Mother Nature Is Fickle

The Marlins can usually count on Mother Nature for a few saves each season (a save in this case meaning an early end to a game due to rain while the Fish have a lead), not to mention the occasional slumpbuster. Not so last night, when the Marlins got rained/snowed out (wintry mixed out?) in Denver. Might Mother Nature be expressing her displeasure with the forthcoming opening of a retractable-roof ballpark in Little Havana? Perhaps...

In other news, in my season preview I wondered if anyone would get impatient with Josh Johnson if he struggled to open the season, considering he signed a four-year deal over the winter. No one is accusing him of loafing just yet, but Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald expresses some concern this weekend that JJ has not been able to pitch deep into games just yet. Catcher John Baker defends Johnson in the blog post, saying, "At the beginning of a season, guys have to build themselves up to get later into the game. I think the one thing about J.J. is no matter what game he pitches in, we always have a chance to win." This is most likely just a blip on the radar screen, but it will be interesting to see what happens if Johnson's struggles continue. Having made only 4 starts this year, his sample size is way too small to extrapolate anything useful, but his 4.5 BB/9 rate is troubling, but his .333 BABIP has to go down, right?

David Zalubowski/AP via Miami Herald