MVN - Most Valuable Network

Royals extend Marlins’ skid to four games

Dan Uggla went 3-3 with a solo homer, his fifteenth and Andrew Miller tossed his third straight quality start but a throwing error by Hanley Ramirez and a poor decision by Justin Miller would spell the Marlins’ doom as they dropped their fourth straight game, a 7-6 decision in favor of the Royals.

Miller pitched well allowing just 2 earned runs while striking out 5 and walking 3. He gave up both of his runs in the 1st. With one out, he walked Mark Grudzielanek and gave up a double to Alex Gordon. They were both plated by Jose Guillen’s 2 RBI single. After that, Miller found his groove, setting down his next six in a row on just 30 pitches but it would be once again be Guillen hurting him to begin a lengthy 4th. Guillen doubled and with one out, Miguel Olivo reached on a Wes Helms fielding error. Miller came back though, getting Mark Teahen to strike out and getting Brett Tomko to tap a routine grounder to Ramirez that should have gotten him out of the inning. Instead, a lazy flat-footed throw would bring in a run and bring an eventual early end to what had the makings of another promising outing for the 22-year-old hurler. The poor play behind him appeared to have frustrated Miller (and rightfully so). With no place to put ‘em, he walked in a second unearned run. He pitched to four batters in the 5th before taking a seat for the night. The Marlins have now committed 39 errors, third most in the league. Perry Hill, we miss you dearly.

But perhaps the biggest gaffe of the night was made by reliever Justin Miller and his battery mate Matt Treanor. As a hitter, Olivo has one of the shortest scouting reports in baseball: Strikes out an astronomical amount but mashes the straight stuff. Translation: Don’t throw him a fastball. Miller’s first pitch? Fastball. Olivo just missed it. Miller’s second pitch? Fastball right down the middle. Lightning didn’t strike twice. Olivo put it in the left field seats. This month, Miller has squandered 5 earned runs in just 5 innings. Paging Joe Nelson!

A two run Helms single in the 8th and a two run Jeremy Hermida homer in the 9th got Florida to within a run but Joakim Soria squashed the rally there, striking out Ramirez and Jorge Cantu to end the game. Florida’s 1-4 hitters went 1-18.

The good news? Mike Jacobs will be back in the lineup for the second game of this series tomorrow night. Brian Bannister and Scott Olsen are your probable pitchers.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 12:09 am and is filed under Game Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.