Mark Hendrickson couldn't find the feel for any of his pitches last night, but he proved to have a sense of humor along the way .

Hendrickson said it was a strange pitching night for him.

"I've never really had another one like this," he said. "Nothing was working."

He said Treanor came out to talk to him at one point when he was struggling, and suggested they go with Hendrickson's best pitch.

"I told him, 'Do I have a fifth pitch? Because the four I'm using aren't working.' "

By Marlins early season standards for starters, he wasn't that horrible giving up only one run and walking two in the 4.1 innings he pitched.  Naturally, we anticipate a little better outing for Hendrickson. but if that is an off-night, it can be lived with.

The Fish have an excellent bullpen and they can take the game home from there, as long as they don't have to do it every night.  Fortunately the pen was well rested thanks mostly to Ollie and the Hopper chipped in to the cause.

Hendrickson even unnecessarily accepted the blame for the length of the game .

"I just apologized to everybody for the pace of the game," Hendrickson said about the 3 hour, 19 minute affair. "That was a long game. Too long."

No apologies necessary.  The Brewers pitching staff probably had more to do with the length of the game than anyone.  And anyway, if a win for the Marlins takes all night long that is something we can live with.

Also, if any Marlins player happens to make the starting roster for the NL in the All Star game, they only have last night's game to thank, since it gave us ample time to vote our butts off.

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."

---

"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.

The poster was all the rage over the internets and apparently in the Marlins clubhouse, but it doesn't tell the whole story .

The most memorable image of Mark Hendrickson's NBA career haunts him every day in the Marlins' clubhouse.

There it is in full color, greeting every player entering the video room - Michael "Air" Jordan, cupping the basketball in his right hand, soaring over a helpless opponent while gliding to the rim.

But the Marlins are amused by the lower half of the poster, which shows Jordan's right thigh crashing into the chest of the Philadelphia 76ers' defender - Hendrickson.

"He straight up got posterized," pitcher Scott Olsen said.

The image made Time-Life's Pictures of the Century collection, but Hendrickson, 33, prefers a different snapshot of him and Jordan.

Fine, it happened, and it is pretty good ribbing material for his teammates.  Ah, teammates, what would you do without them?

But that isn't the complete story.  Michael Jordan tried his hand at baseball and couldn't get past the Double-A level.  As it turns out Mr. "Air" couldn't hit a breaking ball to save his life.  While Mark isn't destined for Cooperstown he did make it to the majors and could probably easily strike Michael Jordan out.

Oh, and yes, I'm a homer, did you expect something differently.

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."

---

"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."

---

"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.