"For the first time since 2007, Hanley Ramirez isn't a National League All-Star, but suddenly, and altogether naturally, he's starting to play like one again.

Try a July batting average of .382 on for size, or go all the way back to June 21, his first start under new manager Jack McKeon. Ramirez has raised his season batting average 42 points since then, from a sickly .200 to a mundane .242.

Mundane doesn't cut it for a guy with a $70 million contract, including $46.5 million due in the next three seasons. Ramirez knows that, and said he will be back at the stadium batting cages Tuesday during this rare All-Star shutdown period, trying to keep his swing sharp.

Troy Tulowitzki gets the NL start at shortstop Tuesday night in Phoenix, filling in because Jose Reyes is hurt. That was Ramirez's job from 2008-10, a streak longer than any since Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith started 10 All-Star games in a row at shortstop.

Oh, and Hanley finished second to David Ortiz in the Home Run Derby contest last year, too.

He's all kinds of good, or at least he was until the worst slump of Ramirez's career turned him into one of the anchors that dragged former Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez down and eventually out. McKeon's strategy, or maybe it was just a guess, was to pick Hanley up off the ground and plop him into the cleanup spot for the first time.

Did Hanley ever see himself as a cleanup hitter before this?

"Bleep, yeah," Ramirez said Sunday, a broad smile indicating that he is amused rather than bothered by the question. "I mean, I can hit anywhere. I don't mind."

Everything feels right on the wave of a five-game winning streak, a season-high streak that's brought the Marlins back within five games of .500. There's something else going on here, though. Hanley's playing like every game is vital to him, like being in last place in the NL East is a temporary affliction, like what's left of 2011 might still be enough to bring out the best in him.

"He's a gamer now," McKeon said, when asked about Ramirez waving off the trainer in the fifth inning and staying in the game when a finger on his throwing hand got jammed by an Astros base runner on an unassisted double play.

"He's starting to hit, so he's happy. We're winning, so he's happy. He's happy coming into the clubhouse smiling, which we didn't see before. He's still a premium guy. He's gonna screw up, like all of us are, once in a while, but I like to have him on my side."

We're only talking about the 2009 NL batting champion here, a guy who's hit at least .300 in each of the past four seasons and might just get close to it again by October. Two more hits and Hanley, 27, will have 1,000 for his career. For comparison's sake, Derek Jeter, the newest member of the elite 3,000-hit club, was 26 when he got to 1,000."