It was Super Saturday at Sun Life Stadium as the Marlins and Braves took the field for fireworks and a concert featuring Sean "Puffy" Combs, aka P Diddy, aka Diddy Dirty Money.
Oh wait--the Marlins and Braves were actually there to play a game. It was the crowd that was there for Puff Dirty Diddy, some fireworks and a noise-making giveaway, but first had to endure the inconvenience of game two of the Marlins-Braves series. (But fret not, Super Saturday fans, our sources say Mr. Loria is considering doing away with the annoying "game" aspect of Super Saturday when the new park opens in 2012, since "baseball is entertainment for the 90's.")
As a happy start to the game, Anibal Sanchez gave up a lead-off home run to Martin Prado to put the Braves up 1-0. The good news for the Fish was that Kris Medlen didn't fare much better in the bottom of the inning. Medlen plunked Chris Coghlan to start things off, and Cogz advanced to third on a line drive single from Gaby Sanchez. With runners at the corners an one out, Dan Uggla grounded out to tie the game.
In the top of the third Atlanta regained the lead when Jason Heyward singled, stole second, and scored on an RBI base hit by Brian McCann. And once again, the Marlins answered back in the bottom of the inning. Chris Coghlan singled, and Gaby drove him in with an RBI double to tie the game again. Danny followed with a two-run homer to put the Marlins up 4-2.
Super Saturday fans got an extra show in the fifth when Edwin Rodriguez got tossed from the game for the first time in his Big League managerial career. Anibal disagreed with home plate umpire Marty Foster's strike zone when he walked Jason Heyward, and Edwin argued with Foster and was ejected from the game, leaving the field to a standing ovation from the crowd.
They would stop cheering shortly thereafter.
The Marlins added on in the sixth when Mike Stanton hit a two-out solo home run to make it 5-2, and that's where the good news ended for the Fish.
At 100 pitches, Anibal's was pulled from the game. Brian Sanches tossed a scoreless seventh for the Fish, and then all hell broke loose.
In the eighth, Taylor Tankersley loaded the bases when Heyward singled, Chipper Jones reached on a throwing error by Jorge Cantu, and McCann got hit by a pitch. With no outs, Tank was pulled for Jhan Marinez, who couldn't throw strikes, and walked in a run before giving up a game-tying two-run single to Eric Hinske.
Burke Badenhop was the next to try his luck at getting an out in the eighth. Instead, Alex Gonzalez reached on another error by Cantu to load the bases. Burke did record an out in the inning, but followed that out by giving up a grand slam to Brooks Conrad to put the Braves up 9-5. They added another run against The Hopper before he recorded the third out, and after scoring 8 runs in the inning, the Braved led the game 10-5.
After a very promising start, Jorge Cantu and the bullpen coughed up the lead, and even Donnie Murphy couldn't save them this time as the Marlins dropped game two of the series.
On second thought, we really should have just skipped ahead to the concert.