Tagged: Tim Redding
That Blew. In More Ways Than One.
Fish fans had boxes of tissue at the ready as the Marlins kicked off their final (sniffle) home series against the Mets Friday night at Land Shark Stadium.
Little did we know we’d need said tissues for more than just saying goodbye to the 2009 season.
Rick Nolasco was on the mound for the Marlins, and if you erased the second inning of the game, he was outstanding. Ricky’s only spot of trouble came in the second when he gave up three hits, including a three-run homer to Jeff Francoeur to put the Mets up 3-0.
Ricky bounced back, and lasted seven innings against the Mets, allowing no runs and just one more hit after the second inning.
In the meantime, the Fish had base runners in every inning, but they couldn’t put anything together against Mets starter Tim Redding until the bottom of the fifth. With two men on, Hanley tied up the game with one swing of his bat, a three-run jack to make it a 3-3 ball game.
Gaby Sanchez pinch hit for Ricky in the bottom of the seventh and drew a walk off of Redding. After a call to the bullpen, Pedro Feliciano threw a wild pitch to advance pinch runner Bonifacio to second, And Feliciano intentionally walked Hanley. With two out, Jorge Cantu doubled to drive in Bonifacio and Hanley, and put the Marlins up 5-3.
Brendan Donelly pitched the eighth inning for the Marlins, and some sloppy defense got Brendan and the Fish into trouble. Brian Schneider reached on an error by Dan Uggla, Angel Pagan singled, and Luis Castillo hit a sac bunt to advance the runners to second and third for David Wright. Donnelly struck out Wright, but a passed ball by Ronny Paulino allowed Schneider to score, and the Mets pulled within a run.
After a rather exciting game for Fish fans, the top of the ninth inning was a real pleasure to witness. Leo Nunez came in and gave up two straight singles to Murphy and Francoeur to open the inning, walked Jeremy Reed on four pitches, and blew the save when Cory Sullivan singled to drive in two runs and put the Mets in the lead.
Nunez struck out David Wright to end the top of the inning, but the damage was done. And unlike Wednesday, this time there was no walk-off magic to speak of.
Ross Gload had a pinch hit single, but that was all Francisco Rodriguez allowed in the bottom of the ninth. Rodriguez closed the door and the Fish dropped game one of their final home series in heartbreaking fashion.
Please pass the Kleenex.
6-5, Mets
Marlins 4, Mets 2
There was still a pretty awful taste in our mouths from the bullpen’s botched sweep of the Nationals as the Marlins rolled into Flushing, New York on Tuesday.
Sure, the Marlins diplomatic soundbites about “forgetting” the horror of the loss thirty minutes after it ended sounded nice in the clubhouse, but put Craig Minervini’s mic in front of a few Fish fans, and you’d hear decidedly less upbeat feedback.
Rick VandenHurk got the start as the Fish opened up their series with the Mets at Citi Field, and he looked pretty good to start, allowing just one hit to the Mets through the first three innings.
New York got on the board in the fourth when Daniel Murphy and Jeff Francoeur singled with one out, and a sac fly by Josh Thole scored a run. Hurk struck out Anderson Hernandez to end the inning, but not before he grabbed at his side in apparent pain. Vandy winced walking off the mound toward the dugout, and his night was over due to a stiff back after a neat 4 innings in which he struck out three and allowed just one run on four hits and one walk.
The Marlins tagged starter Tim Redding for four runs on a couple of long balls in his five innings of work for the Mets. With Coghlan on base in the third, Hanley Ramirez jacked his 101st career home run to give the Fish a 2-0 lead, and Cameron Maybin followed with a 2-run shot in the top of the fourth that landed right in the apple in center field.
It was Hopper who came in to relieve Hurk in the fifth inning. Hop gave up a run when Luis Castillo singled to score Angel Pagan, who had tripled to open the inning.
The Fish had a chance to add on in the top of the sixth when Gaby Sanchez singled with Dan Uggla on second. Uggla was held at third, but attempted to score when the throw to the plate sailed past Thole. Uggla was thrown out at the plate, and that was as close to scoring as the Marlins would get for the remainder of the game.
The Fish managed just two hits and two walks off of the Mets bullpen, and couldn’t add to their four runs.
In the meantime, the Marlins bullpen worked on redeeming themselves for Sunday’s heartbreaker. Brian Sanches pitched a scoreless sixth, but got into trouble in the seventh when he loaded the bases with one out. He struck out David Wright for the second out of the inning before Carlos Beltran flied out to the warning track (which induced about 40,000 Fish fan heart attacks, but got the Marlins out of the inning unscathed).
Lindstrom was up next, and handled the Mets 1-2-3 in the eighth, before Leo Nunez marched in to save it in the ninth. Miraculously, saving the game is exactly what he did.
It was Brian Sanches who got the win, and the Fish got off to a good start against the Mets, taking game one of the series at Citi Field.
We won’t call it redemption for Sunday, but at least it’s a start.
Sanchez Opts Out of Sweep
As the Marlins head into the final month of the season, each remaining game that is played is made up of the following:
1) Things that will help the Marlins keep alive their tiny flicker of hope of making the playoffs, and 2) Things that will help the Marlins have plenty of time to play golf and engage in other activities–which do not include playing Major League baseball–in October.
As the Marlins went for a sweep of the Mets Thursday afternoon at The Shark, there was decidedly more of the latter.
Anibal Sanchez was pretty much outstanding in his last outing, and Fish fans were hoping to see more of the same from him as he faced the Mets in the final game of the series. Instead, what they got to see was a massive struggle to get through the fourth inning. Anibal would last just 3 2/3 against the Mets, giving up four runs (2 earned) on eight hits and throwing 82 pitches in the process.
The unearned runs came courtesy of some sloppy defense by Gload and Sanchez, who each committed errors in the game that resulted in two runs for New York.
It didn’t help that Tim Redding started for the Mets, and the Fish could only manage five hits off of him through 6 2/3 innings. Chris Coghlan hit a pair of solo home runs–one in the first and one in the sixth inning–and Dan Uggla added a solo shot of his own in the seventh, which accounted for all three of the runs the Marlins managed to put on the board.
Three runs may be enough to win a game when your pitchers are on, but on an afternoon when Florida’s arms gave up ten runs, the long balls were not enough.
Christhian Martinez came into the game in relief of Sanchez and gave up four runs in the fifth inning. In fact, New York scored off of every Marlins pitcher who entered the game Thursday, which was incredibly fun to watch (or listen to/receive texts about/follow on game day while watching nervously for your boss to walk by your cubicle–it was a day game after all).
Bad starting pitching, bad relief pitching, poor defense and a lack of offense… I read somewhere that those things generally do not add up to a win. They sure didn’t in this game.
The Fish took two of three from the Mets in the series, and didn’t lose any ground in the East or in the Wild Card, thanks to the Rockies and Phillies being so kind as to lose Thursday as well. More importantly, though, they didn’t gain any ground, either. With a little over a month left in the season, that’s going to be necessary, and soon.
Hook, Line Drive, & Sinker 