A night without baseball is never fun but it will be nice to get out of Cincinnati. The Marlins will come home to take on the Royals in the first game of a three game weekend set on Friday night, opening up their interleague schedule. Andrew Miller will pitch on an extra day of rest against Brett Tomko. Miller will look to take another step forward in the maturation process. The Royals, who are fresh off of a three game sweep of the Tigers, will be a good test for him. Tomko has been up and down this year. After a sharp outing against the Angels, he gave up 6 runs in 5 1/3 his last time out against the Orioles. On the year, he’s 1-4 with a 5.67 ERA.

Ricky Nolasco, fresh off the heels of his best outing of the year, got the start and pitched pretty well but he was victimized by a small strike zone. Or something like that. Bottom 5, two on, two out and Jerry Hairston Jr. at the plate. On a 2-2 pitch, Nolasco freezes him with the slider. If this thing were anywhere closer to the heart of the plate, it’d have been in it’s right ventricle. Home plate umpire Larry Vanover called it a ball. Next pitch: Hairston triples. An intentional walk later, he’s plated by Brandon Phillips and Nolasco gets the hook. 25 of his 97 pitches came in the prolonged 5th. The bullpen was as sub-par as it’s ever been this year in relief. Logan Kensing gave up a run in the 6th and Justin Miller gave up a run in both of his innings. Through the first three games of this series, the pen’s ERA is an inflated 7.50.

Three days after going 8 innings, giving up just one run and striking out 9 Mets, Bronson Arroyo breezed through 7 innings, scattering just 5 hits and punching out 5. He handed things over to the bullpen, 99% sure that he was going to be awarded with his second straight win. Mike Lincoln pitched a 1-2-3 8th, sending fans to the exits early in an effort to beat traffic. They soon learned why you never leave a baseball game before the twenty-seventh out is recorded. Lincoln’s next four hitters: Single, single, RBI double, HBP. So Dusty Baker goes to his closer, Francisco Cordero, who hasn’t blown a 9th inning lead in his last 17 appearances. His first pitch is ripped into center field by Matt Treanor, plating two more and bringing Ross, who is battling with Alfredo Amezaga for playing time, to the plate representing the tying run. After getting behind 0-2, he tied the game with his second homer of the series. Way to make a case for yourself. Ross has now hit safely in his last 6 starts. He will most definitely get the nod tomorrow and should be patrolling center field for most of the Royals series.

Renyel Pinto looked uncomfortable but still managed to wriggle out of trouble in the bottom of the 9th to send the game to extra innings. Despite his wildness, Fredi Gonzalez chose to send Pinto back out for another inning. That decision would prove to be the wrong one. Pinto got the first two outs in the 10th but then gave up two walks straight walks. With pinch runner Johnny Cueto standing at second, Janish smacked a tailing changeup to right. Game over.

For those keeping track, that’s three straight losses. Two of them can be blamed on ill advised decisions by Fredi. Hopefully he remembers to bring his brain with him to the yard tomorrow as the Marlins look to avoid the sweep in the finale of this four game set. Andrew Miller will match up against Matt Belisle.

Mark Hendrickson got the start and went 5 innings allowing 4 runs on 8 hits. He took the brunt of that damage in the 2nd when he allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks. The Reds brought eight men to the plate in the inning. After failing to make it past the 4th inning his last time out, I think it’s safe to say Hendrickson has come crashing back down to Earth. He’s thrown 202 pitches and has allowed 5 runs on 15 hits in his last 9 frames. He’s allowing more than one hit per inning.

The Marlins had their chances against Edinson Volquez, touching him for a season high 7 hits but the absences of Mike Jacobs and Josh Willingham proved to be costly yet again. Jorge Cantu and Uggla hit back-to-back 1 out singles in the 4th but Volquez was able to pitch out of the jam, getting Luis Gonzalez, who is taking over for the Hammer in left, to fly out and Wes Helms, who is occupying Jacobs’ spot in the lineup, to ground out. The Reds were able to get out of another trouble spot in the 7th after only giving up one run. Alfredo Amezaga led the inning off with a bunt single and came around to score on an Uggla RBI single but, with two outs, Gonzalez grounded into a fielder’s choice. Willingham is a career .309 hitter with two outs and RISP.

Willingham was eligible to come off of the DL Tuesday but he was still experiencing some discomfort in his back. Hammer will probably remain on the injured list and be given a rehab assignment sometime next week so the club can see exactly where he’s at. Jacobs remains day-to-day. During pregame, Fredi Gonzalez said he could have gone today but he just doesn’t feel comfortable starting him until his quad is at 100%.

The Fish will try to at least split this four game series by taking the final two. Two hot starters will go at it on Wednesday. Ricky Nolasco will try to build off of his best start of the year, a 6 inning 1 run outing against the Nationals. Nolasco had great command over his fastball that day, as he struck out a season high 6 and walked just 2. Bronson Arroyo will toe the rubber for the Reds. He, too is coming off of his strongest start of the year, an 8 inning, 1 run game against the Mets. Arroyo had added velocity that night as he struck out a season high 9.

During their seven game win streak, the Marlins used the long ball to their advantage but on Monday night in Cincinnati, it led to their demise. After Florida got out to an early 3-0 lead courtesy of Jeremy Hermida, Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla, the Reds rallied back late, hitting two 7th inning homers to defeat the Fish, 8-7 and give them their first loss since May 1.

Burke Badenhop pitched to the Great American Ballpark well, going 6 innings and only giving up 3 earned runs to notch his third straight quality start. Since getting shelled by Atlanta on April 24, Badenhop has only allowed 14 runs in his last 17.2 innings. With Corey Patterson and Ken Griffey Jr due up in the bottom of the 7th, Fredi Gonzalez went to lefty specialist, Taylor Tankersley. He got Patterson and walked Griffey, bringing Jeff Keppinger, who hits .360/.426/.549/.975 off of lefties, to the plate. Gonzalez remained in the dugout. Keppinger hit a two run homer and Brandon Phillips, who hits .304/.351/.508/.839 off of southpaws, strode to the plate. Once again, Gonzalez remained in the dugout, once again, a baseball was put into orbit and all of a sudden the Reds had a 4 run lead.

With an assist from Griffey Jr, Florida got back to within a run but Francisco Cordero slammed the door in the 9th, setting the Fish down 1-2-3 and stranding Uggla, who is hitting .500 with 4 homers and 8 RBIs in his last 5 games, on deck.

They say you can’t win ‘em all but even after taking seven straight, this was a frustrating loss.

Game two of this four game series tomorrow. Mark Hendrickson and the Fish will have their work cut out for them. They will face rookie phenom Edinson Volquez. Volquez, who the Reds acquired from the Rangers in return for top prospect Josh Hamilton this offseason, has been fabulous through his first six National League starts, going 5-1 and not giving up more than one earned run in any of them. Hendrickson is 5-1 as well but the Reds have been none too kind to him throughout his career. In 18.1 IP, he’s given up 19 runs (18 earned). He got mashed in both of his starts at the GABP, allowing a combined 10 earned runs in just 3.2 frames.

Five days after coming within one pitch of a complete game shutout in his last start, Olsen allowed 4 runs and didn’t strike out any in 6 innings. It was the second time in his last three outings that he’s allowed more than three runs and the second time in his last four that he hasn’t recorded a strikeout. But, in hindsight, it was good to see him have a short, 59 pitch outing. Even though Olsen has performed much better than expected following shoulder problems this spring, he was being overworked. Before Sunday, he had thrown 324 pitches in his last three starts. With the way the bullpen has been pitching, there’s no reason for that.

For the first time in this series, Washington’s starter had a decent outing. Shawn Hill went 7 innings and gave up just two runs but reliever Luis Ayala faltered in the 8th, giving up 3 runs on homers by Jeremy Hermida and Uggla, his second of the day. Since the May 2 lineup change, Hermida is hitting .333 and Uggla is hitting .400.

Next up: Four games in Cincinnati. Burke Badenhop, fresh off his first major league win, will match up against Aaron Harang in game one on Monday.

Miller did not have his command early, throwing first pitch balls to three of his first five hitters and allowing two of them to get into scoring position. With two outs, Lastings Milledge ripped a 3-2 fastball towards the hole but a great play by Hanely Ramirez saved at least one run. Saying Miller settled down after that would be like saying Hanley is human. He went on to set down his next 14 in a row and 19 of his last 20 with the only blemish being a 6th inning base hit. He tied a career high with 7 strikeouts. There are still concerns about the 22-year-old being able to perform consistently at this level and there’s no doubt he’s going to go through his fair share of growing pains but this was a huge step in the right direction.

O’Connor’s herky-jerky delivery, decent fastball and well below average everything else really reminded me of Dontrelle Willis. Not 2003 Willis or even 2007 Willis but the 2008 version of the D-Train, who gave up 7 walks in his first outing before hitting the DL a week later. After giving up 9 earned runs and 6 walks to just 1 strikeout, O’Connor could soon be deactivated as well, at least as far as the majors go. The 28-year-old journeyman starter’s struggles started early — first pitch early. Two minutes into the game, he served up a Cody Ross homer. With two outs the Marlins put another man in scoring position but because Luis Gonzalez felt like swinging at a 3-0 pitch, O’Connor was able to limit the damage to just a single run. He looked under control in the 2nd as he set the 7, 8 and 9 hitters down in order but that was just the calm before the storm. He gave up two runs on three walks and a wild pitch in the 3rd and two runs on two walks and three hits in the 4th before being pulled in the middle of an at-bat. 30 of his last 53 pitches were balls. Reliever Joel Hanrahan didn’t fair much better. His first pitch got by his catcher, which allowed Ross to score his second run of the game. With his third, fourth and fifth pitch, he walked Jorge Cantu and gave up Uggla’s first career grand slam. The Marlins scored a total of 7 runs in the inning, a season high. Through the first two games of this series, they are hitting .284 with 2 homers and 6 XBHs.

Florida will go for it’s second consecutive three game sweep tomorrow afternoon in a battle of number ones. Scott Olsen vs. Shawn Hill.

This would put Ramirez, who some are projecting as a shoe in candidate to join the 40-40 club this year, would be making more yearly than the second and third best young players in the game at the position, both of whom are with a top 15 franchise in terms of payroll. The scary part is this was actually a bargain for the Marlins, who are handing out an embarrassing $21 million this year. Hanley will be giving up his arbitration year and three years of free agency so getting the deal done now saved the Fish at least $20 million. Had Ramirez held out until the end of the season, he could have easily garnered $90-95 million. Like David Samson or not, he played this one beautifully.

Thinking back to 2005 when the Marlins traded Carlos Delgado two years after signing him to a four year, $52 million extension, the fact that this deal does not include a no trade clause is a bit sketchy but the new ballpark factor pretty much assures us that we’ll be watching Ramirez play until at least 2013. This news comes not even twenty-four hours after the Marlins selected the contractor for the new stadium.

On so many different levels, this is amazing news. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to continue to run around and scream hysterically.

Nolasco only needed to throw 39 pitches to get through his first 3 frames. He ran into a bit of trouble with two outs in the 4th, giving up back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases. When the bases are juiced, opposing teams hit Nolasco at a .313 clip. He bent, walking Nick Johnson, who got the rally started, in from third but didn’t break, getting Will Nieves to ground out, ending the threat. Nolasco struck out two more in his last inning, coming within one of his career high. Whatever kind of adjustment he made after he gave up 6 runs to the worst offensive team in the NL, it worked.

A trio of Marlins extended personal streaks but Doug Waechter could not extend his. Waechter was roughed up after he took over for Nolasco in the 6th, giving up 2 runs in just 0.2 innings. It was the first time he’d given up a run in his last 8.2 frames. But Renyel Pinto and Kevin Gregg thwarted any kind of comeback attempt, combining to set down Washington’s last six hitters in order. Pinto now leads all NL relievers with 24.2 IP. His ERA is a ridiculous 0.73.

Game two of this three game weekend series tomorrow. Andrew Miller vs. Michael O’Connor.

I can’t write anymore, I’m going to go dance in the street.

Hendrickson struggled from the get go, having to throw 36 pitches to get his first six outs. He didn’t throw a breaking pitch for a strike until the 3rd inning and he allowed a runner to get into scoring position in all but one of his frames. But because the Brewers are only hitting .206 in their last 209 at-bats, Hendrickson was able to limit the damage to just a single run. Save the Padres, any other team would have made him pay. Hendrickson had been marvelous through his first six starts but his reputation for being extremely inconsistent may be coming back to haunt him. Either that or he just had an off day. We’ll find out on Tuesday when he pitches in Cincinnati.

Logan Kensing came on with two on and one out in the 5th. He set down the next 8 Brewers in order. Milwaukee scratched out a run in the 8th against a rusty Matt Lindstrom, who hadn’t pitched since April 30 but Justin Miller prevented them from making it a game again, tossing a 9 pitch 9th. Kensing was awarded the win, his first of the year.

All of Florida’s offense came off of Carlos Villanueva. With a man on, Cantu got things started early in the 1st, depositing Villanueva’s sixteenth offering into the left field bleachers. It was his second two run homer in as many days. Cantu has given the Brewers headaches for his entire career. After tonight, he’s hitting .315 against them. Four innings later with two on, Matt Treanor got his first of the year, going oppo off the left field foul pole. In his last three games, Treanor has hit safely 6 times and he has knocked in 5 runs. Wes Helms and Hanley Ramirez got into the act as well. They each singled in a run.

The Fish will kick off a seven game road trip tomorrow in Washington DC. Ricky Nolasco will match up against Tim Redding.