Open Thread and Ichthyomancy: Phillies at Marlins (5/30)

The Marlins are in sweep avoidance mode. And the only way the Marlins are going to avoid the sweep is if the offense will actually score some runs. In the last 23 innings the Marlins haven't scored an earned run. The last time the Marlins scored an earned run was when Ricky Nolasco, a pitcher, drove one in. Forget Halladay and the ever expanding strike zone by Mike DiMuro that isn't the sum total of the problem. The Marlins are just flat not hitting anything. While wins and loses are assigned to the pitchers at the end of the game, there is no way to win if you can't score any runs. Example: had Maybin caught a ball in a play that any high school player could have made, Halladay would have thrown a perfect game through nine and still not have won. If the Marlins bats don't come alive, they will find themselves in the position they are in right now when the season ends, dead last in the NL East with a losing record.

Whatever it takes, give Jobu some rum and light the gun powder with a cigar while setting off sprinklers. Or do something else, but wake up the bats.

Now, onto today's game.

Anibal Sanchez takes the hill for the Marlins. Anibal hasn't allowed more than 2 ER in his last 7 starts. His history against the Phillies hasn't been all that good, but some of the starts came when he was still rehabbing. Anibal is a creature of the night and day games normally aren't his cup of tea. But what was the past, doesn't mean he won't put it together in today's game.

Jamie "Freaking" Moyer will be on the mound for the Phillies. In the very recent past, the Marlins have seemed to solve him. As long as the strike zone is reasonable and if the hitters can wait for the junk, the Fish might do it again. But to keep up the theme, the good guys with the bats are going to have to do a lot better than they have been doing. This will be Moyer's first day game start of the season.

Ichthyomancy is very tired of this losing streak.

Best of Luck to You!