--OF Brett Carroll started in right field Tuesday, his first start of the year. Through Monday, Carroll and Atlanta's Greg Norton were the only National League players who had been with their clubs since opening day and not started a game.
"Of course your loved ones always want to see you in there more," Carroll said of the ribbing he takes from his family and friends about his lack of playing time. "They're starting to actually learn when and where and what situations I may actually come into a game. So if they miss the first half, they'll start to watch it toward the second half." --RHP Ricky Nolasco, who goes for his second straight win Wednesday, credited a few pieces of bubble gum with helping him earn his first win in six starts Friday in Colorado.
Nolasco chewed the gum during the game to increase the saliva in his mouth, enabling him to lick his fingers and get a proper grip on the baseball.
"I didn't do it in Pittsburgh and I paid the price for it because the first couple of innings I couldn't feel anything," he said, referring to the five earned runs he gave up in six innings against the Pirates on April 22 with the temperature in the 50s.
--OF Chris Coghlan's first major league weekend was special because his mother, Heather, was able to see his first two games at Coors Field in Denver on Mother's Day weekend. Coghlan, who made his debut Friday after being called up from Class AAA New Orleans, was 15 when his father, Tim, died in a car accident. Heather was left to raise Chris and three other children. When the Marlins called up Coghlan, "I called my mom first," he said. "I always tell her she's a rock to me. ... To keep us all together through a tragedy like that shows how strong she is and what she stands for. She's very special to me."
--Manager Fredi Gonzalez said he came across a video of the Marlins' worst loss of the 2008 season -- 18-17 at Coors Field on July 4. "I couldn't watch past the sixth inning," he said with a laugh.
BY THE NUMBERS: 20 -- Consecutive games a starter went without recording a win, a club-record streak that ended May 8 in Denver when RHP Ricky Nolasco, a 15-game winner last year, pitched six innings for his first win since opening day. Before Nolasco notched the win, Anibal Sanchez had the last win by a Marlins starter back on April 16, four weeks and one day before Nolasco's win.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I just remember Todd Helton saying, 'Hey, you're not going to say hello?' And I started laughing. I made sure to say hello to him the next time I got on." -- Chris Coghlan, on his first big league hit in the fifth inning Friday at Coors Field. Coghlan singled again in the eighth inning.
