Chien-Ming Wang still isn’t ready for prime time. The former Yankee and new Nationals’ righthander struggled through five innings against the Braves yesterday, giving up seven hits and two runs through five innings — and the Nationals fell to Atlanta in the final game of their three game set, 6-4.

While Wang recovered from a shaky first inning (in which he gave up two runs), he had trouble in the fifth, which proved the key to the game. Wang threw wildly on a Brandon Beachy bleeder for a two base error, Jose “George” Constanza followed with a single and, after a force play and an out at the plate, Dan Uggla plated the two stranded runners (and himself) with a three run homer.

The Nats fought back, rapping out a four run sixth inning, with a walk by Danny Espinos, singles by Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse, a Beachy wild pitch and a Jayson Werth home run. But four runs weren’t enough to secure the victory. Despite the loss, pitching coach Steve McCatty was upbeat on Wang. “He had better sink,” McCatty said after the game. “The offspeed pitches were a little flat. He got hurt on that. If he makes a play in the fifth inning — no damage.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Jason Marquis debuted for the Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday, and it didn’t go well. The former Nats’ righty gave up ten hits and seven runs over four innings, as the Snakes fell to the McCoveys, 8-1. Marquis wasn’t the only thing traded to Arizona; so too was the explanation for why he does poorly: his sinker wasn’t sinking . . .

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There’s something in each of us that doesn’t like a showboat. Muhammad Ali had a hard time catching on back in the early ’60s for precisely this reason and it’s why I never took to Eric Byrnes — who made several ostentatious attempts to collide with walls in pursuing deep fly balls. He once flapped his arms going backwards, just to show how hard he’d hit the bricks. Puh-leeeez. But, for some reason, showboating never bothered me when it came to Ricky Henderson or Mickey Rivers. And it doesn’t bother me when it comes to Mannywood either, though his case is a little different: Manny isn’t a showboat because he plays hard all the time and in every situation, but because he doesn’t. You can think of dozens of similar examples: I couldn’t stand Pete Rose’s “Charlie Hustle” routine, but loved it when Mark Fidrych sprinted off the mound. Fidrych was believable, Rose was showing off. Then too, I would have hated it if, say, Will Smith had done backflips at shortstop, but Ozzie Smith? Not so much.

Now then for the case of Hanley Ramirez, who is not only the most talented shortstop in the N.L., but probably the best shortstop in the N.L. Ramirez is as far from a showboat as possible, but he’s been accused of “dogging it” during games — which is widely interpreted by baseball pundits as hinting that he thinks he’s more important than the guys around him. That is, he’s a kind of showboat in reverse, an Eric Byrnes at half speed, a Mannywood of Miami. Back during the third week of May, for instance, Ramirez ran at half speed to first on an infield hit and then, the next day, he booted a ball and trotted after it . . . and after it . . . and after it. Fredi Gonzalez, the then-manager of the Marlins had had enough. He benched Ramirez and told him to apologize to the team. Cameron Maybin, Wes Helms and Dan Uggla all thought that would be a good idea. Ramirez refused. The situation was apparently cleared up after two days of sullen silence, when Fredi and Hanley “cleared the air.” Five weeks later, Gonzalez was gone.

While Ramirez has always claimed that his dust up with Gonzalez had nothing to do with his firing, you have to wonder. The Marlins have been down in the standings before and stuck with their manager. And Gonzalez was universally viewed as a top baseball strategist, all-around good guy and friend of the owner. In the end it didn’t matter. Just days after the firing, Bobby Valentine (another friend of the owner) was rumored as his “sure thing” replacement — but that never panned out. Was Valentine deep-sixed because of his view of the Ramirez situation? We can just imagine Valentine’s interview with fish owner Jeff Loria. “Hey Bobby, would you have benched Ramirez for not hustling?” And Bobby’s smiling answer: “You damn right.” The owner nods, squints, fiddles with the things on his desk and then gets up from his chair. “Thanks for coming.” As for Cameron Maybin, Wes Helms and Dan Uggla — well, they’re either headed back to the minors or they’re headed out of town.

Uncomfortable as it is, and as hard as it is to swallow, Hanley Ramirez probably has this right: he’s the best player on the team and maybe even in the NL East. And therefore (therefore), the rules that apply to Maybin, Helms and Uggla shouldn’t be applied to him. In fact, that’s what he said when asked if he’d lost respect for Gonzalez after he was benched. Yeah, he said. A little bit. “We got 24 more guys out there. Hopefully they can do the same things I can do. They’re wearing the Marlins uniform.” Here’s a rough translation: all baseball players are equal, but some are more equal than others. Or perhaps this — if you want to bench someone for dogging it, do it to a player who’s hitting .225. If Casey Stengel had actually benched Mickey Mantle for showing up for a game with a hangover (or worse), who do you think would have been out the door? And don’t claim that Hanley Ramirez is no Mickey Mantle. That’s not the point. The point is that Casey would never have benched Mantle. Ever. Because Casey knew what Gonzalez didn’t: managers don’t win batting titles.

Matt Capps pitched out of a based loaded jam in the ninth inning to preserve a Washington Nationals and John Lannan win in San Diego, 5-3. The victory marked an all-the-way back start for the Washington mainstay, who had his best outing of the year — a seven inning, seven hit semi-gem that fed off the Friar’s lack of power and Washington’s ability to put the ball in the seats. Josh Willingham began the Washington scoring with a three run top-of-the-fourth dinger off of starter Clayton Richard, who held the Nats to four hits. Ian Desmond went 2-4 for the night, which included his fourth homer, a solo shot in the seventh. The game’s comic interlude was provided by San Diego, which filled out its staring line-up card incorrectly, spurring the Nats to play the game under protest. But the protest was dropped by the Nats front office after the win.

While Richard could not stop Washington’s long ball, San Diego manager Bud Black named closer Matt Capps as the difference in the game. Capps struck out two and then induced a ground ball to pitch out of the ninth inning jam. “That was a tough one for Capps, and he got it done,” Black said following the San Diego loss. “He’s pitched well. He has that in him. We had some good swings, but we just didn’t connect. We got it in position with those four hits there in the ninth, but it just didn’t turn out.” Capps register his 17th save, throwing 24 pitches, 17 for strikes. His ERA now stands at 2.96. The Nats face off against the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego in a Saturday night game that will feature recently recalled Nats Triple-A pitcher (and spot starter in 2009), J.D. Martin against young Friar hurler Mat Latos.

Waiting For Strasburg Stanton: While Washington fans speculate endlessly about just when Stephen Strasburg will make his debut in the Bigs, Fish Fans are all agog about Michael Stanton — “the next big thing” in Florida. While Stanton (more properly, Giancarlo Cruz-Michael Stanton) was hardly judged a “phenom” when he was drafted in the second round (79th overall) of the 2007 draft, his semi-meteoric rise through the Marlins farm system (he’s now at Double-A Jacksonville) has been accompanied by a breathtaking display of power. Back on May 6, one of Stanton’s towering drives in Montgomery not only cleared the centerfield wall, it sailed effortlessly over the 95 foot scoreboard behind it. Stanton’s teammates immediately engaged in speculation about whether the ball would ever be found — it wasn’t.

The Marlins clearly know what they have, fueling speculation about just when Stanton will appear — and what kind of difference he’ll make when he does. The excitement is not confined to the front office: when not waiting for Hanley’s next tantrum, the Uggla-Cantu Fins are twittering about Stanton’s prodigious shots. This is not all hype: through his first 38 games this year (albeit, at Jacksonville), Stanton is hitting .310 with 16 home runs and 39 RBIs with a .447 on-base percentage. He leads the minors in just about everything having to do with hitting. There’s no reason to think this won’t continue with the big club, when he’s called up sometime in June. He’s “Florida big,” following the Marlins’ tradition of drafting tall ironman types that are more Ruth than Ripken.

Of course, Stanton’s arrival as “the next big thing” is highly anticipated by Marlins’ fans (here they are), in large part because the last big thing (Cameron Maybin) hasn’t worked out so well — and because, despite fielding a good team, Miami’s fans seem as unexcited as any team in baseball not named the Blue Jays. It’s no wonder then, that Marlins President Larry Beinfest channels Mike Rizzo when he talks about Stanton, giving cagey answers to reporters who hound him about Stanton’s prospective arrival. Beinfest knows what he’s doing — increasing speculation about just when Florida’s version of Jason Heyward will arrive at Landshark Stadium. Patience, patience, Beinfest says. Stanton justs needs to continue working on his game “and the rest will take care of itself.”

Ryan Zimmerman’s 9th inning home run on Sunday ended the Washington Nationals eight game losing streak and gave the Anacostia Nine a come from behind 5-4 win at Nationals Park. Knotted up at 2-2 in the top of the 9th, reliever Mike “Heart Attack” MacDougal let the game get away from him, giving the Marlins a 4-2 edge, with Phish righty Leo “lights out” Nunez entering the game to close it out. But in the bottom of the ninth Willie “Wee Willie”  Harris led off the Nats end of the game by pumping his fifth home run into the second deck in right field to pull the home towners within one. His upper deck powerhouse was followed by a Cristian Guzman hustling infield hit with Ryan Zimmerman coming to the plate. Dan Uggla went far to his right to get the Guzman hit, but could’t reach it in time to throw out Guzman, who was called safe at first. Zimmerman then stroked a 1-1 pitch into the centerfield boxes to give the Nats their first win in ten days,  a stunner that sent the Marlins packing to New York without the sweep they needed.

Until the ninth, the heroes of the game were hard luck pitcher J.D. Martin, who pitched 6.2 solid innings, and Elijah Dukes, who was two for two with a walk. Dukes ended up on base four times. Dukes has raised his average to .260 — but, more importantly, he seems more calm and focused at the plate and in the field, a good sign for next year.  Dukes also had an early game scoop of a Marlins sure hit to short right field, a sign of the former Rays’ renewed confidence in the outfield. The win against the Marlins not only ends the Nats eight game skid, in which the Washington club seemed to be unable to score runs when they most needed them, it improved their walk-off prowess against the South Florida Nine. The Nats now have seven walk off wins against the Phish, who are straining to win the wild card race against the fading Chops, as well as the Rockies and Giants. The Marlins will continue their pursuit of the first spot in the wild card against Tim Redding and the Mets at Citi Field on Tuesday in New York, while the Nats will also take a day off before sending John Lannan to the hill to face Pedro Martinez and the ever-surging Phuzzies at Nationals Park. 

After going 4-4 during their recent road trip, the Washington Nationals return home for a six game set against Florida and Arizona. It’ll be a test: tonight the Nats face fireballer and Marlins’ ace Josh Johnson, the Miami nine’s most impressive starter among an otherwise young set of effective pitchers. You might remember that the Marlins started the season hot: with all the commentators oohing and ahhing about how they were the team to beat in the NL East. But as good as they were in April, south Florida’s best were only so-so in May and June. Ricky Nalasco (5.00 ERA) couldn’t seem to get past the fifth inning, Chris Volstad (6-8, 225) was knocked around, and fill-ins Sean West and Andrew Miller were up and down. Only Johnson seemed to be able to win consistently.

But in July the Phish kicked it into a higher gear. Nalasco seemed to have solved his command problems, Andrew Miller and Sean West started producing at the back of the rotation, and Chris Volstad wrestled his ERA to under 4.00.  The result is that the Marlins are now sixth in the NL (13th in the majors) in pitching (ranked by ERA), with the inconsistency that marred their performance in May and June a fading memory. Finally — and perhaps most importantly — Josh Johnson has emerged as one of the NL’s premier hurlers, with a 10-2 record to go along with a 2.87 ERA. As importantly, the team is filled with solid relievers, though Marlins’ skipper Fredi Gonzalez has yet to decide between using Matt Lindstrom to be the team closer, or to stick with the more steady Leo Nunez. The question has sparked somewhat of a debate in Florida, though it’s hard to see why. Lindstrom has great stuff, but he’s wild — Nunez is unexciting, but he’s steadier.

Nats fans know all too well that the Phish recently added Nick Johnson to their line-up. With a high on-base percentage and a good glove at first, he might be the guy who provides the necessary spark for the Marlins to overtake the Phillies in the NL East. It’s not out of the question, though the Marlins have to be scratching their head over why a line-up with big bats has been anything but. That might be about the change. While the rest of the league has focused on getting past shortstop Hanley Ramirez (for good reason), the recent Florida heroes have been Dan Uggla and Cody Ross — the two hit back-to-back come-from-behind homers in the 9th inning against the Cubs on Sunday to seal the team’s most dramatic 2009 walk off knuckle-biter (the Marlins won, 3-2). That the Ross-Uggla tandem might finally be hitting again is good news for the Phish, as both have been struggling of late. The team has had to rely on the bat of Jorge Cantu and a suddenly revived Ross Gload. The Nats take on the Marlins tonight at Nationals Park, with J.D. Martin facing off against the ace of the Florida staff. The Marlins have won ten games in a row against the Nationals.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 Florida Marlins:

Okay — well it’s not that bad, but with Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis gone to Detroit (a salary dump, in essence, that saved the team $18 million), whatever the Marlins have left will probably cost them a decent season. And just to make it clear, here’s what they have left.

The Marlins project Ramirez at shortstop and the newly acquired Dallas McPherson at third (maybe), with Mike Jacobs at first and Dan Uggla at second. I hate Jacobs — he’s just the kind of grating “pepperpot” player that I can’t stand. The newly acquired Cameron Maybin is the great hope in center (he has to be at least a year away — at least), with Josh Willingham (who I think is actually one heck of a player), in left and Jeremy Hermida in right (Hermida is also a year away, come to think of it, though he’s been in the majors now for three seasons). At catcher, the Marlins have inserted a former Tiger, Mike Rabelo, who has played in 52 major league games. To help the kids, the front office has brought in Luis Gonzalez — who is 40.

Yikes.

Everyone raves about Ramirez, of course, and dubs him the next superstar, a future hall of famer. Maybe, but he reminds me of George Bell — which is, come to think of it, saying a lot. Bell was a hell of a hitter back in the ’80s for Toronto (he once hit 47 home runs), but he tailed off quickly and could never keep his wind. He was relentlessly booed by the Blue Jays fans (they’re Canadians) and he responded by telling the press: “They can kiss my purple butt.” Watching him run the bases that last season for the White Sox wore me out (he was traded there by the Cubs, for Sammy Sosa). Bell and Ramirez are built almost exactly alike and have a similar swing, something I noticed about Ramirez last year, when I had to suffer through three, count em, three Marlins’ games at RFK. (I got three this year too — after going into my draft with only one goal: no Marlins games.)

But the Marlins less-than-mediocre team will surely be offset by a stellar pitching staff of Mark Hendrickson, Sergio Mitre (Sergio Meat Tray), Scott Olsen and Andrew Miller.

Who?

The good news is the Marlins will soon have a new stadium, which will cost them all of $480 million — tops. Here’s what it looks like:

I told my friend Tom: “It must be made out of wood.” Nope: it’s made out of concrete, and glass, and “stucco.” No kidding. It looks like it’s made out of bubble gum. There’s this description: “The stadium breaks the trend started by Camden Yards of the ‘old time’ or retro look. It features a sleek 21st century design meant to capture the architecture in South Florida.” We have no idea what that means. It might mean this:

In truth, it’s about mid-range in cost for a stadium of that size and it will keep the Marlins in Florida, where they will soon be known as the Miami Marlins. About time. There is this: in all of the years that the Marlins have been playing this game, they have only been good twice — and both years they’ve won the World Series. But not this year. Compared to them, the Nats look like the ’27 Yankees.

Projected Finish: Dead Last.