MVN - Most Valuable Network

Miller shelled, Dodgers avoid sweep

Sunday afternoon’s series finale in Los Angeles didn’t last long. Andrew Miller got hit hard, giving up 7 earned runs in just 1.2 innings, a career worst outing. The Dodgers went on to win 9-2, avoiding the sweep.

The Marlins struck early against Chad Billingsley. Alfredo Amezaga, in the lineup for Hanley Ramirez, who sat out as a precaution, led off with a single and Luis Gonzalez knocked him in with an RBI double. When he gives up a 1st inning run, Billingsley is 0-4. However, when he gets 4+ runs of support, he’s 7-0. Miller gave up 5 in the Dodgers’ half of the 1st on 3 hits and 3 walks, including one to Andruw Jones, who had walked just once in his last 10 games coming in. The opening frame has been torturous to Miller this year. Prior to this game, his BAA in it was .349. In the past, the 24-year-old has shaken off a rough 1st and gone on to some pretty good outings. Not this time. Miller walked two more and gave up another run on another Nomar Garciaparra double and got the hook. I’d say chalk it up to learning but he’s already had several starts chalked up to learning this season. If this team is going to make a postseason run, they can’t afford to have Miller in the starting rotation. When Anibal Sanchez gets back, Miller should be headed back to Zebulon.

Mark Hendrickson did a fantastic job of limiting the damage out of the pen. Over his 5.1 innings, he only allowed 3 singles and 2 walks. However, Chad Billingsley proved to be nearly untouchable for the Marlins’ offense. After the 2nd inning, all he allowed was two hits, including a Cody Ross single which extended his hit streak to 17 games. Billingsley struck out a career high 13. At one point, he set down 6 in a row via the K.

The Marlins enter the All-Star break at 50-45. They’ve only had 50+ wins after the first half twice in franchise history: 1997 and 2003. They have a winning percentage of .527. The only time it has been better at the break? 1997. In case you missed it, the Fish went on to win the World Series both of those years.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 6:08 pm 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.