlins may not have many fans in attendance at any home game, but ones who do show up, are top notch.

Ollie will get a complete game one day, but even if he doesn't, who cares?  As long as he keeps pitching the way he is doing this season, a complete game will just be the cherry on top on the sundae.  It won't be the complete dessert course and I can do without the cherry if it means more ice cream all year long.

As it turns out the 2008 version of the Marlins are in a position to garner the most wins in April in franchise history .

The Marlins can make this their most successful April in franchise history with a win tonight or Wednesday against the Dodgers. This already is one of four Marlins teams along with the 1997, 2004 and 2005 squads to win 15 of their first 25.

This is absolutely interesting.  As you know the 1997 Marlins won the World Series, the 2004 version probably would have made the playoffs had Hurricane Francis missed South Florida and the team wasn't forced to play something like 27 games in 25 days.  The 2005 version had the bats but the bullpen sucked, except for Todd Jones.  Also, the team lost both middle infielders and the utility man to injures during September.

All three teams finished their respective years with a winning record.

I'm not saying a winning record, or the playoffs, is going to happen this year, especially with a mostly weak starting rotation for the time being.  But if history is any indicator, it could very well happen.

The good thing about this team is that they really believe they can make the playoffs.

"We're here to play and win every day," shortstop Hanley Ramirez said. "We don't have to show nobody. They're going to find out. I don't care if people are surprised. All I care about is how hard we play every day."

Asked if the Marlins could keep this up, Ramirez added: "Why not? Absolutely."

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"We're winning close games," closer Kevin Gregg said. "Those are the games you need to win if you want to be in the hunt for the long run. ... Everybody [in the bullpen] is taking the ball in a lot of different situations and giving [manager] Fredi [Gonzalez] lots of options. That's what's making us successful."

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"Early on last year we didn't have the bullpen we have now," Gonzalez said. "We didn't know what we had. We picked up [Justin] Miller later and Kevin, we had him early in the games and now he's late in the game. When your bullpen is good, you have a chance to hold on to these types of games."

It is true that the bullpen slots were not the same at the start of last season.  The one, who I have been informed should never be named again, and the other one who will also go unnamed, messed up about every close win chance the Marlins had last year.

This season the two pariahs are thankfully long gone, and the roles in the bullpen which came into focus last season, are set.  And with a little seasoning under his belt, Fredi uses them masterfully, just like the grizzled old veteran coach he is. (scroll down: it will make more sense.)

The hitters are going to hit and they will all season long.  They did in 2006 and even did better in 2007.  There is no reason to think that 2008 should be any different.

The whole key is whether the Marlins can put together a decent starting staff.  As long as Olsen doesn't get hurt, he will be a monster.  Hendrickson, early on, is better than I ever imagined he would be.  Nolasco should eventually regain form and end up being a decent pitcher.  And then there are the other two.

For the Marlins to compete all the way out they must find a decent fourth starter who can at least go 5 to 6 innings while giving up in the neighborhood of no more than 3 or 4 runs.  As for the fifth starter, let's face it, the majority of teams have a crappy fifth starter where a slugfest is required to get the win.  But if he can keep it reasonably close, the bullpen can shutdown the opposing offense giving the boys with the bats time to catch up and pass the other team.

In short, the starting pitching will determine whether the Marlins end up with a winning record or not.  And oh, one aspect to whether the starters are successful or not, will be determined by the defense.  If the defense is sloppy and the starters are having to get 4 to 5 innings then it all falls apart.

There are a lot of ifs and many things could derail the Marlins but at the outset, this year is proving to be more intriguing than I ever thought it could be.

As it stands right now, the Marlins are planning on breaking up the one-two of Scott Olsen and Mark Hendrickson .

If Olsen doesn't experience soreness in the next few days, rookie right-hander Burke Badenhop will make his next start Thursday, which will give him six days of rest.

Left-hander Andrew Miller will start Tuesday, followed by Olsen on Wednesday. Gonzalez said he wants to avoid starting Miller and Badenhop back-to-back to give the bullpen a break. Both have struggled this season, while Olsen has pitched extremely well.

The word around the campfire is that Oslen feels fine.  So that means that Ollie will be going on his normal pitching schedule.  Badenhop and Hendrickson will get an extra day of rest.

Breaking up the two lefties may help the bullpen but then again, it may have little effect.  When Olsen and Hendrickson pitch it is not like the bullpen gets the night off.  It is just that they don't have to pitch as many innings in the game.  And as Nolasco continues to return to form he should eventually, consistently, pitch deeper in his starts.

So it breaks down: Miller (bullpen workout), Olsen (bullpen a couple of innings), Badenhop (bullpen workout), Hendrickson (bullpen a few innings), Nolasco (who knows, initially more stress on the bullpen but probably will ease over time.)

I guess the big change is that the middle relievers will no longer be working 2 days off and 3 days on.  Instead they will be working 1 day on, 1 day off,  1 day on, 1 day off, 1 day on.  The work will be more consistent, which may be good, but it will really interfere with their sunflower seed spitting contest.

There was a moment in last night's game that my baseball heart almost stopped .

There was a brief ailment scare in the eighth, when after Rickie Weeks walked on four pitches, trainer Sean Cunningham and pitching coach Mark Wiley tended to Olsen, who waved them off. He remained in to retire Gabe Kapler on a foul out to first after falling behind 3-0.

"I'm good," Olsen said. "I was a little stiff, but I'm fine."

Olsen noted that the mound "was terrible." It was muddy, and at one point in the ninth inning, Brewers reliever Eric Gagne asked for a pick to clean out his cleats.

"It was real muddy, and [the mound] is a little flatter than usual, and it was a little wet out there," Olsen said.

Waved them off my butt, sure he tried to do that, but the meeting on the mound took place anyway with Wiley, Cunningham and the whole infield.

Fredi had this to say after the game :

"We thought he had something wrong with him, but he was fine," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He might have been a little spent at the end."

Maybe the crappy conditions on the mound was a contributor to the problem that scared some of us half to death.  And believe me, for most of you, who didn't get the see the game, you didn't have to face the full brunt of the scare.

Losing Ollie to injury is not an option if the Fish are planning on making any sort of a run at the playoffs.

Hopefully he is fine, because in the words of the character, Marcee Tidwell, in the movie Jerry Maguire: This doesn't work without him.