If you saw yesterday's game, and I did for a change, the seventh inning didn't go so well.
Guillermo Rodriguez led off the seventh and reached first when Ramirez muffed a routine grounder. Two batters later, Rajai Davis' sacrifice bunt was thrown away by Gardner (3-4) for a second error.
The third error came on the same play when right fielder Cody Ross' throw to second sailed wide. Rodriguez and Ryan Klesko scored on the botched bunt play.
"It didn't look pretty,'' Ross said of the botched bunt, "but everybody was in the right position.''
Cody is right, everyone rotated properly on the bunt play.
When the bunt went down Jacobs, Cabrera, Treanor and Gardner all went to field it, with Hanley going to third, Danny to first and the outfield backing up or covering bases for the infielders. The player rotation was perfect. But unfortunately that meant the team had a lot of people playing positions they aren't familiar with.
Gardner's errant throw to first would have probably been easily snagged by Derrek Lee, but Danny isn't a gold glove first baseman, nor should be expected to come up with plays that require one.
Cody hustling over had the play backed up and unfortunately rushed the throw which wasn't called for since he has a strong arm. But De Aza who was covering second forgot the cardinal rule....come to think about it, he probably doesn't know the cardinal rule, which is: in that situation you never let the ball go into the outfield even if it means coming off the base. He didn't, he stayed glued to the base.
The guys were hustling to get were they needed to be and that is commendable, but I'm having a hard time understanding why they can't throw any better to the bases than they do.
The Marlins lead the majors in errors with 102 and are on pace to commit 133 for the season. Last season they committed 126 errors. But their fielding percentage is about the same as last season. Yes, I know all of the problems with the fielding percentage stat.
Given how this year is going I'm sure Andy Fox will be given a pass since he joined the team late. But if this keeps up, someone will be held accountable, and they aren't going to trade all of the players.
But I must say this again, the player rotation was a thing of beauty. Perhaps Gardner had the best explanation of the event.