Fish Wrap: Marlins 5, Phillies 4

by GameFish on Sep 5, 2011 9:14 AM EDT in News and Rumors

There are few moments in baseball as exhilarating as the walk off...walk. And after 14 innings, the Marlins delivered one to victory-hungry fans (there were a few Fish fans in attendance, I'm sure) on the final Sunday afternoon game at Sun Life Stadium.

With the game all tied up at 4, the Marlins loaded the bases in the 12th and 13th innings, but weren't able to push a run across. In the 14th, Emilio Bonifacio led off with a walk, Greg Dobbs was walked intentionally, and with two outs, Herndon put Logan Morrison on as well to load the bases. Mike Cameron was the fourth Fish to get a free pass in the inning, plating the winning run after nearly five hours, in what was the Marlins' longest game of the season.

Of course, the game was played under protest by the Phillies, so perhaps the walk-off will be rendered null and void. With the game tied at 2 in the sixth, Ryan Howard led off with a walk, and Hunter Pence hit a long fly ball to right that Bryan Petersen lept to catch. A large, annoying Phillies fan reached out and knocked the ball away, and Petersen's glove as well. The play was initially ruled a double, but after review, Joe West called fan interference and Pence was out.

Charlie Manuel didn't like the call, obviously, and was ejected for arguing with West, and the Philths decided to play the game under formal protest.

Whatevs.

Roy Halladay must not have brought his magical pitching rubber with him, because he gave up three runs on nine hits through six innings.

Bonifacio tripled to lead off the bottom of the first, and Omar Infante singled him home to give the Marlins an early lead. They would score again in the third thanks to an error by Halladay.

The Phillies took the lead in the second off of Anibal Sanchez, who went six innings and allowed two runs on six hits.

Sanchez didn't do well after the Phillies took a million hours icing him with their futile arguments in the sixth, and gave up a double to Raul Ibanez before intentionally walking Carlos Ruiz to load the bases with only one out. But on the next at-bat, Sanchy induced a double play that Omar Infante turned to end the inning.

The Marlins took the lead in the bottom of the inning on a two-out RBI single by Jose Lopez, but the Phillies answered right back in the seventh.

With one out, Burke Badenhop walked Shane Victorino and Michael Martinez, which prompted McKeon to yank him in favor of Mike Dunn. After getting Utley to ground out, Ryan Howard's two-run single put the Phillies in the lead.

Michael Schwimmer took over for Halladay in the bottom of the seventh and walked Infante to open the frame. Greg Dobbs doubled Infante to third, and Gaby Sanchez grounded into a fielder's choice to tie the game again.

The Marlins have won two games in a row. And for some reason, that feels like a miracle.

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Comments

If the protest being upheld led to either Joe West being fired and/or an expansion of instant replay,

I’d be all for it — gotta think of the greater good.

by dgriot on Sep 5, 2011 1:59 PM EDT reply actions

I agree.

href="http//www.softball-spot.com/"www.softball-spot.com/

by CoachBeckyWittenburg on Sep 5, 2011 2:01 PM EDT reply actions

Murphy, Baker, and Sanches are back

woo-hoo

Really like the idea of Baker getting 2 righties a week next season. Would’ve liked to see Hayes get a bit more time, but he’s probably the same AAAA catcher as before outside of a 1-2 week hot stretch earlier this year. Buck/Baker should be good for a few seasons. If we’re really lucky, Skipworth’s power surge over the last couple weeks is a sign of things to come and he’s just been slow to adjust after being promoted too quickly (and not a total bust). Or Realmuto’s bat is legit and his defense comes along over the next few seasons.

A shame that Murphy’s injury killed any chance he had at the 3B spot this year, but depending on what the Fish do in the offseason, they’re pretty much in the same spot as before. Dominguez isn’t ready, bat-wise, and may never be more than say Pedro Feliz in his prime. We were lucky Dobbs’ bat didn’t completely disappear over a whole season; would only want him back as lefty bench bat and not in real contention of everyday 3B. Murphy could still give say Dobbs’ 2011 offense but with better defense next season, and could be a decent fallback option if the Fish solely focus on upgrading starting pitching in the offseason.

Don’t know how to feel about Sanches. Up for arbitration for the 1st time, but should be cheap as a middle reliever. It feels like we’re full of average guys who can give multiple innings. Guess it depends on whether Mujica, Nunez, or other (Loria’s love for Bell becoming fully realized for example) becomes the closer and if there are any other trades, but Mujica, Webb and Dunn are locks. Choate’s a lock if not traded. Cishek and/or Ceda are likely. That leaves potentially one spot for Hensley/Badenhop/Sanches/other.

by dgriot on Sep 5, 2011 2:57 PM EDT reply actions

if we get bell there's no way we'll keep nunez

If we do trade Nunez (which IMO we should) we should either try and add someone like bell/madson…If we can’t get anyone I wouldn’t mind Cishek Closing

at 3rd I think that Boni is clearly the best option.
And Petey has impressed me alot, if we could get anything good SP wise for Coghlan I wouldn’t mind that at all, maybe pair him with Volstad in a trade.

http://baseballperiod.blogspot.com/

by bronzeagle on Sep 5, 2011 5:04 PM EDT up reply actions

It'll be an interesting offseason

It’s a fairly weak FA market and the Fish don’t have the ammo to do much via trade outside of getting creative (e.g., combining buy-low types like Cogs and Volstad and get a couple of fringe guys back ala Willingham/Olsen deal, or signing a LF stopgap and trading one of Gaby/LoMo).

It seems like there are multiple glaring holes (2/5 of rotation, CF, 2B, 3B), and at best, we have some decent fallback options (Boni at 2B or 3B, Petey at CF, etc.), but nothing that they should count on.

I kinda hope they don’t sign Bell or Madson because it seems like bullpen is the least of our worries. The lack of an elite backend guy is made up by great depth and the fact that a good chunk are still maturing.

Starting pitching is easily the biggest weakness. Since CJ Wilson, CC, Buehrle, etc. are pipe dreams, they should probably focus on convincing Javy to come back and maybe Livo or Maholm (if option not picked up). Also be proactive on the buy-low market and lure guys like Kawakami, Maine, Garcia, etc. early in the offseason to compete for the 4th/5th spot. Maybe even try and get someone serviceable by taking on salary, like trading for Lowe. Volstad is fine for AAA depth or trade bait. Hand needs to be back at AA. And we can’t automatically pencil in Sanabia to start 2012 either.

by dgriot on Sep 5, 2011 7:12 PM EDT up reply actions

I kinda see

2B, CF, 3B filled by what we have (we should resign infante)…at least what I have seen of Petey/Boni have been enough to convince me that we would be much better off trying to fix our rotation. In which I only see 3 pitchers I really trust. I could see the FO try to gain some attention by adding Wilson or Buehrle which would be fantastic. However its unlikely and if we add someone like Bedard/jackson or an innings eater like hernandez to keep hand away from the majors and our bullpen away from the game. IMO it doesn’t matter how much talent you have in a bullpen, If they’re overworked and therefore overexposed they won’t be able to do their job of getting guys out. Instead Batters will get accustomed to them and they won’t provide that radically different, and hopefully uncomfortable AB for the opposing batters….well and the pitchers will be tired and physically won’t be able to be at their peak.

well either way we need a SP or 2…the better the pitcher, the better. Maybe a sell low trade, maybe a FA, maybe both, maybe 2 of one of those. IMO Coghlan/Volstad seem like the natural choices to be traded, but I could see Peterson or some prospects being moved as well.

http://baseballperiod.blogspot.com/

by bronzeagle on Sep 5, 2011 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions

add nunez to that natural choice to be traded list

and
just looking at the 2012 FA pool there are about 5 players that would make solid closers and a ton of good middle relief pitchers. RP should be cheap to come by this offseason, if there’s any way to get one cheap and even though it might not be an actual need I’d support it.
Bell will probably be too expensive even with the deep market.

http://baseballperiod.blogspot.com/

by bronzeagle on Sep 5, 2011 8:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I could live with that 2B/CF/3B scenario

only if they bring in two SP upgrades – there should be enough offense from Hanley/Stanton/LoMo/Gaby/Catching spot that it can weather some blah bats, and Infante’s offensive first half was probably more bad luck than anything.

The main downside to trading Cogs now is his value is absolutely shot; wonder if it’d be worthwhile to try and play him next season to rebuild some value, unless they can get something for him when packaged with others.

Also, I’m not sure Petersen has any trade value — I think every team has a few players who currently profile as bench guys/AAA depth, but maybe, just maybe, can become a regular if given the chance.

by dgriot on Sep 5, 2011 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions