Fish Wrap: Marlins 5, Dodgers 4

A wise* person once said, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish."

If any team can attest to the truth of that statement, it's the 2011 Marlins, who won with a comeback for the ninth time this season on Monday night, topping the Dodgers 5-4 with a walk-off.

With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton walked Emilio Bonifacio. Then the badly slumping Hanley Ramirez, who sat out of the starting lineup, had a pinch hit single to move Boni to third. Scott Cousins was up next and hit a slow grounder which Jamey Carroll misplayed, and the resulting the error allowed Bonifacio to score and tie the game. With two on base, the Dodgers chose to walk Chris Coghlan, who had already homered twice in the game, and go after Omar  Infante instead. Infante's gaffes at the plate and on the bases had cost the Fish earlier in the eighth, but the second baseman more than made up for it with a walk-off single to end the game in shaving cream pie celebration.

The Marlins spent 8 1/2 innings of their series opener with L.A. forgetting all about "mastering the obvious," before a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth redeemed the game.

Jon Garland, who has never been very kind to the FIsh, held the Marlins to just four hits through seven innings. Two of those hits, however, were solo home runs by Chris Coghlan, which gave the Marlins a 2-1 advantage heading into the seventh.  

Ricky Nolasco lasted 6 1/3 innings against LA, and allowed three runs on seven hits. The Dodgers tied up the game in the top of the fourth with a walk and two singles, and after a wild pitch and line drive base hit put two on in the seventh, Ryan Webb took over for Ricky. Webb allowed both inherited runners to score, and the Dodgers were up 3-2 after seven. 

The Dodgers scored again in the top of the eighth, when Edward Mujica allowed a double by Matt kemp and an RBI single by James Loney to make it 4-2 in favor of LA.

The Marlins would score again in the bottom of the eighth to bring them within a run. After Cousins walked and Coghlan singled, Omar Infante made the terrible decision to bunt. He then made an even worse decision to bunt rather poorly, which resulted in the lead runner being thrown out at third. Gaby Sanchez's single scored Coghlan, but another poor decision from Infante killed the inning. Mike Stanton flied out to center, and Infante's attempt to tag and reach third failed miserably, seeing as the ball reached about a week before Omar did. Inning over.

The good news is that Omar's ninth inning heroics more than made up for the blunders in the eighth, and the Fish walked off to win their series opener with the Dodgers.

The Marlins are on a roll.

*since I have no idea who the author of this quote is, I really cannot verify whether he/she was wise at all. But it's fun to say.