Aug. 21, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Miami Marlins pitcher

In a 10-inning 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks last night, Ricky Nolasco had to dig deep and find what it takes to overcome adversity.  Starting his outing with an awful 5-run first inning, Nolasco demonstrated that extra something that differentiates elite competitors from ordinary mortals.  In the teeth of an awful season, and despite the horrible first inning, he went five full innings, allowing no runs after the first. He gave up four of his six hits and both of his walks in that first inning, notching two strikeouts in the remainder of his appearance.

A who’s who of bullpen-dwellers finished the game for the Marlins. The sixth brought in Mike Dunn and Ryan Webb. Following Webb, with an inning each, came Carlos Zambrano, Heath Bell, Chad Gaudin, and Steve Cishek. Six walks were issued in relief, but only Dunn and Cishek gave up one hit each. No runs were scored by the Diamondbacks after the first inning.

While notable for the utter absence of any trace of a quitter’s mentality, the defense was only part of the story.  Despite going 7-21 in team RISP and leaving ten runners in scoring position with two outs, the lineup managed to put up 15 hits last night.  After tying the game in the 6^th, it took a 10^th-inning slap shot single by Giancarlo Stanton to tally the coup-de-grace RBI.

The Marlins looked like a solid team last night, with both sides of the ball contributing to a tough skin-of-the-teeth victory in the desert. If there is a late-season momentum shift, it looks to be swinging to Miami. The Marlins are now only one game behind Philadelphia, and may yet crawl out of the cellar to finish the season with a modicum of self-respect.

August 5, 2012;Washington D. C., USA; Miami Marlins pitcher

A rough second inning set the stage for a win for the Nationals today, despite a six-inning effort by Ricky Nolasco.  Yielding a two-run base hit to Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the second inning of the game proved to be the undoing of the Marlins in the matinee matchup.

Greg Dobbs put the only Miami run on the scoreboard, doubling to put Carlos Lee across the plate from second base.  While Lee has established a respectable streak in his own right, the distance from second to home looked daunting for the plus-sized first baseman. All ended well, as Lee was able to galumph his way to a standup RBI.

On the defensive side of the game, In a night of fours, Nolasco threw four strikeouts, four walks, and four earned runs in an unremarkable, yet thankfully long 6-inning appearance.

Chad Gaudin and Steve Cishek came out of the bullpen to hold the Nationals scoreless outside of the awful second inning.

Offensively, base hits by Jose Reyes and Carlos Lee continued streaks.  In Reyes’ case, it’s a streak that is gaining national attention, as it’s the longest streak in baseball, and one game shy of Kevin Millar’s third place 2002 25-hit streak for Marlins club history. Carlos Lee is up to 11 games in a row, and continues to deliver the goods necessary for the Marlins to break above the 3-run limit that has plagued the team for the first three months of the season.

Tomorrow is a day off as the Marlins take a train to Flushing for Matt LeBlanc to face Jon Niece’s Mets.  Personally, I’m good with the day off, as I’m out of town on vacation, visiting my brother in the wilds of Tarheel country. The beer is running like the tides at Scapa Flow, and I’m catching the worst of the debate as my Marlins continue to struggle.

July 17, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Miami Marlins player

The Marlins traveled to Chicago to face the Cubs in an evening game. The on-field heat index was north of 100, and a light breeze was blowing out of Wrigley Field.  The Marlins took advantage of the warm air, balmy breezes and short fences, putting three into the bleachers as they notched a 9-5 victory over the northsiders. Carlos Lee added another grand slam to his record, moving him past luminaries like Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth. At 17 career slams, he is now tied for second place with Ted Williams and Jimmy Foxx. At 23, the all-time leaders are Alex Rodriguez and Lou Gehrig.  Rare air indeed.  Well done, Carlos.  Omar Infante put a two-run shot out in the fourth, and Hanley Ramirez hit such a hard line drive to the center field bleachers that it looked like it was still going up as it cleared the fence. Lee’s slam came as part of a five-run fifth inning that featured Anibal Sanchez as both leadoff and final batters of the frame.

Lee’s fifth inning slam provided a welcome cushion for Sanchez, who threw seven sweet innings, giving up one earned run and two walks, striking out seven. The 9-run score also served to help Sanchez inch closer to moving off of the bottom of the average run support list.  Keys to the success of Anibal’s outing were his ability to keep the ball on the corners of the zone, and his effective use of velocity, rather than bend, to fool hitters into swinging.  Lots of Cubs were way out in front last night.

As the trade deadline approaches, and as Edward Mujica gets closer to completing his rehab assignment, I suspect that the atmosphere in the bullpen is a bit like it is late in spring training.  Everybody knows that someone is getting tapped to head down.  Chad Gaudin didn’t make a convincing argument to keep him around. Facing four batters, he gave up a walk and three earned runs on three hits. Gaudin didn’t tally any outs during his eighth inning appearance.  Thankfully, manager Ozzie Guillen pulled the plug on Gaudin before any more blood was spilled.  In his defense, it has been almost two weeks since Gaudin has thrown in a game. Randy Choate stepped in and finished the inning, setting the stage for a Heath Bell ninth inning non-save appearance.  The ball was really jumping out of Bell’s hand last night, and he dominated the end of the game. It will be a bonus for this team when he figures out how to bottle up those aggressive pitches and uncork them at will.

It’s the Cubs again tonight.  Josh Johnson faces Jeff Samardzija.  Both are right handers, and both are probably due to regress a little bit tomorrow.  Johnson has struggled to get through six innings lately, and Samardzija has allowed only four runs in his last 14 innings.  Baseball has a way of evening out streaks and slumps, and Johnson is a fundamentally better pitcher.  Combined with the energy injection coming from Emilio Bonifacio and Carlos Lee, the Marlins will be tough to beat tonight.

Prediction:  Marlins by two.

July 4, 2012; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Miami Marlins first baseman

Wow.  It was like seeing the same movie again on the next night. Yesterday, battling triple-digit on-field temperatures, and an awful outing by Josh Johnson, the Marlins took an early lead, fell behind in the middle innings, tied things back up late, and went ahead to victory in the 10^th inning.  This time, however, Heath Bell did not (although I sure thought that Corey Hart’s shot was headed that way) give up the long ball, even though the bases were filling up quickly.

Josh Johnson only made it through five innings yesterday, giving up five earned runs on six hits with three walks. The weakest start for Johnson in the last ten, he did not appear to have enough bite on his breaking balls, and his fastball location took some time to dial in. Chad Gaudin, Mike Dunn, Wade LeBlanc, and Heath Bell stepped in to finish the job. The bullpen yielded one run on five hits, with two walks.

After a disastrous 5-run bottom half of the second inning, the game looked to be a letdown through the sixth.  Justin Ruggiano and Logan Morrison changed the forecast considerably in the top of the seventh, bringing the Marlins to within one run on Ruggiano’s solo shot and Morrison’s 3-run round-tripper. During the seventh inning, the telecast broke the news of the Carlos Lee deal (not a great deal, perhaps, but a decent deal. More on that news from Ehsan), and the camera spent considerably more time on Gaby Sanchez as the implications of the trade were discussed.

Despite a hitting meltdown that will be remembered for many years, and the news of a trade almost guaranteed to send him back to the bus leagues, Gaby singled in the seventh, and supplied the final, key piece of the Marlins rally.  In the top of the ninth, with two outs, and an 0-2 count, Gaby Sanchez hit a game-tying home run.

At our house, the table was being cleared, crumbs were being swept, and fingers were poised over remote controls. “Gaby is a guaranteed out” was the universal sentiment. How nice to be so eloquently reminded of the fluid nature of a baseball game. The crack of the bat and the rising pitch of the announcer’s voice reset the entire dynamic of our living room. I’m also very happy for Gaby to be able to finish what will most likely be his last appearance this year as a Marlin on such a strong note.

A Donovan Solano double, followed by a Hanley Ramirez single, put the Marlins ahead by one run in the tenth.  After an adrenalin-inducing double by the speedy Rickie Weeks, Heath Bell struck out Martin Maldonado and pitched an easy 6-3 grounder to Taylor Green to end the game.

Tonight, Mark Buehrle faces rookie Mike Fiers to try and force the Brewers to yield a split for the series. Fiers has a 2.29 ERA, and a 3-2 record over 7 games. He has logged 42 strikeouts and has given up only ten earned runs.  I suspect he will be a tough nut for our hitters to crack.  Also, Mark Buehrle will need to keep the ball away from sluggers like Corey Hart and Ryan Braun.  A 2-2 push on the series may be out of reach, unless guys like Hanley and Ruggiano continue to hit well.  I suspect that the game may roll one way or the other on a single error. But I’m an optimist, so…

Prediction: Marlins by one in the lowest-scoring game of the series.

Final note:  The results of Giancarlo Stanon’s MRI:  “loose bodies” in his knee.  He remains day-to-day, and it may cost him his HRD appearance.  Bummer.

June 25, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins catcher

Once again, the Marlins found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  Ricky Nolasco delivered a strong performance last night, with only four hits and one unearned run over 6 2/3 innings of work. Randy Choate and Edward Mujica came in and delivered a walk each before finishing the seventh inning.  Steve Cishek gave up a run in the eighth, which brought Mike Dunn to the mound for the remainder of the inning.  The fun really started with Heath Bell’s ninth-inning appearance. A leadoff walk to Rafael Furcal, followed by a double and a single brought Yadier Molina to the plate.  A fastball left up in the zone got sent over the left field wall, tying the game.

In the bottom of the ninth, Jose Reyes led off with a strikeout. Hanley Ramirez singled to center field, followed by a Giancarlo Stanton walk.  With one out and the winning run in scoring position, Gaby Sanchez grounded into a double play to end the inning.

In the tenth inning, Tyler Greene singled to left field. With the winning run at first and one out, instead of grounding into a double play, Rafael Furcal hit a hard double the opposite way down the left-field line, allowing Greene to score. Chad Gaudin tallied the second out on a soft grounder from Shane Robinson.  Matt Holliday reached first base after being grazed on the forearm on an inside pitch.  Because of a double-switch screwup by Cardinals manager Mike Matheney, the next batter was Carlos Beltran, followed by pinch-hitter Joe Kelly.  Joe Kelly is a opitcher not scheduled to appear until tonight, and had not yet logged a major-league base hit in his career.  Beltran drew an intentional walk that loaded the bases, and last night was the night young Mr. Kelly tallied that first base hit, driving Furcal across the plate.

The Marlins did a number of things right last night, and certainly looked like they were on track to follow up their 9-0 shutout of the Blue Jays with another strong win against the powerhouse offense of the Cardinals. A blown save by Heath Bell, a 2-error play by Hanley Ramirez, Gaby Sanchez grounding into a double play in a clutch situation, and a bobble and a bad throw by Jose Reyes turned the game into one of the most frustrating games of the season.

Fans, June is not over for the Marlins yet. Tonight, Carlos Zambrano faces Kyle Lohse, and I suspect the demoralizing effect of last night’s game will be harder to shake off, and that the Cardinal bats will give Big Z some trouble.