Fish Wrap - Marlins 8, Nationals 2

The Marlins finally played a game and this one was in the nation's capital facing the young phenom of the Nationals.  This game turned out the way every Marlins fan was hoping and in the process it caused a lot of head scratching and questions from the Nationals faithful.

It went something like this.

In the first inning with one out Stephen Strasburg walked Logan Morrison, then with two outs Dan Uggla hit a shot into the begonias, chrysanthemums, begonias, flowers to give the Marlins a two run lead.  Anibal Sanchez was dealing and retired the Nationals in order.  2-0 Marlins.

Nothing much happened it the second inning but the third would prove to be different.  With one out Hanley Ramirez doubled to right.  LoMo showing very good plate discipline walked again.  Gaby Sanchez hit a ground ball to third to move Hanley to third, and in doing so replaced LoMo at first.  Next up was Danny who hit a high fastball to left-center gap to double home Hanley and Gaby.  That would prove to be all the Marlins needed.

In the bottom of the third, Ivan Rodriguez would get the first hit of the game for the Nationals with a single to center.  Then with two outs Anibal walked Roger Bernadina moving Pudge to second.  Ian Desmond followed with a routine ground ball to third.  Unfortunately, Wes Helms got ahead of himself and let the ball go under his glove and allowed Pudge to score an unearned run.  So after three, 4-1 Marlins.

Let's move ahead to the fifth.  Hanley doubled to left to open the inning.  With one out, Gaby doubled to bring Hanley home.  And thus ending Strasburg night.  The Nationals didn't want him to face Danny again.  So Miguel Batista entered the game in relief.  Obviously, Batista was paying attention to the game in the bullpen and promptly walked Danny.  This probably seemed like a good idea at the time.  But a problem would occur when with two outs, Stanton drew a walk to load the bases.  Wes Helms, did more than make up for his poor play in the field by lacing a double to left to score Gaby and Danny.

In the bottom of the fifth, Anibal kept dealing.  So when the inning was over it was: 7-1 Marlins.

In later innings the Marlins would score another run which was offset by another Nationals unearned run.

It was pretty obvious that this game was out of hand when Emilio Bonifacio pinch hit for Danny in the ninth.  There are only two choices when this happens.  One, the game has become a laugher on the Marlins side or Two, something has gone horribly wrong.  In this case, it was the former.  I would like to note, (thanks ocelotfox) that Boni drew his first walk of the season in his plate appearance.  Wonders never cease.

The facts are Anibal was big time on and the Marlins offense broke out the whopping sticks.  Always a welcomed sight around these parts.

So when everything was said and done, the Marlins won 8-2.