Fish Wrap - Marlins 2, Reds 7

The Marlins made their way to the Great American Ballpark on Friday the 13th to kick off a series with the Cincinnati Reds.

For the Marlins, Elm Street might have been a happier place than the GAB, and Freddy Krueger or Jason may have been a more welcome opponent than Edinson Volquez, who held the Fish scoreless through five innings.

Along with the Marlin-unfriendly park and the creepy date on the calendar, the team had sleep deprivation to deal with due to the two-hour rain delay in DC Thursday night. The Fish didn't get to their hotel in Cinci until 4:30 Friday morning, and it would seem that Josh Johnson wasn't dealing well with the lack of sleep.

JJ wasn't himself from the get-go. He gave up two runs on four consecutive singles to open up the bottom of the first inning. Then after he retired Jim Edmonds, Jay Bruce hit what could have been an inning-ending double play, but it took a bad hop and deflected off of Hanley's glove, allowing another run to score. After the first, the Reds led 3-0.

Josh's struggles continued through the second and third innings, and in the fourth,the Reds got to him again. Volquez singled to lead off the bottom off the inning, and was out when Brandon Phillips grounded into a fielder's choice. Laynce Nix followed with a hit that once again was deflected by Hanley, and Joey Votto singled to score Phillips. Scott Rolen continued the carnage with a double that scored Votto.

That was the end of the road for JJ, who hopefully made a B-line for the nearest bed. In just 3 2/3 innings, he allowed six runs on ten hits, striking out nobody. Tank came on in relief and induced a ground ball to end the inning.

Unfortunately, the rest of the game still had to be played--MLB rules and all. Tank came back out to pitch the fifth, and promptly gave up a solo shot to Jay Bruce to make it 7-0 Redlegs.

In the top of the sixth, the Fish finally got on the board. Mike Stanton hit his 13th homer of the season, and that was Volquez's last inning on the mound. He surrendered just one run on eight hits through six innings, and struck out six.

The Marlins bullpen didn't allow another run after the home run Tank gave up in the fifth, but it really didn't matter, since the only run the Marlins would manage to score was on Mike Stanton's second home run of the game, a solo shot off of Logan Ondrusek in the eighth.

Get some sleep tonight, boys. We have to do this again tomorrow.

P.S. Anybody know an exorcist in the Cincinnati area? The Fish need one at the GAB.