Fish Wrap: Marlins 11, Nationals 2, Mantis 1

Let the celebration begin! The Marlins are no longer in last place in the NL East! (Here at FishStripes, it's the little things that keep us going.)

The Fish broke out the whooping sticks against the Nationals Tuesday night in DC, and moved out of the cellar with a convincing 11-2 victory. Third place, here we come.

Coming off of his horrendous 1 1/3-inning outing last week, Ricky Nolasco recovered nicely, allowing just two runs over 5 1/3 innings. The first hit Ricky allowed was a solo home run by Laynce Nix to lead off the fifth, and after an RBI double in the sixth put the Nats' second run on the board, the bullpen took over for Ricky from there.

Greg Dobbs was in the lineup Tuesday, filling in for Gaby Sanchez, who was nursing a tight hammy. Dobbs made the most of the opportunity and had a big night at the plate, going 3-for-5 and driving in 5 of the Marlins 11 runs. After his groundouts in the first and third both scored runs, Dobbs hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth, and added a two-run double in the Marlins' 5-run ninth inning. 

It was also a good night for Emilio Bonifacio, who extended his hitting streak to 24 games, and is now just one hit away from tying the Marlins franchise record. 

Logan Morrison had an interesting game, hitting a two-run homer in the top of the third, which led to a bit of a scuffle in the dugout between LoMo and the team's new mascot, Manny the Marlin. FishStripes has obtained exclusive video (and by exclusive, we mean we are one of only 3 billion people with access to this gem).