What an exciting come from behind win for the Florida Marlins over the Washington Nationals.  Hanley Ramirez tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with a solo home run and then Josh Willingham hit a game winning walk off solo home run in the tenth inning to win it for the Nationals.  Both of the home runs came off Nationals relief pitcher Jon Rauch.

Willingham led the Marlins at the plate with two home runs and three rbi in the game.  Ramirez, Robert Andino, and Matt Treanor all had one rbi in the game for the Marlins.  It was a nice balanced scoring attack for the fish.

Kevin Gregg who pitched the top of the tenth inning ended up recording the win in the game and improved to 6-2.  Marlins starting pitcher Ryan Tucker pitched the first five innings of the game and gave up six hits and four runs.  Tucker had problems keeping the ball in the park as he was taken deep twice.

Doug Waechter pitched 2 1/3 innings and gave up one run.   Renyel Pinto and Justin Miller pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball before Gregg took over in the tenth inning.

All in all it was a good win for the Marlins.  They never gave up and got another come from behind win as they improved their record to 43-39 on the season.  Marlins Blog

Eh, not a whole lot to blog about today as the Florida Marlins were one hit by Tampa Bay Rays starter Matt Garza.  Garza completely dominated the Rays the entire game besides one pitch to Hanley Ramirez in the in the seventh inning that Ramirez hit for a home run.

Marlins starting pitcher Mark Hendrickson didn’t make it out of the fifth inning as he only pitched 4 2/3 innings.  Hendrickson struggled as he gave up five hits and five runs in the game.  Hendrickson gave up one solo home run to Evan Longoria in the game.

Doug Waechter pitched four innings of relief and gave up four hits and one run.  Waechter gave up a solo home run to Ben Zobrist in the eighth inning.  For pitching four innings, Waechter didn’t do that badle, Hendrickson just put the team in a big hole by giving up five early runs.

The Marlins will welcome in the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday to start a three game weekend series.

Are you a Marlins fan that enjoys talking and writing about the Marlins?  Marlins Home Plate is currently looking for a contributer that would like to write some game recaps during the middle of the week and then any other times that would work.  If you are interested, please use the contact us link on the page or leave a comment here!

And Bob Gibson, and Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, also never played even one major league regular season game in Miami. And that’s a shame, but until the Florida Marlins joined the National League in 1993, Miami baseball fans were deprived of seeing these great players live unless they went out of town. If you lived in New york you could say things like “I saw Joe DiMaggio in his prime, or I was there the night Tom Seaver lost that no hitter in the ninth versus the Cubs”. Trust me, as a former New Yorker, I know about things like that, and I know how much those types of memories mean to real baseball fans. Dads taking their kids to the game to watch the same team that their Dads once took them too; that’s how baseball tradition is built.

Well, we Marlins fans have the chance to build a tradition like that, but we are missing the boat. There is a young team playing right now at Dolphins Stadium that is in the process of doing  some legendary things. A team with a 21 million dollar payroll, easily the lowest in baseball, is confounding all the experts and winning over the critics by contending for a pennant in 2008. And I’m not saying there are Hall of Famers like Ruth and aaron on this team, but then again, you never know. There are certainly some individula players with the potential to some day make it to Cooperstown. One day your son can take his son to the game and say “grandpa used to take me to see the Marlins games when I was your age. I saw Hanley Ramirez when he just came up to the big leagues”.

But too many of you Marlins fans are missing out. You are choosing to watch the games on TV or listen on the radio, rather than come out to the games. And that’s a damn shame. If this team ends up making the playoffs with a 21 million dollar payroll that will be a historical achievement. An achievement that should NOT happen before thousands of empty seats! It’s time to stop making excuses, Miami. Time to stop crying about Wayne’s betrayal and his fire sale of 1998, time to stop moaning about the weather, and making excuse after excuse as to why you just can’t make it out to the stadium to see one of the best baseball stories of ALL TIME, the exciting young team with the 21 million dollar payroll.

We baseball fans are always bemoaning the lack of tradition here in Miami as opposed to Boston, New York, or Chicago. Well, tradition doesn’t just APPEAR somewhere out of the clear blue sky. People MAKE tradition, and there is no better time than now to start building a great baseball tradition here in Miami. It starts with all of us. Go to a game. Better yet, go to a few games. Tell your co workers to go. Better yet, get a group of your co workers together and go with them. Take your girlfriend to a game. Or your boyfriend. Something magical is going on this summer at Dolphins Stadium. Baseball history might very well be in the process of being made. Don’t sit this one out!

Some people subscribe to the theory that these heartbreaking defeats where the team battles and battles, but finally loses, are good for a team. They say these kind of losses build “character”. Well, if that is true, then the Florida Marlins lead all of major league baseball in character. Too bad you can’t trade in some of this character for a game or two in the standings. The division leading Phillies have hit a rough patch of their own, losing three straight, but once again, Florida fails to capitalize. Getting back to these heartbreaking, character building losses, it seems that The Fish follow the same formula in every one. First the starting pitcher puts them in a nice hole, the way Mark Hendrickson did last night, surrendering four runs in the third. Step two is the comeback phase, usually accomplished via the home run, provided last night by Hanley Ramirez, Jeremy Hermida, and done twice by Dan Uggla, giving him 23 for the year. The comeback phase in these “Signature Losses” is done bit by bit, often requiring some ninth inning HR heroics, as was the case yesterday; Uggla’s second HR tied the game and sent it into extra innings. And of course, none of these losses would be complete without a really bad ending in which the Fish basically beat themselves. Sometimes it’s the bullpen that implodes with our relievers helping out the other team by doing things like walking the lead off man, or walking the pitcher, or throwing a wild pitch or two and getting so flustered that they just start serving fastballs right down the middle of the plate. Sometimes the bullpen is fine, but ERRORS are the reason we lose these types of games, as was the case last night. Bottom of the eleventh inning Eric Chavez, the A’s third baseman, launches a deep fly to left off Doug Waechter, our fifth pitcher. The ball is well hit, but it’s not going out. Off the wall maybe? No, Luis Gonzalez has plenty of room with his back against the wall and all he has to is reach up and catch it. He doesn’t even have to jump. So he raises his hand, the ball nestles nicely in the pocket of his glove and… and it pops out and hits the ground. Chavez ends up at second base and some guy called Kurt Suzuki promptly delivers the walk off hit. The Marlins have had so many of these kinds of losses this year that it’s getting to be like they’re actors following a script. And it’s a great script, very entertaining and all, complete with heroes and unfortunately, a goat or two, but it has a lousy ending; another Marlins loss.

I’m not one of those guys who believes in that losing builds character nonsense. The only thing these losses build is a track record of losing these type of “close and late” games. Far from building character, these losses are devastating to the psyche of teams, especially young teams like the Marlins. Late in the game or in extra innings a team that loses a lot of these types of games starts pressing. It’s like every guy on the field is thinking it, even subconsciously: how are we gonna blow it tonight? And : I sure hope I ain’t The Goat tonight, the guy who commits the error, or issues the walk that causes us to lose THIS game. Once teams start thinking like that, forget about it, they’re going to KEEP losing those kinds of games. Sure, looking at last night’s loss there are some positives we can take from the way the team battled back, never quit, kept on plugging away, etc., etc. Back in April & May when we had games like this and nobody really thought this team was going to be a serious contender, those types of pats on the back, those attempts to find some positives from these losses were acceptable. But not any more; not now. Not with the Marlins in a genuine pennant race. Now, there ARE NO positives to take from these kinds of losses. In fact there are some big negatives that they need to fix and quick. We have to find out why we make these kinds of errors and issue lead off walks and stuff like that in these kinds of close games. We need to figure out how to CLOSE THE DEAL in these games, not just make these great comebacks and then lose. Real contenders find a way to WIN these kinds of games; PRETENDERS find ways to lose them.

Two homers.  Two walks.  A stolen base.

This team will live and die by Hanley Ramirez.  When he is cold, the fish are cold, like sushi.  When El Nino (the second) is hot, the fish are hot, like fish ‘n chips.

Who are the chips?  How about Mike Rabelo, who’s 2-run homer in the top of the 9th might have single-handedly turned this season around.  If the fish quickly get out of this free fall they will prove to themselves of their resilience, the most important quality in this marathon that is the 162 games baseball schedule.  Rabelo’s homer might have jolted some life back into this sushi plate.

Take Kevin Gregg as an example, notching save number 11.  Yes, the same Kevin Gregg who seem to be a Philadelphia Phillies double agent.  Below the belt?  Maybe, but he’s struggling, with that pitching motion of his, it’s hard not to think he’s literally throwing batting practice.

So, let’s hope this 6-4 win over the Braves is truly the comeback.  Let’s hope Hanley, our #2, is alive and has gotten over the fact that he could buy a new golden toilet seat each time he goes number 2.

And, once more, it’s worth noting that Jacques Jones went 0-for-1 today in this pinch hit performance.   (He struck out for Mark Hendrickson, who’s batting average is nearly double that of Jones).

The Florida Marlins were not able to beat the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night as they lost 5-3.  The Marlins tried coming back but were only able to score one run in the eighth inning when they were needed to score three or four.

Mark Hendrickson pitched five innings and gave up eight hits and four runs to take the loss.  Hendrickson is now 5-2 on the season.  Doug Waechter gave up two hits and one run as he pitched in relief as well.  Matt Lindstrom pitched a scoreless inning after Waechter left the game.

Cody Ross had a solo home run in the eighth inning for the Marlins.  The other rbi’s for the Marlins came in the fifth and seventh innings.  In the fifth inning, Hanley Ramirez had a sac fly to score a run and then in the seventh inning, Dan Uggla had a rbi single to center field.

The Marlins are now 23-16 on the season.  I see them bouncing back tomorrow and picking up their 24th win of the season.  Marlins Blog

The Florida Marlins battled back with three runs in the eighth inning but they needed atleast one more to extend the game as they went onto lose to the Cincinnati Reds 8-7.  I’ll give the team credit for coming back, they just needed one more big hit to take the lead, they just didn’t get it done tonight.

Hanley Ramirez, Jeremy Hermida, and Dan Uggla all hit home runs in the game.  All three of the home runs were solo shots however.  Besides those three rbi’s for the Marlins, Luis Gonzalez and Mike Rabelo also had one rbi each in the game.

Taylor Tankersley took the loss which dropped his record to 0-1 on the season.  Tankersley was pitching in relief of starting pitcher Burke Badenhop who threw six innings.  Badenhop left the game after giving up six hits and four runs.  Three of the four runs were earned.

With the loss, the Marlins dropped to to 23-15 on the season.  Marlins Blog

Marlins pitcher Kevin Gregg gave up two runs in the top of the ninth inning as the Marlins lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Thursday afternoon.  The game was tied 3-3 heading into the inning, but Gregg couldn’t get the job done to give the Marlins hitters a chance to win it in the bottom of the inning.

Burke Badenhop started the game for the Marlins and pitched six innings.  Badenhop gave up five hits and three runs but pitched well enough to keep the Marlins in the game.  It’s too bad there wasn’t more offensive production so Badenhop could have picked up the win.

Cody Ross hit is first home run of the season in the game as he went deep in the fifth inning to score two runs.  Hanley Ramirez also had a RBI double in the third inning.

The Marlins are now 15-13 on the season as they try to stay close to the top of the divisonal standings.

Marlins Blog

The Florida Marlins won yesterday in Pittsburgh against the Pirates by a score of 10-4 putting the Marlins at 12-7 for the season.  The Marlins are still leading the National League East standings over the Mets by 1.5 games.

It was a very big hitting night for the Marlins. Hanley Ramirez hit a two run home run in the second inning.  It was Ramirez’s sixth home run of the season.  Josh Willingham also hit a two run home run in the game.  Dan Uggla hit a solo home run in the sixth inning.  Mike Rabelo picked up a pair of RBIs with Alfredo Amezaga, Jeremy Hermida, and Mark Hendrickson each getting an RBI as well.

Mark Hendrickson started the game for the Marlins and threw for eigth innings allowing eight hits and four runs with five strikeouts for the game.  Hendrickson picked up the win putting him at 4-1 for the year.  Matt Lindstrom was brought in to pitch for the last inning.

Tonight the Marlins will take on the Pirates again in Pittsburgh for the second game of the series.

Marlins Blog

The Florida Marlins won 6-1 over the Washington Nationals on Sunday putting the Marlins as 11-7 for the year leading the National League East.  With a couple of big hits and with runs starting in the bottom of the first, the Marlins were ready to get another win at home.

Scott Olsen started off the night for the Marlins pitching seven innings and giving
up only three hits and one run.  With the win Olsen’s record is now 3-0 on the season.  He was relieved by Justin Miller, Taylor Tankersley, and Kevin Gregg to finish off the Nationals for
the night.

It was a night of big hits with Hanley Ramirez hitting two home runs putting him at five for the season and picking up his 14th RBI.  Matt Treanor, Jorge Cantu, Dan Uggla, and Cody Ross all had doubles tonight as well. 

The Marlins are done with the Nationals and are now going on the road for a 7 game road trip starting off in Pittsburgh against the Pirates.

Marlins Blog