"No one feels worse about the Marlins' losing streak than injured pitcher Josh Johnson, who remains on the disabled list with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. There is not a projected date for his return. Johnson continues to play catch on flat ground at varying distances but has not thrown off a mound since he last started on May 16. He has already missed four starts and says he continues to feel mild discomfort in the shoulder, though not nearly to the same degree as when he first went on the DL. What pains him the most is watching his teammates lose six straight and nine of their past 11 games.

"I feel like it's probably my fault, not being out there and being on that mound, being that stopper, that guy they look at me for, " Johnson said. "I'll take the blame for it. I need to be out there. I need to be helping."

Asked how he can blame himself for an injury that was unpreventable, Johnson replied: "I should have taken care of it earlier."

Johnson and the Marlins are being ultra-cautious. He said trainers have warned him that if he tries to rush back without being 100 percent, his shoulder problems could not only continue, but worsen.

"With the shoulder, if you say, 'Okay, I'm going to come back a little early,' you get yourself in trouble," he said. "(Trainers said) 'If you try to come back while you're still feeling it, it's going to happen again, maybe not right away, but at some point during the season. It's going to flare back up and bite you.'' I don't want to be stuck in that situation, so we're making sure we're taking care of it properly."

Johnson said there has been improvement, but that he also continues to feel some "movement" in the shoulder muscle, though not like before.

"It's kind of moving around a little bit," Johnson said. "But, at first, it was going all over the place. So we've been doing some strengthening stuff.""