Sure, the kid is young, has a decent fastball and 29 saves. Problem is, he is no where near a consistent closer and every save opportunity he gets is a thrill ride – and not a fun one where you get off buzzin’ but instead the kind where you get off and puke and wonder why your back hurts. You want your mommy and you cry and want your money back, too.

Leo Nunez is responsible for the oil spill in the gulf, the ozone layer deteriorating, and the Marlins’ dip away from the postseason. Ok, maybe the first two are an exageration, but you can argue the last one is not.

You’ve got to wonder what the Marlins’ brass sees in this kid. Edwin Rodriguez keeps dumping him onto the mound in the 9th during close games. He has shown no ability to get outs consistently or even to be consistent with his control. In fact, of the 37 save appearances, he has made 29 saves. That means 8 blown saves. The Marlins lead all of baseball with 23 blown saves. Think about that.

Take half of that number – 12.5. Ok, 12. Add that to the Marlins win total. Where does that put them? You’re damn right, ahead of the Braves, that is for sure.

Now, 8 blown saves out of 37. That means Leo Nunez has almost a 22% failure rate on the season. Now, of the team’s total blown saves, 23, Nunez accounts for 35%.

Let’s face it, that just sucks.

It isn’t that he only has 8 blown saves, but even of his 29 saves there have been some which could have gone the other way, too. Sure, in 53.1 innings, he has only 16 BBs and 58Ks. Solid numbers. He also sports a 3.38 ERA – but that was before giving up 2 home runs to the Braves today. Still, even that number has come down from last year – his ERA was 4.06. He also came into this game only giving up 3 home runs while giving up 13 last season. He even has improved his ground out to air out ratio. Last year it was .91 (meaning more air outs to ground outs – 78:66). This year it is 1.91 (32:59). His WHIP is respectable (1.29) vs. last year (1.25) and he has only given up 53 hits in 53.1 innings.

The problem goes beyond the stats though and into Nunez’s mind. If you watch him come out to the game, he is a wreck. He is chewing his gum faster than a crack fiend, and is sweating like a “woman of ill repute”  in church (hey, this is a family site!). What’s worse is, he usually hasn’t thrown a pitch by this point!

Nunez would be a terrific set up man. He can come in, throw his stuff around and if he does any damage, the Fish will at least have a chance to clean it up on offense. There is also no pressure. He is not the last one to take the ball. Clearly, he is not the right choice for the Marlins to end games. They need someone who can throw strikes and be a calming presence at the end of games. Whomever that is, it sure isn’t Hanley’s buddy, Leo Nunez. Get him out of there and NEVER let him close again.

Unless it is for the Phillies, Braves, Mets, etc.

@LoMoMarlins and by the way, you start hitting a ton of those and I am calling you Weapon X. in reply to LoMoMarlins #

@joecapMARLINS They got to have something to cheer about. Seems like they are cheering about that a lot tonight though. in reply to joecapMARLINS #

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For LoMo, it was his first ever MLB home run and it came in his 104th AB. Congrats, Wolverine. Here’s to the first of many.

Dan Uggla and Gaby Sanchez also provided some muscle, doing the same thing in the 6th inning, getting back-to-back home runs to continue to put runs on the board. Yet, none was as wild as Hanley Ramirez’s triple – which started with Eric Hinske misplaying Hanley’s flyball to LF then compounding his mistake by missing his cutoff man which enabled HR2Dtoo to steal the third bag with some heads up aggressive baserunning. Hanley would score on a sac grounder from Uggla.

But this was not a night just about the offense – Chris Volstad churned out a solid start. Volstad is one of the starters in the NL with the fewest pitches per start, his average just under 93 pitches an outing. He has had trouble being consistent, staying focused, and getting beyond the 5th inning. Tonight against the Braves, he showed flashes of what can make him a bona fide starter in this league, spreading hits from the Braves bats and getting consistent outs. He kept runners off the bases and it showed as the Marlins just squeezed the Braves, who were 44-17 at home, out of the game.

The Fish continue their great run on the road. Winning 8 out of their past 10, scraping out a couple of wins against the Mets and now coming into Atlanta to face the first place Braves who have the best home record in baseball. Mama must be proud of her babies.

Drafted in the 32nd round out of high school back in 2006, Sanabia has quietly worked his way into a spot on the parent club and he hasn’t looked back. Facing a tough Mets lineup, he was able to cobble together 6 1/3 innings while only giving up 4 hits, one walk, and striking out one.

He won’t blow away hitters and dazzle fans with his stuff but he will pitch efficiently and get outs. He has a tendency to nibble and locate his pitches very effectively. He has won his last two starts, which is great considering that he has been slid into the lineup to replace the injured Ricky Nolasco.

That isn’t to say Sanabia won’t strike guy out – he has 26 Ks in 37.1 innings pitched. Since his call up on June 22nd, he has amassed 6 starts in 9 games with a 3.62 ERA.

The Marlins are not in contention, so they are not in need of having Nolasco out there and wouldn’t want him to risk further injury with little upside. That said, the Marlins are also pressing to get more information out of their prospect, Andrew Miller. He hasn’t fared well statistically in the minors, but was pushed into the starting spot for Nolasco this afternoon, pitching 5 innings, struck out 3, walked 3, and gave up only 1 earned run. His mustache and soul lip combo looked pretty funny though, too.

Most likely, expect Nolasco to be shut down as a precaution and the Marlins give a long look to Andrew Miller.

Of course, this means that Ross’ days with the Marlins are done. Sure, he may come back around in a reprisal role, but the Marlins are now hoping to bear fruit on that deal they made with the Tigers a few seasons ago when they traded Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera to the Tigers for Cameron Maybin and today’s starter, Andrew Miller.

Dontrelle Willis has never been the same. He is in San Francisco working on making a comeback – but could be joining Ross there if he can get straightened out in the minors. Miguel Cabrera just reached over the 30 home run plateau this season where he has been doing it in Detroit for years now. So, it’s quite a hill to climb for the Marlins just to get even here.

Andrew Miller threw 5 solid innings today, donning a mustache and soul patch like the gun slingers of old. He had an ERA of over 6.00 and a WHIP approaching 2 in Jacksonville but the brass saw enough improvement in him to give him a shot. As it turned out, Ricky Nolasco’s freak injury got Miller back on the mound as a starter. Depending on how quickly Nolasco can come back, Miller should have the job for the rest of the season.

Then there is the other piece of that trade – Cameron Maybin. The kid has great athleticism and can definitely cover center field the way Cody Ross did. The question is, can he hit? He had an amazing debut (16-32 in 2008) with the Marlins coming up, but has struggled ever since. In the minors, Maybin has shown more selectivity and solid power.

So Cody Ross will depart and move on to the Giants and a chance to compete in the post season. He was a great character guy to have in the clubhouse and always played with a gritty style that the fans loved. We’ll miss his sheepish, cat-ate-the-mouse grin, too. But the future is here and the Marlins are not playing for a slot in the post season. Now is the time of year for evaluation and there are some prospects that need to be gauged. Maybin and Miller are two that have to produce.

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Juan C. Rodriguez of the Sun-Sentinel speculates that this is his last time in a Marlins uni:

“Methinks Paulino has played his last game as a Marlin, at least if team Prez David Samson has anything to say about it.”

I agree. No sense in keeping him around now. Brett Hayes will have to hold things down until Johnny Baker gets back, which may not be until September. So, who’s the happiest man in the dugout right now? Gotta be Hayes or even Brad Davis, who will also get plenty of looks until Bake returns.

Stay tuned to see how this affects the Marlins’ pitching staff. May not do too much. Samson was pretty peeved about it, so very likely that Paulino is going to stay in Pittsburgh – where he played earlier in his career. At least for the short term.

Tonight was a reason why you tune in – back to back jacks from Cody Ross and Hector Luna. Yeah, Hector Luna. What, you don’t think the guy can hit the ball? He had 16 homers this season at AAA when he was called up and was batting .294. What, don’t believe me? Man, you’ve got trust issues, buddy!

Anywho, after what was looking like a disastrous road trip, the Marlins rebounded against the Pirates – where usually PNC Park is a house of horrors for Los Marlins – and continued to hit the ball pretty well here in South Florida. 9 runs on 12 hits ain’t nuthin’ to scoff at and the Fish certainly didn’t. By the way, Anibal Sanchez got his 10th win of the season and is sporting a pretty nice 3.16 ERA. So, that is three starters with 10 or more wins. Anibal quietly struck out 5 in 7 innings and also threw only 88 pitches. Very efficient. This is the kind of thing you also want to tune in and see. Even Ronny Paulino was tuning in – he has to serve a 50 game suspension for violating MLB’s drug policy.

Marlins have their work cut out for them, though, if they want to hit 80 wins. Only 41 games left and they have to win 19 of those to hit 80 wins, but they really need to up it a bit to reach into the mid 80′s to have a mildly successful season. After all, you can’t fire Fredi and then finish with less wins than he lead the team to the past few seasons.

This team is just not ready to make a play for anything this season. The staff has been overturned, the roster churned, and now, the team seems to be flat. It isn’t like they don’t have exciting young players – Mike Stanton, Logan Morrison, Gaby Sanchez all play the game the right way. They have talent, they can hit. They aren’t alone – the Marlins have one of the most productive middle infields in all of baseball in Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla. Sure, Ramirez is struggling and his recent “promotion” in the lineup to lead off isn’t seeming to help, but he can still hit.

But, that is the problem – Hanley has been too inconsistent since the all star break. He has had a very quiet bat for the most part and the push to the top spot was done because Coghlan got injured, but also because it was hoped it would wake Hanley’s bat up. Hasn’t done it.

The pitching is meh, too. Volstad looks average at best on most nights. You’d think this kid was a rookie – he was last season and pitched very well at times showing his ability on the mound to have a cerebral game with top flight raw talents. He hasn’t been able to put it together and keep it together this season. Ricky Nolasco and Josh Johnson have been pretty consistent through the season although Double J has seemed to hit a struggle point of late. Anibal Sanchez always pitches with heart, but his offense can abandon him (like for Johnson) but even he can be off on nights. Sean West has just gotten back and it is too early to tell what he’ll do.

The bullpen has talent. Hensley has been the most consistent performer at the back of games of late but has yet to be given the ball in the 9th. Leo Nunez, with a plus fastball that he is afraid to use, has the stuff but is psyching himself out. Not what you want in a closer. The rest of the staff has been marginally good – Tankersley is a seasonal project that just seems to fail every season. Another reason why Ohman was acquired which should send a mixed signal to all Fish fans (why trade Cantu then go out and trade Vandenhurk for a specialty reliever?),

Right now, the Fish are a bore to watch. Offense sucks, defense sucks (well, at least that has been consistent), and the pitching is hit or miss. There really is nothing to play for other than to finish ahead of the Mutts – which means everything in my book. Can the players feel the pinch and loss of a playoff hope? It seems that they are just getting ram-rodded by teams they meet. They never have had success in Pittsburgh, so don’t assume they will turn out of this one either.

What started off as a promising road trip has ended up being a bore – with the exception of the Mike Stanton show. The future is very bright for the Marlins, but the question is, will it ever turn into a bright present? Maybe not just yet.