By Joe Frisaro \/ MLB.com
\n05\/22\/09 11:37 PM ET
\nMIAMI — A year ago, Ricky Nolasco established himself as one of the top right-handed starters in the National League.<\/p>\n
Now, the 26-year-old is struggling to regain his lost form.<\/p>\n
To help him find it, the Marlins optioned Nolasco to Triple-A New Orleans after he gave up eight runs in two innings in Florida’s 15-2 loss to the Rays at Land Shark Stadium on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Nolasco, the Marlins Opening Day starter, is now 2-5 with a 9.07 ERA in nine starts.<\/p>\n
“What I’m seeing is it looks like he’s lost a little bit of belief in himself,” Marlins catcher John Baker said. “It looks like he’s pitching away from contact.”<\/p>\n
In a breakout 2008 season, Nolasco went 15-8 with a 3.52 ERA, racking up 212 1\/3 innings. Aggressively, he attacked hitters, striking out 186 and walking only 42.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got to get his confidence back,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n
The Marlins are in a deep slide since opening the season at 11-1.<\/p>\n
With Friday’s loss, they’ve lost three straight. Since that hot start, they are 8-23.<\/p>\n
Along with optioning Nolasco, the Marlins made a series of moves Friday night.<\/p>\n
Sean West will have his contract picked up from Double-A Jacksonville. The left-hander, who was a first-round pick in 2005, will make his Major League debut on Saturday night, getting the start against Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
Also, right-hander Chris Leroux was recalled from Double-A Jacksonville to provide depth to the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Lefty reliever Dave Davidson was designated for assignment. Davidson pitched one inning on Friday, giving up five runs while throwing 52 pitches against the Rays.<\/p>\n
Entering the season, the Marlins were optimistic because of their starting rotation. However, the starting pitching has labored thus far outside of standouts Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad.<\/p>\n
Nolasco’s two innings on Friday marked his shortest start since throwing two innings against the Brewers on Aug. 25, 2006, his rookie season.<\/p>\n
The rotation also took a blow when right-hander Anibal Sanchez went on the disabled list on May 8 with a right shoulder sprain. Lefty Andrew Miller also spent time on the disabled list with a right oblique strain.<\/p>\n
Miller is back now in the rotation.<\/p>\n
Marlins first baseman Jorge Cantu can relate to what Nolasco is going through. In 2007, Cantu experienced a demotion to the Minor Leagues, and since then he’s worked his way back.<\/p>\n
“My best advice to him is to keep his head up and to battle through this,” Cantu said. “I know what Ricky is capable of doing. I hope he can get through this, come back and be the Ricky of last year.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Joe Frisaro \/ MLB.com 05\/22\/09 11:37 PM ET MIAMI — A year ago, Ricky Nolasco established himself as one of the top right-handed starters in the National League. Now, the 26-year-old is struggling to regain his lost form. To help him find it, the Marlins optioned Nolasco to Triple-A New Orleans after he gave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"current":[],"class_list":["post-177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n