MIAMI -- Hanley Ramirez extended his hitting streak to seven games, but the Marlins remain in the midst of another more pressing stretch.

 

After falling, 7-2, to the Padres on Wednesday afternoon, the Marlins have dropped five straight.

 

Chris Young allowed one hit in six scoreless innings, while Vinny Castilla belted a two-run homer and Adrian Gonzalez had his first big league four-hit game to power the Padres.

 

With such a youthful squad, first-year manager Joe Girardi is doing whatever it takes to keep his players focused and prepared. Developing a winning attitude is part of a process, and the Marlins are looking past their 1-6 record.

 

"We move on," Girardi said. "The first seven games obviously aren't what we want. It could have been better, it could have been worse."

 

Dedicated to teaching as much as managing, Girardi put in some extra time in the batting cage with rookie outfielder Reggie Abercrombie, who is now hitless in 12 straight at-bats.

 

Immediately after Wednesday's game, Girardi helped work with Abercrombie on making some adjustments at the plate.

 

"You've got to do whatever it takes so that you can help prove yourself," Girardi said. "Reggie was willing to listen and he was open-minded. We're trying some different approaches with him. He's not the only one [struggling]. But his, to us, is kind of glaring. We're going to try something different and see if it helps out. And we'll go from there.

 

"Reggie is a very talented player. We've got to work with him and make him better."

 

Abercrombie's last hit was a single in the ninth inning of the second game of the season at Houston. Since then, he is 0-for-12 with two walks and three strikeouts. The 25-year-old was hitless in three at-bats on Wednesday.

 

The Marlins trailed, 7-0, on Wednesday before getting a couple of late-inning runs.

 

Chris Aguila drove in the first Marlins run with a single to center in the seventh inning. And in the eighth inning, Miguel Cabrera belted a solo home run.

 

The other offensive spark came from Ramirez, the talented shortstop who doubled in the third inning, making him the first Marlins rookie to open a season hitting safely in seven straight games.

 

"He's a talented young man," Girardi said of Ramirez, who also lost a ball in the sunlight that was ruled a single. "You know what, he's going to make some mistakes."

 

The Padres pushed across two runs, one earned, in the second inning off Brian Moehler, who fell to 0-2 on the season. Gonzalez reached on an infield single and after Khalil Greene's double off the left-field wall, Castilla walked to load the bases. Josh Barfield drove in a run on a groundout to third. On the play, Cabrera made a nice lunging backhanded stop, throwing out Barfield at first base as Gonzalez scored. San Diego's second run scored on Josh Willingham's passed ball on a 1-2 pitch to Young.

 

Moehler worked 5 1/3 innings, giving up six runs (five earned) on nine hits. Despite the runs allowed, the 34-year-old veteran felt he made a breakthrough in terms of consistency in his mechanics. In his previous starts, including some late Spring Training efforts, Moehler was not as smooth in his release. Tossing 94 pitches on Wednesday helped fix a few glitches.

 

"I felt much better," Moehler said. "Better than I did the last time out. I made three mistakes, and all three mistakes were runs."

 

In the third inning, the Padres made it 3-0 on Gonzalez's RBI single off the wall in left field. Gonzalez, a former Marlins farmhand, was traded to the Rangers in 2003 as part of the deal for closer Ugeth Urbina.

 

At Double-A Portland in 2002, Gonzalez was the roommate of Aguila, who noted the first baseman has always hit well in the Minor Leagues.

 

The Marlins weren't able to do much with Young, a 6-foot-10 right-hander whose fastball was routinely clocked between 88-90 mph.

 

"Young guys don't have a track record," Girardi said. "They don't have that, 'I'm a career .290 hitter and I'm 1-for-20.' They know they are going to have some dry spells and some hot spells. Until you have that to fall back on, it can be difficult. "Because you have so many games, you can't make too much of seven games. We're going to preach, 'Let's get better every week. Let's get better every day. Let's get better every inning.' The challenge is to win tomorrow. You approach it that way, every day."

 

 

 

http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/...t=.jsp&c_id=fla

 

There you go :thumbup

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We're going to preach, 'Let's get better every week. Let's get better every day. Let's get better every inning.'

I like it.

It really sucks watching these guys lose because I like every one of them so much and really want them to succeed. But, I am not going to panic. There's a learning curve and they'll start to be more consistent and make less mistakes soon.

 

Here's my take on each of our position players:

 

Shadez: Keep doin' what you doin'

 

Hermida: Discipline is great. Might be a good hting to be a little more aggressive every once in a while.

 

Miggy: You're the best player on the team offensively and defensively and one of the game's superstars. Not much to say here, except that you shouldn't put too much pressure on yourself. Let the game come to you.

 

Jacobs: Quit swinging at pitches you can't hit - particularly the high inside fastball.

 

Willingham: Keep doin' what you doin'.

 

Uggla: For some reason I got nothing to say.

 

Olivo: Don't try so hard. Just go with it.

 

Reggie: Quit swinging at so many bad pitches. When you do swing, swing with more authority and confidence. Your swings seem tentative at times.

nice! I love Girardi's positivity!! :thumbup Great attitude to have!

I guess they see some light at the end for Reg, but for the love of god send Reed to AAA or I'll freak.

I guess they see some light at the end for Reg, but for the love of god send Reed to AAA or I'll freak.

 

He's defense has been outstanding but his hitting is horrible so far, hopefully its just a slump he's in.

based on what these 2 have done in the minors and at what ages, that's doubtful.

nice! I love Girardi's positivity!! :thumbup Great attitude to have!

 

 

 

Great Attitude? Think how the poor guy must be feeling inside. He has no choice but to say nice things about his team.

During the Royals game, the announcers were talking about how after losing just about every game, young players can start losing confidence and not have a desire to play anymore. I personally the Marlins start playing close to .400 ball. I can't imagine the toll it would take on a guy like Vargas if he lost around 15 games this season.