Well, by that argument, we could say the loss to Houston is very encouraging too, since we fought our way back in that one. It's disappointing to me because we had a chance to get it done, and we didn't do it. You can't really justify a loss by saying it was to a good team when you had your chances to win. A loss is a loss, whether it's to the Mets or the Marlins. Getting back into games is great, but if you can't finish the job, what good does it do? A 9-8 loss is no different from a 9-0 loss. We can scrap our way back into 50 games this season, but that doesn't make a bit of a difference if we go 70-92. The other discouraging thing to me is the fact that every time we get a chance to get back into the thick of things, we let it slip away. Had a good shot to make up some ground in the Central today, instead we find ourselves under .500 again. It doesn't look, at this point, that we are going to do much more during the first half than hover around .500. Plus the game reinforced 3 troubling things to me: 1) We can't hit with runners in scoring position. I don't know what the AVG was today, but I'm sure it wasn't good. 2) Our bullpen absolutely stinks. 2 guys with a 8+ ERA, along with Demaria and Lehr? That's just scary, and not in a good way. 3) Starting pitching is in very serious trouble right now. With 2 starters out, we're basically just trying to tread water at the moment. This is why today's loss was so frustrating to me. This month has been absolutely brutal thus far, and all the sugarcoating in the world isn't going to change that.