MVN - Most Valuable Network

Uggla powers Fish past D-Backs

Micah Owings? More like Micah Woahings. The Arizona starter was dominant on Tuesday night, breezing through 7 innings and only giving up 3 runs while mowing down 10 but the Marlins’ staff was just a little bit better. Mark Hendrickson, Matt Lindstrom, Justin Miller and Kevin Gregg combined to strike out 13, surrendering just two runs. Dan Uggla’s fourteenth homer of the year, a 6th inning solo blast, would prove to be the deciding factor as the host Fish beat the D-Backs, 3-2.

Hendrickson still had trouble keeping his pitch count down but his line looked a lot better than it did after his two previous starts. He went 5 innings and gave up just one run on a sacrifice fly while fanning 7. Hendrickson hasn’t allowed more than a single tally in two of his last three starts but he’s only pitched 9.2 innings over that span dating back to May 2. Before that start against the Padres, Hendrickson had been averaging 6.1 innings per game. This was a good comeback outing for the year-old but he’s got to stop getting behind early in counts and start getting deeper into games not only for his own sake but for his team’s sake as well. This month, when a starter doesn’t make it past the 5th inning, the Marlins are 2-5 and the bullpen’s ERA is 4.07 and climbing. Florida has lost a total of 7 May games.

Two years ago, the Marlins purchased the contract of one Dan Uggla from the Arizona Diamondbacks through the Rule 5 Draft, a then virtually unknown process which allows teams to draft any player from any team that is not on a Major League 40-man roster for the price of $50,000. So far, Uggla is proving to be a worthwhile investment. For the 72nd time in his career and 15th time in 2008, Uggla took one deep, plating what would wind up being the deciding run. Since being moved down in the order, he is hitting .563 with 6 long balls. Jeremy Hermida and Luis Gonzalez knocked in the other two Florida runs. Gonzo is 11 for his last 38.

Things won’t get any easier tomorrow when Brandon Webb, the league leader in wins takes the mound for Arizona. Ricky Nolasco will get the nod for the Fish. Like Hendrickson, Nolasco has also struggled with high pitch counts this year. He was rolling along in his last outing, tossing 4.2 scoreless innings but an elusive third out in the 5th would lead to the end of his day. He’s only tossed one game against the Diamondbacks in his career, a 7.1 inning, 3 run win.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 2:32 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.