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.