The Florida Marlins broke their four game losing streak on Wednesday night as they beat the Washington Nationals. It was nice to see the fish finally win another game even if it was just against the pesky Nationals.

Josh Johnson improved to 6-1 on the year as he tossed six innings. Johnson allowed six hits and two runs in the game as he pitched his final game of the year. I expect Johnson to have a great season next year as he did wonderfully for the Marlins this year.

Ryan Tucker gave up three hits and two runs as he made things interesting late in the game but the fish were able to hold on for the win.

Hanley Ramirez and Josh Willingham both hit solo home runs in the game. They were not the team leaders in the rbi column however as Jeremy Hermida and Matt Treanor both finished with two rbi each. Jorge Cantu and Gaby Sanchez had the other rbi’s for the Marlins in the game.

Good win for the Marlins and they can even up the four game series with a win against the Nationals on Thursday.

Marlins Blog

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

The Florida Marlins gave up ten runs in the fifth inning and went on to lose to the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 15-2.  Now that is an old fashioned butt kicking that the Marlins will just have to forget about before they head to the ballpark on Thursday.  It will now take a Marlins win on Thursday to avoid the three game sweep by their neightbors to the North.

Starting pitcher Ryan Tucker only lasted four innings as he gave up eight hits and seven runs including two home runs.  Carl Crawford took Tucker deep twice in the game including a three run shot and a solo home run.  Tucker was charged with three more runs in the fifth inning as well.

Eulogio De La Cruz gave up six more runs in the fifth inning after he came in for Tucker.  De La Cruz gave up a two run home run Evan Longoria and then all hell broke loose as the Rays pushed across four more runs to blow the game wide open.  Logan Kensing pitched the fifth and sixth innings and gave up one run.  Renyel Pinto, Justin Miller, and Kevin Gregg all pitched one inning of relief after Kensing left the game.  Miller gave up a solo home run to Ben Zobrist.  It was like the Marlins pitchers didn’t know how to throw the ball and get people out it.

Not that it really mattered but Mike Jacobs hit a solo home run in the sixth inning and then Dan Uggla had a rbi single in the eighth inning.  Matt Treanor scored on an error in the ninth inning to make the score 15-3.

This Marlins Blog is currently looking for a contributer that would like to blog some game recaps and then other blogs about the Marlins.  If you are interested please click the contact us link on the main page or leave a comment here and we will get back to you!

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.

It seems like our starting rotation is finally growing out of its growing pains as Scott Olsen, Ricky Nolasco, and Andrew Miller are beginning to pile up an impressive string of starts.

After the Marlins’ 6-1 victory over the lowly Mariners, Miller improved to 5-5 with an ERA below 5.00 for the first time this season.  At the end of April, Miller’s ERA was 9.12.  But May and June have both seen sub-4.00 work from the young lefty.  It certainly seems to be a better performance than former fan favorite Dontrelle Willis who is struggling in Florida (Lakeland, FL).

Meanwhile, earlier in the day Ricky Nolasco was name NL co-player of the week after going 2-0 with 1.23 ERA and 15 strikeouts.

Scott Olsen has been the staff ace all year long, despite only 4 wins.  His 3.27  ERA is by far and away the best on the staff.  It is important to note that Mark Hendrickson’s 7 wins are greatly appreciated, but his late May and June performances deny him from being a part of the Marlins’ Big Three.  (Also, it wouldn’t be mathematically sound.)

With a record of 38 and 32, the Marlins remain striking distance away from the Philadelphia Phillies at 3 games back.  If the back end of the rotation, Hendrickson and rookie Ryan Tucker, follows the Big Three’s lead, there would be no reason the Fish couldn’t catch the Phillies.

Well Marlins faithful, it appears I was right again.  Ryan Tucker pitched five innings and gave up only one earned run during the Marlins’ 9-2 victory over Dusty Baker’s Fish-Eating Reds.  That’s two in a row against a team that beat us in the opponents’ first four games!  Tucker is our D-Train of ‘03, our Livan of ‘97.  “I love you Miami!”

Tucker was tearing up the Southern League with fellow 2005 draftee Chris Volstad.  Lucky for him, Volstad recently endured a minor injury, making the choice for this year’s messiah a no brainer.  Although Tucker did walk 5 batters and seemed a bit nervous, he was without question the giver breath to the Marlins’ offense, who smashed nine runs and played error-less baseball for nine innings.

Am I anointing Tucker too soon?  Perhaps.  But we really need him don’t we?  Burke Badenhop seems to be better suited for long relief — a mop-up reliever, albeit a quality mopper.  The season will tell if Tucker is the real deal or not, but for now, let’s believe in this Mother Tucker.