Fish n’ grits: The Miami Marlins morning update

There’s plenty to talk about in the world of Miami Marlins baseball. After the Marlins most successful week of the season, here’s your Marlins update to read over breakfast.

The Miami Marlins just wrapped up a home stand where they went 8-2. After coming off a month of May where the season was nearly torpedoed, Fish fans are feeling better about their ball club. Everything appears to be clicking right now.

It certainly was an exciting home stand. It was ripe full of history making moments and surprises. But only four games into the month, plenty of heavy lifting remains to be done. The Marlins are seven games below even and June features plenty of elite competition.

The good news is, if the Marlins play the way they did against the Diamondbacks, they can hang with anybody. The DBacks were one of baseballs hottest teams when they entered Miami. Many are still high on the Arizona club, and dropping three-of-four to the Fish should be a testament to what this team can do.

Volquez no-hitter

It was the sixth of the Miami Marlins franchise. Since joining the league in 1993, the Marlins organization has thrown more no-hitters than any other team in baseball. On Saturday, Edinson Volquez pitched another one, and the Marlins blanked the Dbacks 3-0.

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For added intrigue to the game, Volquez almost came out after facing his first batter. A collision at first base on the opening at bat caused Volquez to twist his ankle. At the time, the manager and coaches believed that they’d need to go to the pen for the majority of the game. Not so fast.

Volquez remained in the game and stymied the Arizona bats for 27 outs. It marked the first time this season that a Marlins pitcher has gone more than seven innings. He fanned 10 in his pursuit, and only walked two batters. The performance was dedicated to Yordano Ventura and Jose Fernandez, both passed away tragically in 2016.

Volquez’s status is in some doubt as a result of twisting his ankle. The team will continue to monitor his status and will make a decision as his start nears.

Marlins gearing up for Wrigley Field visit

The Cubs haven’t been the dominant force they were a season ago. Early season struggles have caused them to stumble to a 28-27 start; surprising for a World Series team that brought back many of its key components.

Still, this will be a challenging series for the Marlins. They’ll draw the Cubs a total of seven times this month, three in Chicago and four in Miami. They’ll need to take five of those seven games. No small task against a sleeping giant like Chicago.

The Marlins took care of business against the Diamondbacks, but the time for basking in their glory is over. They set their sights on the three-game set in front of them. They’ll need to take two-of-three to stay the course to National League relevancy once again.

Despite wins, trade speculation doesn’t stop

This has to be one of the more frustrating aspects to the season for Miami Marlins fans. While in the midst of their May slump, trade speculation reached a fever pitch. At one point or another, all of the 25 names on Miami’s active roster were bandied about in trade talks.

Despite their recent success, the whispers continue. Many aren’t buying the Marlins new penchant for winning ballgames. Some feel it’s too little, too late. A few are desperate to publish attention grabbing headlines.

Rest assured Miami Marlins fans, the team isn’t being pieced apart anytime soon. With the sale of the team impending, Jeffery Loria isn’t looking to throw himself into a rebuild before walking out the door. That would be more trouble than it’s worth for him.

Next: Marlins should roll dice on Broxton

The Miami Marlins are finally playing the baseball everyone knew they were capable of playing. That’s what made May such a frustrating month. Continued success will make their 10-18 record that month nothing more than growing pains.