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	Tuesday, July 11
	Midseason report: Florida Marlins By Sherry Skalko ESPN.com
	The Florida Marlins are hovering around the .500 mark as we hit the All-Star break. Compare that to the facts that the Marlins were 35 games underwater last season and they are an impressive 17-9 vs. the NL East this year, and there's plenty of reason to smile. With that in mind, it's time to take a look back at the good, the bad and everything in between from Florida's first half. First-half MVP: Ryan Dempster . Everyone who thought Dempster would have a 9-5 record by the All-Star break, raise their hands. We didn't think so either. Besides owning the best ERA among Marlins' starters (3.65), Dempster is the only Marlins pitcher with a complete game (2), so he's good for lots of innings -- a team-leading 123 1/3 so far. Opponents are batting .207 and have only hit one homer when in scoring position. And his strikeout-to-walk ratio is better than 2 to 1 (120-51). Biggest disappointment: Alex Gonzalez . Not to be confused with Alex S. Gonzalez of the Toronto Blue Jays (how could you? That one is batting .240 with 32 RBI), the Alex Gonzalez of the Florida Marlins has been downright pitiful this season. He's batting a mere .180 through 76 games -- a far cry from last season when he batted .277 and was the first National League rookie shortstop ever to play in the All-Star Game. The Marlins were hoping he'd be their shortstop of the future. He'll be lucky if he's their shortstop for the rest of the season. Biggest surprise: The Marlins are third in the National League in pitching with a 4.39 ERA, trailing Arizona (4.23) and Atlanta (4.28). Dempster has been huge (see above) and Antonio Alfonseca has been even . . . well, huger, with more saves over the first half (27) than he had all of last season (21). Then there is Ricky Bones and Braden Looper . Looper struggled with his command last season. Now, he's excelling in a setup role. Since moving to Florida from Baltimore, Bones has seen his ERA drop from 5.98 in 30 games last year to 1.61 in 32 games so far this season. Maybe it's the weather. Second-half goals: "The third-place Florida Marlins -- holy cow, that sounds good!" aren't the words of a manager whose team is expected to win the division title. John Boles' team is young and needs the patience of a saint. So far, even Alex Gonzalez has gotten that benefit. The Marlins need the continued growth of youngsters like Mark Kotsay , Derrek Lee and Luis Castillo . Grade: -- To borrow a quote from a friend: "The third-place Florida Marlins -- holy cow, that sounds good!" (Scale: 1 to 4 baseballs; 1 = worst, 4 = best) We told you what we thought of the Marlins' first-half performance, now you've told us. Here is what you had to say about what the Marlins have to do in the second half:		ALSO SEE Midseason Feedback: Marlins MLB midseason reports ESPN.com's All-Star Game coverage Kurkjian: Stories of the first half Ten second-half questions for the AL Ten second-half questions for the NL