Ricky Nolasco struck out 10 in his second complete game of the season and the Florida Marlins had 10 hits for the 14th consecutive game in a 6-2 win Tuesday night over the Houston Astros.

Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu and Jeremy Hermida hit solo homers for the Marlins, who’ve won nine of 11.

Florida’s streak of 10-hit games is the longest since the 1937 St. Louis Browns reached the total in 15 straight, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Nolasco (9-8) retired 23 in a row after Carlos Lee’s two-run homer in the first inning. He threw 115 pitches to complete the fifth complete game by a Marlins’ pitcher this season.

The Astros lost for the sixth time in eight games after trading catcher Ivan Rodriguez to Texas earlier in the day.

Rookie Bud Norris (3-1) gave up five runs on nine hits in 5 2-3 innings to lose for the first time in four major-league starts.

Nolasco cruised after a shaky first inning.

Lance Berkman doubled off the center-field wall before Lee homered to left on the first pitch he saw. Lee has hit seven home runs with 27 RBIs in his last 28 games.

Hanley Ramirez led off the fourth with a single to left and later scored on John Baker’s sacrifice fly. Uggla then tied it with a solo homer to right, his 22nd of the season.

Lee drove a 2-1 pitch to the wall in left-center in the Houston fourth, but Cody Ross caught it on the warning track. Nolasco struck out Geoff Blum to end the inning, then fanned Hunter Pence and Chris Coste in the fifth.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch this game, as I was entertaining visitors from out of town, but I did receive this text message at 10:37 from my friend Eric, so I figured it went well:

<3 Ricky

So, yeah. Ricky is the CCHOTG. That’s pretty easy. He gave up two loud hits, a double and a home run, in the first inning, and didn’t let anything else happen after that.

Oh, Ricky. You so fine.

The offense picked up 10 hits or more for the 14th game, the longest such streak since the 1937 St Louis Browns, and are now 18 for their last 26, a .690 winning percentage. Hanley is just other worldly at this point, and if it wasn’t for the fact that the Cardinals have early 2000′s Barry Bonds playing first base, he’d be a no doubt MVP candidate. As it is, Hanley and his NL leading .360 (!!!!!!) batting average will probably have to settle for second. Though as his OPS creeps toward 1.000, Pujols’ season is looking less and less like a slam dunk.

As a side note, we’re on the verge of seeing 3 of the all time great seasons ever, with Joe Mauer currently leading the AL in batting average, OBP, and slugging percentage, Hanley putting up one of the most incredible seasons a SS has ever had, and Albert Pujols currently looking at the highest single season OPS since Barry Bonds in 04.
Jeremy Hermida also had 3 hits today including a home run, and Dan Uggla continued his recent good play with a home run. Jorge Cantu also added one. All of a sudden, the Marlins have 6 every day players hitting .270, and even Hermida has quietly bumped his average up to .262 and has actually hit .290 over his last 28 games, though the lack of XBHs is still frustrating.

You really have to be encouraged by this team’s recent play, and here’s something to raise your spirits even more. This has been a .600 winning percentage team since the horrific run in May, and has been more than a .600 winning percentage team if you remove May altogether. They have to win at a .600 clip to get to 90 from here on our, and really it doesn’t seem that crazy, especially with how the offense is clicking right now:

Month by Month
Split   W       L       RS      RA      WP

April   14      8       112     105     .636
May     9       20      119     161     .310
June    17      11      131     120     .607
July    14      10      104     88      .583
August  10      6       80      73      .625

One reason the Florida Marlins are still in contention is that NL batting leader Hanley Ramirez is doing a much better job this season of hitting in clutch situations.

Ramirez drove in three runs with a pair of two-out hits, leading Florida to an 8-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday and helping the Marlins win their third straight series at Chavez Ravine.

Ramirez was 2 for 4, raising his career average at Dodger Stadium to .344. He’s hitting .348 overall this season and .427 with runners in scoring position — second in the majors. Last season, the two-time All-Star shortstop had a .239 average in that department.

“He led off his first three years in the major leagues and won a Silver Slugger. Now we’ve put him in the three hole and he’s driving in runs,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “This guy can do anything on the baseball field. If you ask him to play center field tomorrow, he may win a Gold Glove. He’s that talented.”

Chris Volstad (8-9) allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. The 22-year-old right-hander was helped by three double plays, one of them in the first when Orlando Hudson took off from first base on Andre Ethier’s long drive to center fielder Cody Ross and couldn’t get back in time after having to retouch second.

Hanley is not a fan of getting hit, but he did take home his first CCHOTGA for his troubles.

Tempted to give the Hero award to Burke Badenhop for protecting Hanley, who has been vocal about teams going after him this season. He’s been hit 5 times and has made sure everyone knows he’s unhappy with it. Good to see Burke protecting the star. He said after the game he “let one get away”, but we know better. Hat tip to Burke.

I didn’t actually get to watch any of this series, but it’s nice to see the team take two of three, though would’ve liked to have held on Saturday for the sweep. Either way, a 5-1 road trip has them 3.5 heading into a big series against the Braves this week. I’ll probably be at at least one of the games, maybe more, and hopefully there’s a decent crowd.

Every series from here on out is big, but if the team can take care of the Braves by Thursday, don’t be surprised to see a move on the trade deadline on Friday. Here’s to hoping they put up a better fight than they did against the Phils last week.