4/13/13
The Phillies are back on the road as they travel to Miami to
take on the Marlins. This Marlins team is quite a young team as they traded
away who they acquired last year to form a supposed dominant offseason. Gone
from last year are starting shortstop Jose Reyes, starting pitchers Josh
Johnson, Mark Buehrle, and Carlos Zambrano, closer Heath Bell, and starting
catcher John Buck. Reyes, Johnson, Buehrle, and Buck were all involved in the
blockbuster trade as the Toronto Blue Jays acquired them. The Marlins received
three prospects as well as starting pitcher Henderson Alvarez, shortstop Yunel
Escobar (who later got traded to the Tampa Bay Rays), another shortstop in Adeiny
Hechavarria, and catcher Jeff Mathis. As I wrote in one of my previous entries,
Buck was later involved in the blockbuster trade in which the New York Mets
received him and a few prospects and the Blue Jays acquired R.A. Dickey. Bell
was involved in a three-team trade. He was traded by the Marlins to the Arizona
Diamondbacks. The Marlins received a prospect from the Oakland Athletics.
Enigmatic manager Ozzie Guillen was fired by the Marlins last year, and was
replaced by a former Marlins player in Mike Redmond. The Marlins have a few
injuries. Mathis, Alvarez, first baseman Casey Kotchman, and outfielder Logan
Morrison are all on the disabled list. One guy the Phillies have to watch out
in the Marlins lineup is Giancarlo Stanton because he has the power to hit a
homerun to where no man has ever hit homeruns before. The Phillies were lucky
and did not have to see Stanton in the lineup due to a sore shoulder. The
longest tenured player on the Marlins, Ricky Nolasco, took the mound for the
Marlins and John Lannan started for the Phillies. Will Lannan make the Marlins
look like a minor league team or will the good Nolasco show up and dominate the
Phillies offense?
If you looked for an offensive onslaught by the Phillies in
this game, you attended the wrong game. Both teams scored in the sixth inning.
Domonic Brown hit an RBI double into left field that scored Ryan Howard from
second base. In the Marlins half of the sixth, one former Phillie drove in
another former Phillie to score their only run of the game. Placido Polanco hit
an RBI single into left field which scored Juan Pierre from second and the game
was tied at one apiece.
Lannan followed up his brilliant performance in his last
start with another solid start this game. He kept the ball low in the strike
zone and made the Marlins hitters hit the ball into the ground. He picked off
Justin Ruggiano in the fourth inning when he tried to steal third base. Lannan
pitched six innings, allowed three hits, one run, walked one, and struck out
two batters.
Nolasco pitched just as well as Lannan. Since Nolasco has
seen the Phillies a lot in his career, he has had abysmal games and he has had
great games against them. You didn’t know which Nolasco would show up in this
game. In this game, he pitched six innings, allowed seven hits, one run, walked
one, and struck out one batter.
This came down to a battle of the bullpens. Which bullpen
would lose this game? The Phillies had the last word on who was going to win
the game. A.J. Ramos, Michael Dunn, and Steve Cishek all pitched scoreless
seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. Those three pitchers combined to strike out
two batters in those innings.
There was some free baseball in Miami and Jon Rauch had the
ball in the 10th inning and he suffered the loss. As Ben Revere singled
into right field, Chase Utley hit the ball that was letter high into right
field and Revere raced his way to home and he gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead.
After Rauch intentionally walked Howard, Michael Young hit a groundball up the
middle that Hechavarria snagged, but his throw to second was short of the bag
and Howard slid safely into second. Utley scored from third and it was a 3-1
game.
The Phillies bullpen has been getting better since their
home opener series against the Kansas City Royals. Antonio Bastardo, Mike
Adams, Phillippe Aumont, and Jonathan Papelbon all threw scoreless innings. The
bullpen pitched a combined four innings, allowed one hit, walked two, and
struck out three batters.
Overall, this game did not surprise me at all. I thought the
Phillies would see the good Nolasco in this game. What would have been
embarrassing is if the Phillies lost this game with the Marlins not having
their only good hitter in the lineup. At the same time, it’s hard to play in a
game when a stadium is as empty and quiet as a library. It’s sad that three out
of the four hits by the Marlins were by the two players who use to play for the
Phillies in Pierre and Polanco. That’s how terrible this Marlins team is.
Will Polanco and
Pierre have a big series against their former team? Sound off and stay tuned
until next time…
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