The Marlins completed their first three game sweep since the end of May, when the Philadelphia Phillies behind a strong offensive output and offensive production from nearly every player. Ricky Nolasco was the starting pitcher for the Marlins against Joe Blanton for the Phillies.

Ricky Nolasco was impressive in his outing, leading the Marlins to a 5-2 victory. (Image: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE)

Source: FanGraphs

Nolasco Efficient

The game did not get off to the best of starts for the Marlins, as Nolasco surrendered an early triple to the second Phillies hitter of the game, Juan Pierre. Pierre scored on a Hunter Pence ground ball fielders choice. On the play, Hanley Ramirez fielded the grounder and fired the ball home. The throw was a bit high and Pierre was able to slide in past Buck. It was a play that should have been made, but unfortunately for Nolasco, was not made. The Phillies had a 1-0 lead for Joe Blanton before he even took the mound.

Nolasco was able to settle down and pitch an efficient game the rest of the way. Nolasco lasted seven innings, striking out six hitters, while walking none, and allowing just two earned runs.

The reason for Nolasco’s strong start? Michael Jong, of Fishstripes, had a great image courtesy of Brooks Baseball.

Nolasco had been struggling with velocity, as he had been under 90 for most of the season. Nolasco’s average fastball has been around 89.9 according to Fangraphs. Although it was a very small amount of velocity added, it did seem to make a huge impact for Nolasco.

But as Michael pointed out, Nolasco’s slider and curveball did most of the work for him. Nolasco threw 24 sliders and induced eight of his 11 swings and misses off of them. Nolasco also mixed in his curveball and got some decent results with them as well. With the fastball’s added velocity and the mixing of his pitches, Nolasco had a fine start.

If the Marlins can get these type of outing from Nolasco going forward, the Marlins chances of contending go way up. If the Marlins get the Nolasco that struggles, they are in a world of trouble.

Marlins Offense Comes Alive?

For the first time in what felt a long time, it felt like the Marlins entire offense had a good all around game. The fun started for the Marlins lineup in the bottom half of the second inning. Logan Morrison led off the inning with a bloop single over the head of the Phillies second baseman, Mike Fontenot. Justin Ruggiano came up next and lined a single to left field. With Juan Pierre manning left, LoMo made a wise decision to test Pierre’s “noodle” arm and try to get to third base. Unfortunately for LoMo, Pierre made a perfect throw and Placido Polanco made an impressive tag to get Morrison out at third.

It seemed like the Marlins would be once again, losing out on a big inning. Nothing new for the Marlins in the month of June. Fortunately, the next hitter, Omar Infante was able to double and drive in Ruggiano to tie the ballgame. John Buck followed Infante with a double of his own to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead. The Marlins would not relinquish that lead.

In the third inning, Stanton hit an impressive opposite field home run to give the Marlins a 3-1 lead. The swing was impressive, but the ball did not seem to be well hit, but the ball just kept carrying and got out of the ballpark. It was only fitting that Stanton hit a home run in his first at-bat after learning the news of his all-star selection. Here is a look at the home run:

And once again, courtesy of Michael, here is a picture of where Stanton’s ball ended up:

Quite impressive power indeed. I cannot wait to see Stanton’s full power on display for the home run derby. It is really going to be a treat to watch as a baseball fan.

Although the Marlins did not add on any more runs until the 8th inning, the Marlins offense was able to gather seven hits all day, including a hit by every Marlins starter, minus Jose Reyes. Even though Reyes did not collect a hit, he did join in the action for the Marlins, scoring on a Hanley Ramirez home run in the 8th.

To lead off the 8th, the Phillies brought in Antonio Bastardo to face Reyes. Bastardo walked Reyes on four straight pitches to bring Ramirez to the plate. What was even more impressive about the home run was that after swinging at two horrible pitches, Ramirez was able to lay off a couple of good pitches and work the count full. Bastardo then hung a slider that Hanley took for a ride to the Clevelander.

There were 31,727 fans at Marlins Park on Sunday, and Ramirez tried to pump them up after his home run in the eight. Ramirez said “I love when I see the crowd going crazy.’’

With a comfortable three run lead, the Marlins summoned Heath Bell to close out the game. Unlike the last the time Nolasco started and Bell came in with a four-run lead, Bell was able to preserve the lead for the Marlins. Bell was able to collect three quick outs and the Marlins were on their way to victory. The brooms were out in full effect.

The Marlins will take on the Milwaukee Brewers next, for a four game series in Wisconsin. I will have a game preview, as well as the chat I had with Colin Bennett up before game time tomorrow.

Fast forward a month and the Marlins are now tied atop the NL East with the Washington Nationals and with a record of 31-23, are eight games over .500 for the first time since June 1st of last season. The Marlins completed another series win with the help of Carlos Zambrano‘s pitching, as well as hitting.

Carlos Zambrano celebrates with his teammates after having a big day to lead the Miami Marlins to victory. (Image: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE)

Apparently, Zambrano was suffering from the flu. He complained about a headache and a sore throat, but after Sunday afternoon’s game was complete, the Phillies were the ones complaining about being sick, sick of seeing Zambrano.

Zambrano started the scoring for the Marlins in third inning, as Zambrano lifted a 418 foot shot to left-center field to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. Zambrano also only allowed just two hits over his first seven innings, both to former Marlin, and still Heat fan, Juan Pierre.

Zambrano’s line for the afternoon was 7 2/3 innings, allowing just four hits, one earned run, as he struck out seven, and walked just two. It was one of Big Z’s best days overall, as a Marlin, and one of his best days recently. I think it is fair to say that the Marlins are winning the Volstad-Zambrano swap right now.

Aside from Zambrano’s home run, the Marlins were able to put up three other runs in the ballgame. Hanley Ramirez homered for the third time in the past two games in the fourth inning to extend the Marlins lead to 2-0. Ramirez now has 11 homers this season, after just hitting 10 all of last season in an injury ridden season. The off-season notions to trade Ramirez have been quickly dropped.

The Marlins would score again in the seventh inning. After Zambrano’s sac bunt attempt scored him a single to load the bases, Jose Reyes doubled to score two more Marlins runs to extend the lead to 4-0. A wild pitch with Ramirez at-bat scored Zambrano and extended the Marlins lead to 5-0.

Ozzie Guillen allowed Zambrano to go out and pitch the eight inning. Zambrano was not able to finish the inning off, as he was lifted with two outs after a Juan Pierre single ended the Marlins shutout bid. Steve Cishek got Hunter Pence to strikeout to end the inning and the threat. In the ninth, after retiring the first hitter, Cishek allowed the next two Phillies to reach via singles, with these runners on base, a save opportunity arose and Ozzie brought in his closer.

Heath Bell once again got the job done for the Marlins, picking up his 12th save of the season. Bell has been a lot better as of late for the Marlins, the Marlins have done better overall since he has turned around his season.

Next up for the Marlins will be a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves. This will be a series where I feel the Marlins should be able to have a big series, as the pitching match-ups work in their favor. I will have a game preview for game 1 up on Tuesday, as well as a chat with one of the writers over on Tomahawk Chop.

Hanley Ramirez celebrates monster day and victory with teammate Jose Reyes. (Image: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE)

The Marlins picked up a win after dropping the first game of the month of June. The win was an imporantant one for a team that only won a total of five games in the entire month of June in 2011. The win moved the Marlins to 1-1 for the month, after posting a franchise best 21-8 record in the month of May.

The game did not start as planned for the Marlins. The team was down 1-0 after the first inning. Juan Pierre led the first inning off with a single for the Phillies and later scored on a Carlos Ruiz single. The Phillies would then tack on two more runs on a Hunter Pence two-run home run in the third.

With a 3-0 lead, at home, with their ace on the mound, the Phillies looked well on their way to a second straight victory over the recently hot Marlins. But that is when Hanley Ramirez took over the game. With the bases empty in the fourth inning, Hanley Ramirez sent a ball into the the bleachers to cut the Phillies lead to 3-1. The home run was not without controversy, as the umpires had to review it to make sure that a fan did not reach over to grab the ball before it went out. Replays showed that a kid reached out for the ball, but the umpires determined that the ball was in fact leaving anyways, so the home run call stood as called.

The Marlins would then add on another run in the in the same inning, when Justin Ruggiano drove in Logan Morrison on a double. It was the right handers fourth at-bat as a Marlin, and his second big hit. Ruggiano hit his first home run as a Marlin last night in a pinch hitting role. Ruggiano’s big hit cut the Phillies lead down to just one run.

In the sixth inning, it was Hanley time again. After Omar Infante reached base on an infield single, Hanley took Hamels deep for the second time in the afternoon.  It was the tenth of the season for Ramirez, and the second of the game. Ramirez now has the team record of most multi-homer games at 12. Ramirez’s second home run also moved him into sole possession of the second spot in Marlins home run franchise history.

More importantly, the two-run shot gave the Marlins a 4-3 lead over the Phillies. The Marlins were able to add onto the lead with an insurance run in the seventh inning. After Chris Coghlan led the inning off with a walk, Ricky Nolasco laid down a sacrifice bunt to get Coghlan to second. Jose Reyes then extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a two-out double to extend the Marlins lead to 5-3.

That insurance run proved to be important for the Marlins an inning later. Ozzie Guillen decided to send out Ricky Nolasco out for the 8^th inning. Jimmy Rollins led the inning off with a triple. That was followed by a Juan Pierre walk. Ozzie then made the move for Steve Cishek. Cishek deserves the credit for the save in this game as he came into a higher leverage situation and performed his duties exceptionally.

After allowing a sacrifice fly score Rollins and cut the Marlins lead to 5-4, Cishek was able to strikeout Carlos Ruiz. Cishek then walked Shane Victorino, before he got long-time Marlin killer, Ty Wigginton, to strike out swinging, on a nasty slider. Cishek continued his excellent pitching in his young career and essentially saved the game for the Marlins on this afternoon.

Ozzie Guillen stuck with Nolasco too long, only because Nolasco had a low pitch count. Nolasco had not been dominant in this appearance and was about to go through the Phillies lineup for the fourth time. Traditionally, the fourth time does not result in successful numbers for a pitcher. Ozzie should have gone to Cishek to start the inning off, but he decided to wait and it almost cost the Marlins the lead.

In the ninth inning, Heath Bell was brought in again. As Marlins fans have grown accustomed to the past few seasons, no save opportunity ever goes smoothly for the team.  Placido Polanco started the ninth with a lead-off single with to start the ninth, Bell was able to recollect himself and retire the next three hitters to finish off the game. Bell recorded no strikeouts on this afternoon, which has been a major part of his turnaround of late, but he still looked decent.

Giancarlo Stanton has not started the month of June out in the same fashion as his May. Stanton is now 1-for-7 this month with four strikeouts.  It’s just two games into the month, so this should not be read into much though.

Tomorrow these two teams will be right back at it to finish off the three game series. The pitching match-up will be Joe Blanton for the Phillies and Carlos Zambrano for the Marlins. The Marlins on paper hold the advantage, but it should still be a close game.

Prediction: Marlins win the game and series. Zambrano hits a home run to give the Marlins the lead for good in the fourth inning. Marlins win the ball game 7-5. Heath Bell picks up another save.

Apr 11, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Miami Marlins ace Josh Johnson labored through his worst career start Wednesday evening. (Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE)

Source: FanGraphs

The game got off on the right foot for the Marlins. Emilio Bonifacio hit a dribbler and was able to beat it out for an infield single. Halladay made an errant throw, but luckily for the Phillies, their defense was able to make sure the speedy Bonifacio could not advance.

Next up, Hanley Ramirez squared up on the ball and lined in almost 400 feet away, unfortunately for Hanley, Shane Victorino was able to make a nice over the shoulder catch to retire the Marlins third baseman. Giancarlo Stanton followed with a base hit and Logan Morrison walked to load the bases off of the two-time CY Young Award winner.

Gaby Sanchez grounded out weakly to short stop to end the inning. The Marlins were unable to put any runs on the board. Right then, you knew that opportunity was going to comeback and bite the Marlins.

The Marlins lone run of the evening came in the second inning. Omar Infante just missed another homer, but was happy to settle for a double. He advanced to third on John Buck‘s ground out and Josh Johnson drove him in on a ground out.

Josh Johnson was able to get through the first two innings. The Marlins were looking good with a 1-0 lead. Roy Halladay was struggling against the Marlins lineup. After retiring the side in the third, Doc was already at 50 pitches.

That is when the wheels fell off for the Marlins. The Phillies were able to plate six runs in the third inning and sent 10 hitters to the plate. Two of the three outs for Josh Johnson happened to be Roy Halladay himself.

A look at Johnson’s pitch plot shows his struggles to locate his pitches. Johnson threw 41 pitches in the third inning alone, 83 for the evening, before being taken out in the fourth inning after allowing another run. Johnson fell behind 4 of the 7 hitters in that third inning after the first pitch.

Location was not the only issue for Johnson, though. In the past, when Johnson has been at his best, his average velocity of his fastball has been right around 94 MPH. Last night, Johnson was only able to average 92.5 on his fastball. Against the St. Louis Cardinals, Johnson only got up to 93 MPH.

Johnson’s struggles were not the only problem for this Miami Marlins team in that third inning. Marlins fans took noticeable exception with a horribly missed call. In that third inning, with one out and the Phillies yet to score, Juan Pierre took off to steal second base. John Buck threw out the speedy outfielder, but the umpire called Pierre safe. Multiple looks at the replay showed that Pierre was out. Then things unraveled for the Marlins.

But the thing we need to look at is how much did that missed call cost the Marlins? Michael Jong of Fishstripes has that one figured out.

Using the run expectancy matrix listed here for the most recent era, the difference between those two base-out states is about 0.6 runs, meaning that the ref cost us almost two-thirds of a run with that blown call.

 

Some might want to blame the umpire for the (close) blown call at second base, but that only cost the Fish 0.6 runs. The team shot itself in the foot for an additional full run on mistakes in the outfield, so it has very few people to blame but themselves for letting the game get out of hand.

 

As Michael pointed out, the Marlins lost only two-thirds of a run on that missed call. The rest falls on Josh Johnson for not retiring hitters and the Marlins defense for not making plays.

I will let Michael explain how the Marlins defense cost the Marlins more runs then that blown call:

It did not help that the Marlins’ defense faltered multiple times that inning. Placido Polanco followed the steal with a single to left field, and Logan Morrison missed the cutoff man on a throw to home plate, allowing Polanco to advance to second, costing the Fish a quarter of a run. Jimmy Rollins followed singled into left-center field and Morrison was there to cut it off. Unfortunately, he slipped in the outfield grass and allowed Polanco to advance to second base on an error. That error cost the Marlins another quarter of a run. Morrison followed that play with another mistake in airmailing another throw home and allowing Hunter Pence‘s RBI single to move him to second base. In that exchange, Morrison cost the Marlins three-quarters of a run with mistakes tacked onto the additional three runs that did actually score. This was followed by Giancarlo Stanton missing a diving, but makeable catch in right-center field which led to a series of events that eventually brought two more runners home via a Freddy Galvis double.

 

Yes, Marlins fans, you have every right to be pissed off about that missed call. We have no idea how that inning may have turned out if the umpire made the proper call and called out Pierre. What we also do not know is that how the inning would have played out if Logan Morrison and Giancarlo Stanton made the plays they were supposed to.

Blame the umpire all you want, the Marlins still needed to make the pitches and the plays to get the outs. They did not. End of story. The umpire did not cos the Marlins this game. They cost themselves this game.

Tonight is another big night for Miami sports. The Miami Heat will take on the Chicago Bulls over on TNT. On MLB Network or on FSN Florida, you can catch the finale of this series. The Marlins have a good chance to take the series against the Phillies. The Marlins will send out Mark Buehrle to pitch. The Phillies will be sending out Joe Blanton.

If the Marlins bats can bounce back, this is a very winnable game for the Marlins.

Prediction: Marlins win 7-2

Apr 7, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Miami Marlins players celebrate at the end of the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark. The Marlins defeated the Reds 8-3. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-US PRESSWIRE