The Florida Marlins came back strong tonight after last nights drubbing at the hand of wildcard rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies. There was a log of commentary after last night's game on how that was such a devastating loss for the Marlins. The truth seems much different.

A come from behind win in the bottom of the ninth is a much harder pill to swallow than a blowout drubbing. After all, blowouts are common and it was one of those nights. Any player can forget those kinds of games. The bigger struggle was not the loss, but the wildcard lead shrinking from a game and a half to a game.

The Marlins answered that concern in a big way and in a way that they have answered every challenge so far this season. The team that turned around as soon as Jack McKean became the manager, came back and beat the Phillies 11-4. The game wasn't as much of a blowout as it seemed.

Early in the game, both starting pitchers were shaky and the game was close. The difference was the relief pitching. Mike Redman gave up four runs in five innings but was good enough to keep the Marlins in the game. Chad Fox, who was run out of Boston, pitched two critical scoreless innings. Urbina, another Red Sox castoff, pitched a scoreless inning and then the Marlins scored four in the top of the ninth to break the game open. Neal Bump finished up, giving the Marlins four scoreless innings of relief.

Fox was the focal point of the Red Sox experiment with a bullpen by committee. After several bad blown saves and cascades of boos, the Red Sox reworked their entire bullpen. Fox landed in South Florida and has pitched in fourteen games for the Marlins and has a 2-0 record with 21 strikeouts in 17 plus innings. His ERA with Florida is 2.55 and his base runners per inning is a very good 1.17. With the Red Sox, that figure was 2.00.

Urbina has been spectacular with two wins against no losses. He also has two saves and his ERA with Florida is 1.15! Put Urbina together with Fox and you have two pitchers who are performing better than any Boston reliever.

The Marlins are a wonderful story. But so are the Cubs. The Cubs lost 95 games last year. After a big performance by Mark Prior last night, Kerry Wood had his own dominating performance. If the Rockies hold on to their 5-3 lead against the Astros, the Cubs could be only down a half a game.

On the other end is the Kansas City Royals. The Royals lost to the Indians, 9-1. With that loss, it's time to count the Royals out. If the two teams ahead of the Royals finish the last twelve games at 6-6, the Royals would have to win 10 of their last 12 just to tie. The Royals were a great story all year. But they ran out of steam and the fat lady is getting ready to sing.

What a great season!