MVN - Most Valuable Network

Marlins, Amezaga rain on Nats’, Perez’s parade

Ricky Nolasco got the start on Wednesday afternoon at Dolphin Stadium and pitched pretty well. Washington starter Odalis Perez did as well but fortunately middle reliever Charlie Manning did not. In fact, Manning was bad. Real bad. Egregiously bad. Giving up a home run to a seasonal .160 hitter vs LHP after an hour and forty-five minute rain delay bad. Alfredo Amezaga’s 7th inning shot, just his second of the year and first off a lefty since 2006 gave the Marlins their first lead of the day and eventually propelled them to a 4-2 win and a series victory over the Nationals.

Nolasco was solid once again, going at least 7 innings for a fourth straight start, recording his ninth quality start in his last 11 outings and lowering his ERA to underneath 4 for the first time this season. After racking up one of the National League’s best K:BB ratios amongst starters up in June, he got his July off to an 8:0 start. He’s walked one or less in his last 29.2 innings pitched. However, Nolasco won’t get a chance to show Clint Hurdle, who has the honor of coaching the NL All-Star team this year and hand picking his pitching staff, what he can do first hand. He will be the only member of the Marlins’ rotation that does not start in the upcoming four game series at Coors.

Perez got the most out of the two Nolasco runs though, limiting the Marlins to just 5 hits over 6 innings which was definitely a good sign for a starting staff that has been riddled by injuries this season. With his pitch count at just 77, Perez was still rolling in the 7th. For the Marlins, the rain couldn’t have come at a better time. A 105 minute delay forced Manny Acta to reluctantly go to his bullpen which had been downright dreadful in the first two games of this series, giving up 7 of Florida’s 11 runs. They were no better today. It took Manning just 3 pitches to ruin the shutout, put the Marlins in the lead and waste Perez’s outing. Wes Helms gave the Marlins a little extra cushion in the 8th, knocking in a run (it would have been two if not for a spectacular play by Roger Bernadina) off of Saul Rivera. Helms has hit safely in six of his last eight starts. Kevin Gregg showed some signs of consistency as he tossed his second straight uneventful 9th inning to seal it.

The aforementioned four game series with Colorado starts tomorrow. Andrew Miller vs former Marlin Mark Redman. Right about now, Miller would make a great spokesman for Kit-Kat. He needs to be given a break. The Marlins have played terrible defense behind Miller as of late which has translated into some not-so-hot looking lines. The 24-year-old has only lasted a combined 9.2 innings in his last two starts, both losses. Redman will be filling in for an injured Jeff Francis. In four career starts against Florida, he’s 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 4:51 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.