So much for that riveting entrance we saw last week by the Miami Marlins.
Their player introductions, and tour of Marlins Park turned out to essentially be the only thing the team has going for it.

Since last Wednesday’s season opener, the Marlins have been mired by a slow start and now controversy from new manager Ozzie Guillen.

Guillen’s comments criticizing Cuban President Fidel Castro resulted in a five-game suspension and a difficult press conference to watch. So what now?

Well, turning things around Wednesday night would be a real positive. Guillen starts his suspension tonight as Miami faces the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizen’s Bank Park.

”I’m very sorry about the problem, what happened,” Guillen said amidst the wave of protests. ”I will do everything in my power to make it better. … I know it’s going to be a very bumpy ride.”

Guillen was quoted in a Time Magazine article that Castro had “done a lot of bad things” and he was surprised the leader was still in power. When the Miami community, engrained firmly in Cuban roots, erupted, Guillen apologized and said it was the “biggest mistake of my life.”

But the Marlins, at 2-3, have other problems. Like facing Roy Halladay. The righty was spectacular in his first start, going eight scoreless innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He will match up against Josh Johnson, who is 2-1 with a 0.86 ERA in his last four head-to-head meetings against Halladay. What’s more is Johnson has been nearly flawless at Citizens Bank Park going 4-0 with an ERA below 2. Offense figures to be slim with the pair giving up a total of 10 combined runs in five meetings.

To make matters worse, the Phillies, predicted to finish first in the NL East in most MLB Betting Odds, are only batting .198 with a .179 average with runners in scoring position. With those numbers, Bovada expects the Marlins to score first with -135 on it’s MLB Team Props page.

“We’re not hitting the ball hard enough to score runs,” manager Charlie Manuel said.

Clearly not with the absence of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, two offensive anchors sitting out with injuries.

That lack of run support has doomed Halladay in the past against Miami, who has struck out 35 Marlins in 31 innings. In fact, his only win against the team came via perfect game in 2010. He will need to be every bit as good as he was in the season opener.

“He was a different guy than in spring training, I can tell you,” Carlos Ruiz told MLB.com. “He was definitely on. It’s like he hit a switch. He turned it on, and he was ready to go.”

The Phillies are favored, according to Bovada, by 1 1/2 runs with a 6-run total.