The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Miami Marlins Month of August

Aug 2, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Fernandez (center) celebrates with right fielder Giancarlo Stanton (left) after defeating the Cleveland Indians 10-0 at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

How did the Marlins fare in the month of August? Welcome to the first
edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Marlins Monthly Recap. Today
we are going to take a look at the ups and downs of the Marlins during
the month of August. We have a lot to cover so no quick recap. Let’s
dive on in!

The Good:

Justin Ruggiano! August was Ruggi month. He had 4 HRs, a .327 batting
average, 10 RBIs, an OPS of 1.023 and 8 R, doing all of that with only 49 plate
appearances.  Ruggi was our spark of offense this month.

Jose Fernandez! What a month this young man had. He won Player of the
Week (Aug. 19-25) for the second time this year, had a 1.15 ERA, broke
the all-time Marlins rookie strike out record, and had the most wins
by any Marlins pitcher this month with three! Rookie of the Year looks
really good right now.

Steve Cishek! Cishek wasn’t given many opportunities this month, but
when he came in he was solid. He went 6-6 in save opportunities,
posted a 0.00 ERA, and had a .070 WHIP. It’s great to see him coming
in to his closing roll.

The Bad:

The Marlins went 8-20 the month of August. That’s just bad.

The Ugly:

The offense struggled this month. The team only scored 86 runs, batted a .221, OBP .286, and only had 83 RBI’s (all those marks were second worst in the NL). The bats seemed to disappear in the month of August.

Close games. Of the teams 20 loses 13 of those were by two runs or less. The Marlins
just didn’t seem to show up at the clutch.  They also scored two or less runs
in 12 of the 28 games.

Was it a rough month for the Fish? Yeah it was. The Marlins have a very young
team: two of the outfielders were just called up; our ace starting pitcher is a
21 year old rookie, and most of the players in the starting lineup are under
the age of 25. This is also the first year for our manager. So yeah we
are going to see some downs this season, but there have been moments
of brilliance this season some of which have happened during the month
of August. This is a young, hungry team that I’m going to stick with
forever. Until next time: Let’s Go Marlins!