It was a back and forth game on Monday night as the Florida Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies played. The Marlins came out on the short stick however as they dropped the game 8-6. The Marlins attempted a comeback in the eighth inning with two runs but still fell short and then was shut down in the ninth inning by Brad Lidge.

Anibal Sanchez pitcher terrible as he gave up five hits and five runs in only 1 2/3 innings. Sanchez took the loss and fell to 2-4 on the season. Andrew Miller pitched 2/3’s of an inning and was charged with two runs while Joe Nelson gave up one run as well in relief. Just a bad pitching performance out of the fish.

At the plate, Mike Jacobs and Cory Ross both hit two run home runs and finished the game with two rbi’s each. John Baker added a rbi sac fly and Alfredo Amezaga added a rbi ground out in the second inning for the Marlins.

Hopefully the fish can bounce back and take game two on Tuesday night.

Marlins Baseball

The Marlins beat the Mets 7-5 to take the rubber game of the series.  They knocked the Mets out of first place, handed Mike Plefrey his first loss since the end of May, and are now just a game and a half out of first.  

Starter Josh Johnson, making just his fourth start since coming back from Tommy John surgery finally got his first win of the season.  The Marlins are now 4-0 when Johnson has started for them.  In 6.2 innings pitched, Johnson allowed four runs on eight hits, walked two and struck out two.  Not only did he pitch well but Johnson hit a RBI double in the fourth inning.  

The Marlins offense really broke out in the fourth inning.  With the Mets leading 1-0, Jeremy Hermida tripled to lead off the inning.  Jorge Cantu singled to center allowing Hermida to score and tie the game.  Mike Pelfrey then retired to get Dan Uggla and Mike Jacobs.  It was with two outs that the Marlins did the real damage.  Cody Ross trippled to right, scoring Cantu from first.  John Baker doubled to center field, scoring Ross from third.  Baker would score on Josh Johnson’s double to center.  Hanley Ramirez grounded out to second to end the inning, but the Marlins would lead the game 5-1.  The Mets looked like they would make a run at tying up the game when Damion Easley hit a three run homer in the top of the seventh, however Dan Uggla added two insurance runs with he hit a two run homer off Joe Smith in the bottom of the eighth.  Uggla now holds the record for most homeruns by a second baseman in his first three years as a starter.  The Mets would add one more in the top of the ninth, but the Marlins hold on to win 7-5. 

The Colorado Rockies come to town for a four game set.  Anibal Sanchez will make his first start of the season.  Game time is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. 

Marlins Blog

The Florida Marlins defeated the Seattle Mariners 8-3 Wednesday night, taking two out of three games against the AL West club. As they have done all season long, the Marlins used the long ball to power the team to victory, getting two run HRs from Mike Jacobs, his 17th, and Dan Uggla, his 21st. Rookie right hander Ryan Tucker picked up the win, his second in three starts. The win, combined  with a Philadelphia Phillies  loss to the Boston Red Sox, pulled The Fish to within two games of the Eastern Division lead.

Tucker gave the Marlins a solid six inning start, giving up two earned runs on seven hits, striking out four. He featured a lively fastball in the mid nineties, and had good command. He only walked two batters, which was very encouraging indeed, considering the control problems which have periodically plagued Marlins pitchers this year. Suddenly the Marlins’ pitching staff seems to be jelling into a formidable, if still a bit inconsistent, unit. The team that started the season with more question marks than answers, is now starting to evolve into one of the most promising young pitching staffs in the league. Tonight’s performance by Tucker follows another impressive start by Andrew Miller on Monday, giving the Marlins a potent lefty-righty rookie punch. Both youngsters feature electric arms that can bring the heat at 96 mph, accompanied by good breaking pitches. The talent is obvious; the only question was whether they can consistently show the command of the strike zone needed to win games in the major leagues. In addition to these two phenoms, the starting staff has gotten good performances from the “old men” of the staff, Scott Olsen, 24, and Ricky Nolasco, 25, who has emerged surprisingly as the team’s stopper this year. If this young staff continues to perform at this level, the Marlins have to be considered favorites to win the Eastern Division. Admittedly that’s a big “if” because the rookies are still learning how to pitch at the major league level, but the talent is there, and that talent, combined with a Marlins offense that bludgeons the opposition nightly under a  barrage of home runs, could carry this team to victory down the stretch. In baseball, it all begins and ends with pitching, and this young pitching staff is starting to come around. They will be getting a boost soon with the return of Josh Johnson and maybe Anibal Sanchez as well, so the prospects certainly are bright.

In addition to the good start from Tucker and the almost routine long ball display by the offense, the Marlins’ defense played an error free game, and the bullpen closed it out, but not before closer Kevin Gregg got everyone nervous again in the ninth inning. If the Marlins are to contend down the stretch, it is going to take more than just home runs and good performances by the starting pitchers. They are going to have to have more games with a big fat “0″ under the “E” on the scoreboard, and Gregg and the rest of the bullpen are going to have to tighten up their act as well. The Marlins slugging has enabled them to mostly overcome their suspect fielding this year, and the bullpen has been wildly inconsistent. Gregg in particular has been a 9th inning cardiac arrest in progress; even when he does manage to get the save he does so the hard way, walking batters, giving up hits, and in general making Marlins fans sweat every last out. Memo to Kevin: a one two three ninth inning is ok, you know. Every game does NOT need a dramatic ending.

Anyway, two out of three from Seattle is very good, and now The Fish are off to Oakland for three games starting Friday.