This deserves a longer look than I'm going to give it, but that is the way it goes.
"There's enough offense," Beinfest said. "It's just a matter of doing it consistently. We've shown if Chris and Emilio [Bonifacio] can get on base, Hanley [Ramirez] is going to knock them in. Those guys need to be on base. That's important."
Coghlan and Bonifacio went a combined 6 for 27 (.222) with four runs and three RBI in the series. The National League average on-base percentage for first and second hitters through Tuesday was .328 and .345, respectively. The Marlins' OBP from those two spots: .310 and .316.
While it is very true that if at least one of the first two hitters can get himself into scoring position, Hanley will drive him in at a very nice pace. Ramirez is hitting .429 with runners in scoring position. Normally, I don't care about batting average, but when it comes to runners in scoring position, it does serve some purpose.
But let's forget about the fact the first two in the batting order can't get on base and instead look at how the Marlins hitters are performing overall, very recently, with men in scoring position. Against the Phillies, in the last home series, the Marlins were 3-26 for a batting average of .115 and the Fish lost all three of those games.
In the sweep of the Padres, the Marlins were 4-22 with runners in scoring position for a batting average of .182.
I guess what I'm am getting at is the Marlins sweep of the Padres was because of the performance of the pitchers while the bats continue to remain silent at the key times when we need them to make some noise.
On the bright side, .182 is greater than .115 so we are going in the right direction.