Fish Wrap - Marlins 5, Rockies 2

Since GameFish is resting and relaxing in the FishStripes Chalet in the South of France, the recap falls to me.  Who knew GameFish was a big fan of the Tour de France?  

So let's see what we can do. 

The Marlins got on the board early when in the bottom of the first, with two outs, Hanley Ramirez singled to center.  Hanley eventually stole second and made it to third on Chris Iannetta's throwing error.  With two strikes, Dan Uggla doubled to the gap in left to drive home Hanley.  Jorge Cantu, with his newly awakened bat, followed with a double to right, and the Marlins took the early 2-0 lead.

Everything got better in the Marlins half of the second when Mike Stanton doubled to left, and with two outs Chris Coghlan walked.  Jason Hammel obviously hadn't faced Gaby Sanchez but the one time in the first inning, because you just don't throw a pitch to Gaby where he did.  Gaby turned the ball around and it landed on the blue tarp in center field to increase the lead to Marlins 5, Rockies 0.

This is where the Marlins scoring would end.  I guess the offense decided that it was more than enough for Ricky Nolasco, and they were correct.

Ricky was a little wild in the zone early on, but when you throw the explosive breaking pitches that Ricky throws, it just takes a little while for the umpire to figure it out.  Not to mention Brad Davis learning how to frame his pitches.  He was perfect in the fourth and fifth inning, and then came the first possible problem.  In the sixth, Seth Smith led off with a single, and with one out Carlos Gonzalez was safe on Danny's fielding error.  Jason Giambi followed with a laser to center but that turned out to be no problem as Cody Ross made a great over the shoulder catch crashing into the center field wall.  After the catch the crowd stood up and chanted "CO-DY, CO-DY, CO-DY,"  a chant I will never grow tired of as long as Cody is with the Marlins.

Ricky pitched a perfect seventh, but in eighth it appeared he was running out of gas.  The inning started with Dexter Fowler walking, and then Seth Smith hit one into the right field seats.  But that was no problem for Mr. Nolasco, he just retired the next three in order.  So the game went to the ninth with the Marlins leading 5-2.

Leo Nunez came on for the save and he did it in typical Leo fashion.  He got the first two hitters out, but then gave up a double to Ian Stewart.  But he wasn't done there. Leo then walked Melvin Mora to bring the tying run to the plate.  Afterwards, he did what he normally does and struck out the final hitter to ensure the win.  

It was Ricky's 50th career win placing him second on the Marlins career win list.

The Marlins are guaranteed at least a split of the series and are in position to win a rare four-gamer.