Anibal Sanchez, Omar Infante Lead the Miami Marlins past the Phillies

First off, I would like to apologize to all Marlin Maniac’s for this delayed game recap. Shortly after the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies game concluded, I had to go to work. Yesterday, with all the Ozzie Guillen news, I did not feel like writing an article on the game. Today, I want to get back into the swing of things. The Marlins took on the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday afternoon. It was a duel of two of the more quality arms in baseball. The Phillies sent Cole Hamels out to start their home opener and the Marlins countered with Anibal Sanchez.

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With the news that Giancarlo Stanton and Logan Morrison would be sitting this one out, you had to wonder if the Marlins had enough offense to win this game.

The Marlins got off to a fast start against the Phillies lefty. Jose Reyes and Emilio Bonifacio started the game with back-to-back singles to start the game. Ozzie Guillen then delivered on his promise to be aggressive. With Hanley Ramirez batting, they perfectly executed a double steal. On the next pitch, Hanley bounced a dribbler, that he would have beat out a few years ago, and drove in the Marlins first run.

Unfortunately for the Marlins, Hamels found his good stuff and delivered back-to-back strikeouts, of Gaby Sanchez and Austin Kearns, to get out of the inning, allowing only one run.

Gaby Sanchez would have a chance to redeem himself later in the game, as would Austin Kearns. After battling the count up to 3 and 2, Hanley roped a double to left field. With Ramirez on second, Gaby Sanchez laced a 1-2 fastball down the right-field line to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead. Gaby Sanchez went on to get two base hits and drive in two runs in the game.

Omar Infante added a home run, off of Hamels in the fifth. The Marlins were threatening later in the inning, but Ozzie’s aggressiveness hurt the team, as he sent Reyes to steal third, but Reyes was easily thrown out.

To begin the sixth, Bonifacio bunted the ball, Hamels field the ball and threw it away. The throw was not on Hamels, neither John Mayberry or Freddy Galvis got to first base to receive Hamel’s throw. As a result, Bonifacio got all the way to third, with nobody out.

Hanley, took a close called strike three for the first out. He was frustrated by the call, it was a ball in my opinion, but it had been a pitch that had been consistently been called a strike throughout the afternoon. Fortunately, Gaby Sanchez roped a double and gave the Marlins a 4-0 lead.

Infante knocked another solo home run for the Marlins and gave the Marlins a 5-0 lead in the seventh. The seventh is the inning that Anibal Sanchez finally ran into trouble as well. Sanchez has done a great job of limiting Phillies base runners until this inning. Sanchez’s control of his fastball and slider on this particular afternoon was brilliant. Unfortunately, Sanchez was unable to make it out of the inning, with one out and two out, Sanchez gave up a two-run double to Freddy Galvis. That was all for Sanchez. Randy Choate was brought in and subsequently retired both hitters he faced quickly.

In the eight, Edward Mujica pitched a scoreless inning. He set the game up for the Marlins new closer, Heath Bell to redeem himself.

Unfortunately for Bell, Austin Kearns wanted to redeem himself after having a bad game at the plate. Kearns lined a solo homer off of Johnathan Papelbon to give the Marlins a 6-2 lead. With a save opportunity gone, Ozzie decided to go with Steve Cishek in the ninth. Cishek struck out two of the three hitters he faced, as he continues to be one of the best arms in the Marlins pen.

Overall, this was a big win for the Marlins. With Roy Halladay pitching today, the Marlins needed to win a game to have a legitimate chance of winning the series. Tonight, Halladay will be opposed by Josh Johnson. This is one of the marquee pitching match ups in baseball. The game will be featured on ESPN. Be sure to check it out tonight. Hopefully, JJ can bounce back from his first start and have a good second start.

The Marlins will need that and some timely hitting to beat the pitcher most still consider the best in baseball.