Uggla, Ugly

It's remarkable (I won't use the word amazing, as it is taken) that the Florida Marlins are in the NL East race at all. The pitching is unimpressive, and while the fish can certainly score runs, their baseball fundamentals are so bad you'd think they were managed by Willie Randolph.

What, too soon?

So losing to the Marlins in their warehouse of a ballpark is made triply frustrating by the knowledge that this is not just some upstart, ragtag bunch of scrappers but the team snapping at the heels of the Mets and Phillies, who must wonder when this annoying kid is going to go away.

Instead, the Marlins came back from a 2-0 hole to tie the game and chase an injured John Maine, then overcame a 3-2 deficit with five runs in the eighth inning off Joe Smith and Scott Schoeneweis. Funny that Duaner Sanchez finally got it together to pitch a scoreless seventh, only to be followed by Smith and Schoneneweis, whose turn it must have been to implode.

Fernando Tatis tripled and drove in two of the three Mets runs and Damion Easley knocked in the third. The top five men in the order combined to go 4-for-20, with Jose Reyes taking the 0-for-5. Somewhere, Ricky Nolasco earned a Cy Young vote.

Meanwhile, we hold our collective breath that John Maine's shoulder tightness is as benign as Billy Wagner's, and that he won't miss a start. But Maine, who pitched well his last time out, hasn't looked right for about a month now, looking uncomfortable, so there is ample reason for concern. Whither El Duque? Playing canasta with Moises Alou and Luis Castillo.

By the way, another reason to be wary of this series -- the umpiring crew features C.B. Bucknor and Country Joe West. Always good times.

UPDATE: Interesting piece in the Times about Tatis and how he was motivated to return to the majors by building a church in his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris.