Florida Marlins do things the right way

You have to give credit to the Florida Marlins for the way they operate.

Not only do they have the lowest payroll in MLB; they also have the best record after two weeks.

And it may not be a fluke.

This is a team built on a MLB-low $36.8-million budget, a wing, a prayer … and with a lot of talent.

Outside of Hanley Ramirez and his 6-year, $70 million contract, the Marlins have very few players in the higher level of MLB payrolls.

Dan Uggla does make $5.35 million this season and Jorge Cantu is at $3.5 million. But after that, the rest of the team is below the MLB average.

And “average” is something that the Marlins are not. In fact, they may be able to challenge the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets in the tough NL East. After all, the San Diego Padres have exposed both of those teams in the past week.

As for the Marlins, they keep rolling along with a seven-game winning streak.

Why? Take a couple of comments made to the Associated Press after Sunday’s 7-4 win at the Washington Nationals.

“When we're down, nobody panics,” Cody Ross said. “We have a feeling we're going to win. It's just a matter of time. That's the way we've approached it the last week or so and it's kind of paid off for us.”

Added Uggla: “It's not just one guy getting the job done. Multiple people are capable of getting the job done.”

When you consider all of the MLB teams trying to buy a pennant, it’s hard not to pull for the Marlins.

Umpire Joe West needs to eject himself

Even when Major League Baseball umpire Joe West gets it right, he gets it wrong.

West rightfully overturned a call by third base umpire Chris Guccione in the Florida Marlins’ 3-1 win over the Padres on Monday night.

Guccione called a line drive by Hanley Ramirez fair in the seventh inning; replays showed it was barely foul and West made the right call in overturning Guccione.

Then West did what he does best; he made the wrong call with his overly aggressive actions.

As soon as Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez came out to argue, West put up his hands up as if to tell Gonzalez not to come out. Within five seconds of arguing, Gonzalez was ejected by the hot-headed West.

Great umpires over history such as Doug Harvey let managers have their say and don’t eject people right away for arguing overturned calls. Ones like West think they are the show; and they are only too willing to prove they are the boss, such as West did Monday night.

“To me, that’s when an umpire tries to get a little bigger than the game,” color analyst Tommy Hutton said on the FSN Florida telecast. “That’s not his job.”

Hutton’s comments were right on.

If anybody needed to be ejected, it should have been West for trying to be bigger than our National Pastime; which he’s not!