Which team has the best record in baseball the last 4 weeks?

6/19/06
MIAMI Joe Girardi is as surprised as anyone.

"I knew we would play better," the Florida Marlins' rookie manager said, "but I did not expect this."

He's surely not alone.

No one could have expected this - a four-week run where the untried, rebuilding and rookie-loaded Marlins were the hottest team in baseball.

Led by a bunch of relative unknowns, the Marlins are 18-6 in their last 24 games and have climbed out of last place in the NL East. Josh Johnson leads the majors with a 2.01 ERA. Dan Uggla has 12 home runs. Scott Olsen has won four consecutive starts.

Who, exactly, are these guys?

They're the future, which right now is looking pretty good.

"I just like how, regardless of how we were playing, we were still coming in and working hard and still believing," said left-hander Dontrelle Willis, who finished second in the NL Cy Young Award balloting last season but is off to a 3-6 start in 2006. "Now it's starting to pay off."

Willis and third baseman Miguel Cabrera - among the NL leaders with a .342 average, 83 hits and 23 doubles - came into this year as the veterans of sorts in the Marlins' clubhouse.

Never mind that Willis is still only 24 and Cabrera just 23, they are the sages on a team that split with Carlos Delgado, Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, Alex Gonzalez, Juan Pierre, Todd Jones and Luis Castillo from last year's team - slicing $45 million in payroll, down to a major league-low $15 million in 2006.

But a bunch of guys getting their first chance at being major-league regulars - like Johnson, Uggla, Mike Jacobs (.273) and Hanley Ramirez (.268, 20 stolen bases) - are making the most of their opportunity.

"When you've got young guys, rookies, they always want to prove themselves," Girardi said. "It's like they need to show themselves that they can really play on this level."

If there was doubt, it's starting to be erased.

"I don't think in this game you can catch anyone off guard," Uggla said. "People in the game know who's a good team and who's not. We can see who can play and who cannot. At this level, very few people can't play."

The Marlins were 11-31 on May 21, losers of seven straight. They beat the Chicago Cubs 9-1 the next day, and the roll hasn't stopped since. Postseason tickets probably aren't being printed yet, but there's a clear sense of confidence accompanying Florida's current eight-game winning streak - one shy of the team record.

During this 24-game run, Florida has outscored opponents 117-74, is 8-2 in games decided by two runs or less, and has a team ERA of 2.82.

"It all starts with starting pitching," Girardi said. "When you've got that, you've got a chance."

And in the eight-game winning streak, the Marlins' numbers are even better. Team ERA: 1.85. Batting average: .279. Run differential: 37-16.