Fish Wrap - Marlins 3, Dodgers 7

If you decided to go to bed early, you made the right decision, for this wasn't the Marlins finest moment.  Everything was going as expected with neither team scoring in the first.  Then the second inning happened, oh, sure, the Marlins didn't even threaten to get a run home but the Dodgers did more than threaten, they actually did it.

After Chris Volstad struck out the first batter, Russell Martin walk and Blake DeWitt followed with a single.  Vicente Pailla successfully bunt them over and Rafael Furcal drove them home by singling to center.  Then a reoccurring theme of the night would rear it's ugly head.  Matt Kemp homered to score himself and Furcal.  After two, 4-0 Dodgers.

The Marlins would naturally do next to nothing for the next six innings.  However the Dodgers game plain was slightly different.  In the third Casey Blake hit a solo shot to make the score 5-0 Dodgers.  When Volstad walked the leadoff hitter in the fourth, his night was done.  So the Marlins turned to Alex Sanabia and there was some hope when he struck out the side.

But that hope soon faded when Sanabia decided to show that Volstad wasn't the only pitcher who could leave pitches up and out over the plate and Andre Ethier took him deep in the fifth to make the score 6-0 Dodgers.  

The Marlins finally got on the board in the seventh when Cody Ross singled and couple of batters later Mike Stanton homered to shallow left to drive in two runs.  The home run wasn't a majestic belt, but I'm sure it thrilled the Stanton well-wishers in the crowd.  Actually, it thrilled me too since the Marlins kept Padilla's streak alive of giving up a dinger in every game he has pitched this season.  Not to mention, it secured the fact the Marlins wouldn't be shutout.  Score, 6-2 Dodgers.

With Tim Wood on the mound in the eighth, the Dodgers answered back when Furcal drove in DeWitt to make the score 7-2 Dodgers.

Going into the ninth trailing by five runs a normal team would just go through the motions, but there is nothing normal about the Marlins.  Dan Uggla and Cody Ross singled back-to-back to start the inning.  Later Stanton would lace a line drive to left to bring in Danny.  So with the score being 7-3 and two runners on and all Marlins fans hoping they would just get one more runner on base to give us a chance to see if Gaby could be the hero.  Joe Torre decided he had seen enough and brought Jonathan Broxton into pitch.  Gaby never made it to the plate.  Broxton retired the Marlins.

Really, this game wasn't worth watching.  However, you kinda, gotta, admire the way the Marlins tried to make it interesting at the end.