Some comments by and about my alter-ego:
The Nationals are playing baseball - I wouldn't say good baseball - and they are beating the Fish. I think MA [EDIT: MA = MarlinAddict] was right to be concerned about this series as I was, too. You can never, ever count on sweeping a team. Even if they have been playing horrible all season long. The Nationals do look much better with Nyjer leading off and pushing that team's offense. Should the Fish be losing these games? No. We lost the first game with JJ on the mound. Last night, we came up short. Not good considering we are heading off to Philly after tonight.
I hope we don't take the Nats too light. The top 6 in their order can hurt you in a hurry. Zimmerman is hot again, Willingham is on fire, and Guzman has his stroke back. The new guy, Nyjer Morgan leading off is getting on base. Dunn is Dunn, and Volstad has to be careful. Dukes has good plate discipline, and can put the ball in orbit. The pitching has improved enormously with McCatty taking over for St. Claire. While Riggleman isn't ever going to be a manager of the year candidate, he's infinitely better than Acta, who is even worse than was McKeon in 04-'05. They are playing better, and until last night, had gone a fair number of errorless games. The key is to get to their pen.
The Nats were much tougher in early July than in April, and will be tougher still again this time now that Riggleman has them at least treading water. I'd love a sweep, and will be happy with a 2-1 series win.
After beating the Cubs, the Fish were flying high. The Nats really took the wind out the their sails. It will likely prove out that the whoop a$$ the Nats unloaded on the Fish this series is the blow that ended whatever playoff hopes they had for the season. A sweep in Philly would negate the impact, but I don't think that is going to happen. The Fish will be expending the last of their 4-man rotation (thanks to the brilliance of Beinfest) today, and will go into Philly using a spot starter who probably will be called up after the game today (I haven't checked the MiLB schedules, but Sean West would be my first guess). The Fish may escalate into a death spiral by Sunday. If so, it was the Nats that first pushed them off the cliff.
I short, I don't see the recovery coming, and the Fish faint playoff hopes will be proven to have come to a screeching halt this week in DC. The Nats have gotten some revenge for the Fish feeding on the ineptitude of St Claire and Acta, and just like they did to the Mets in 2007, the Nats have likely ended the Marlins playoff hopes.
Congratulations to the Nats, and especially to all their fans on WNFF.