Check out CFG’s view of the Marlins — and FishGuts view of the Nats — over at NL East Chatter. It’s a pretty good exchange. Wally at FishGuts was asked which National strikes fear into Marlins’ fans. ”Josh Willingham is a man on a mission this season,” he says, ”and he’s really making the Marlins regret trading him and not Hermida. He’s been on fire, and you don’t want to see him right now. Jordan Zimmermann is going to be a legitimate front line starter, and he’s got enough stuff right now to cause any lineup fits.”

I think that’s about right; and it’s only justice that a team like the Marlins (who stumble into a world series about every sixth year or so — and for no good reason at all), should be vulnerable to a guy they gave up on. It’s true: if Willingham in Washington is “the hammer,” in Florida he was a screwdriver: so far this year he has 17 home runs this year in 253 ABs, last year with Florida he had 15 in 351. With Emilio Bonafacio (the center of the Willingham- to-D.C. trade), now relegated to a utility role in Florida, Marlins’ fans might be looking for revenge. They should rethink that: if Aaron Thompson doesn’t work out, the Phish will have gotten 1B Nick Johnson, one of the best on-base players in baseball, for nothing.