WHAT WENT WRONG

1 Remember in spring training when some people were writing that the Marlins had perhaps one of the top three or four starting rotations in the majors? The Red Sox had a better one. The Yankees. And then you had to start considering the Marlins. Whoa Nellie! Turned out that rotation wasn't at all what it was cracked up to be.

Opening Day starter Ricky Nolasco got off to such a lousy beginning that the Marlins eventually whisked him off to the minors. Chris Volstad folded like a cheap tent late in the season. Anibal Sanchez and Andrew Miller contributed all of seven wins. The starting staff's ERA in 2008 was 4.56. In 2009, it was 4.57, ranking 10th in the NL.

2

Resorting to players such as Graham Taylor and John Koronka to shore up the rotation, they went 8-24 during that span, going from five games up in the division to five games out. They swam uphill the rest of the season.

3 When it counted at the end, the Marlins couldn't beat the bums. They split with the Reds in Cincinnati, lost two of three against the New York Mets in late September, and dropped six of their final nine games against Washington, the low point coming when they blew one lead after another when being swept by the Nats in early August. The Marlins had to drown those teams, and they didn't.

4 Despite several tweaks to upgrade the club defensively -- Mike Jacobs traded, Jorge Cantu moved to first, Jeremy Hermida and Cody Ross flip-flopping in the outfield -- the Marlins remained lousy in the field.

They were tied for fifth in the majors in errors, and only the Nationals coughed up more unearned runs in the NL. Shortstop Hanley Ramirez was much improved, but everywhere else it was the same old story.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

1They won. The Marlins went 87-75. The only Marlins teams that finished with better records were the 1997 and 2003 World Series winners. But they didn't reach the playoffs. They hung in until the final week. They finished with a better record than the Cubs and Mets, two of the biggest spenders in the majors.

2 They hit. They ranked fifth in runs scored in the NL. Of the four teams ahead of them, three made the playoffs. For the first time in franchise history, they had four players with at least 90 RBI. Hanley Ramirez is a valid MVP candidate, and Chris Coghlan should capture NL Rookie of the Year honors.

3 They had a certain knack for bouncing back. As Larry Beinfest noted in his state-of-the-season address on Saturday, the Marlins possessed a penchant for rising from the dead. Just when it looked like they might be finished, they would lift themselves from the canvas and resume punching. They were six games under .500 in May and ended up 12 games over. They dropped seven games behind first-place Philadelphia after being swept by the Nationals, only to sweep the Phillies in the next series.

4 Their bullpen wasn't outstanding, particularly at the back end. But it was solid enough, finishing with the second-best ERA in club history, behind only the 1993 team. The starting staff's repeated failures to pitch deep into games forced the bullpen into overtime duty, and it responded. On the flip side, the Marlins had the fifth-most blown saves in the majors.

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