Go Fish: A Florida Marlins Franchise (MLB 10)

[Cane_Mutiny]

Florida wins behind Johnson's strong performance
Marlins 5, Astros 2

HOUSTON -- Hanley Ramirez's bases-loaded double and Josh Johnson's excellent outing powered the Marlins past the Houston Astros in the first game of their mid-week series, 5-2.

Johnson surrendered just 4 hits and 3 walks over 8 innings and picked up his second win of the year. One of the hits Johnson gave up was a 2-run homer to Jeff Keppinger in the 2nd, which put the Astros up 2-0 early. The lead would not last long, however, as the Marlins struck soon thereafter.

The Marlins went ahead for good in the 3rd when Hanley Ramirez, who has had a slow start to the year, came to the plate with the bases loaded and jacked a long fly deep into the gap in right-center field. 3 runs came across, and Jorge Cantu's single later in the inning scored Ramirez to put the Fish up 4-2.

"That 3rd was huge for us," said Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez. "[Johnson] has been pitching great for us all year but we haven't always gotten him the run support, so today was big."

Astros starter Brett Myers had major control issues early, but ended up surrendering just 2 walks and struck out 8 in his losing effort over 5 innings. The Marlins ended up getting set down on strikes 13 times.

"We really need to cut down on the strikeouts," said Gonzalez. "It makes it hard to rally sometimes when you're always whiffing like that."

MLB Scoreboard | Florida Marlins (7-7) at Houston Astros (6-8)
April 20, 2010	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida Marlins	0	0	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	9	0
Houston Astros	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
WIN: Josh Johnson (2-2) LOSS: Brett Myers (0-3) SAVE: Leo Nuñez (6)

Scoring Summary
			FLA	HOU
HOU	2nd	Keppinger homers to right. Feliz scores. Keppinger scores.	0	2
FLA	3rd	Ramirez doubles to center. Johnson scores. Coghlan scores. Maybin scores.	3	2
FLA	3rd	Cantu singles to right. Ramirez scores.	4	2
FLA	6th	Sanchez doubles to left. Ross scores.	5	2

Florida Marlins
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
LF Chris Coghlan	2	1	1	0	2	1	.340
CF Cameron Maybin	4	1	1	0	0	1	.227
SS Hanley Ramirez	5	1	1	3	0	2	.241
3B Jorge Cantu	3	0	1	1	0	1	.346
2B Dan Uggla	4	0	0	0	0	2	.300
RF Cody Ross	4	1	1	0	0	3	.327
C John Baker	4	0	1	0	0	1	.244
1B Gaby Sanchez	4	0	1	1	0	1	.182
P Josh Johnson	3	1	1	0	0	1	.375
-- PH Mike Lamb	1	0	1	0	0	0	.200
TOTALS	34	5	9	5	2	13
BATTING 2B: Johnson (1), Ramirez (4), Ross (4), Sanchez (3) RBI: Ramirez 3 (7), Cantu (8), Sanchez (3) HBP: Coghlan, Maybin, Cantu GIDP: Cantu
BASERUNNING SB: Coghlan (2)

Florida Marlins
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Josh Johnson (W, 2-2)	8.0	4	2	2	3	3	2.40
Leo Nuñez (S, 6)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0.00
Totals	9.0	5	2	2	3	3

Houston Astros
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
CF Michael Bourn	4	0	1	0	0	0	.246
RF Hunter Pence	4	0	0	0	0	1	.176
1B Lance Berkman	4	0	0	0	0	0	.283
LF Carlos Lee	2	0	1	0	2	0	.317
3B Pedro Feliz	3	1	0	0	1	0	.261
SS Jeff Keppinger	4	1	1	2	0	0	.179
2B Kazuo Matsui	4	0	1	0	0	0	.250
C J.R. Towles	3	0	1	0	0	1	.250
P Brett Myers	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
-- PH Cory Sullivan	1	0	0	0	0	0	.417
-- PH Humberto Quintero	1	0	0	0	0	0	.139
-- PH Tommy Manzella	1	0	0	0	0	0	.189
TOTALS	32	2	5	2	3	3
BATTING HR: Keppinger (1) RBI: Keppinger 2 (5) HBP: Towles

Houston Astros
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Brett Myers (L, 0-3)	5.0	3	4	4	2	8	5.28
Jeff Fulchino	1.0	2	1	1	0	2	1.69
Armando Benitez	1.0	2	0	0	0	1	2.00
Matt Lindstrom	2.0	2	0	0	0	2	1.50
Totals	9.0	9	5	5	2	13

[Cane_Mutiny]

Uggla collects 4 hits as Marlins beat Houston
Marlins 7, Astros 3

HOUSTON -- Dan Uggla had a huge game, going 4-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs as his Florida Marlins secured the series win over Houston with a 7-3 victory.

Andrew Miller was excellent in his first start of 2010, scattering 5 hits and a walk over 7 innings and allowing no runs. Miller struggled last year but was called up last week to fill in for injured Florida starter Nate Robertson, who is on the 60-day DL.

"It's good to see him have a good start like this," said Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez. "We need to know we can count on him while we wait [for Robertson to return], so this is huge for us."

The Marlins dominated much of this game, accumulating 17 hits and shutting out the Astros on 6 hits until the 9th. Florida reliever José Veras came in for mop-up duty and promptly gave up 3 runs, raising his ERA to 8.53, before turning it over to Renyel Pinto who picked up the final out and the save.

"Closing out games is important, so the bullpen needs to be a little sharper," said Florida catcher John Baker. "Luckily today we had plenty of offense, so it wasn't a concern. Today was about fine-tuning, no big deal."

MLB Scoreboard | Florida Marlins (8-7) at Houston Astros (8-6)
April 21, 2010	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida Marlins	0	0	1	3	0	0	1	2	0	7	17	0
Houston Astros	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	8	1
WIN: Andrew Miller (1-0) LOSS: Brian Moehler (0-3) SAVE: Renyel Pinto (1)

Scoring Summary
			FLA	HOU
FLA	3rd	Maybin singles to right. Coghlan scores.	1	0
FLA	4th	Uggla homers to center. Uggla scores.	2	0
FLA	4th	Coghlan doubles to center. Helms scores. Miller scores.	4	0
FLA	7th	Baker singles to center. Uggla scores.	5	0
FLA	8th	Cantu singles to left. Lamb scores.	6	0
FLA	8th	Uggla singles to center. Coghlan scores.	7	0
HOU	9th	Lee homers to left. Berkman scores. Lee scores.	7	2
HOU	9th	Mazella singles to left. Keppinger scores.	7	3

Florida Marlins
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
LF Chris Coghlan	6	2	3	2	0	1	.357
CF Cameron Maybin	5	0	2	1	0	0	.245
SS Hanley Ramirez	5	0	2	0	0	2	.254
3B Jorge Cantu	5	0	1	1	0	2	.333
2B Dan Uggla	5	2	4	2	0	0	.345
RF Cody Ross	5	0	1	0	0	0	.315
C John Baker	5	0	1	1	0	1	.239
1B Wes Helms	4	1	0	0	1	1	.250
P Andrew Miller	2	1	1	0	0	1	.500
-- PH Mike Lamb	1	1	1	0	0	0	.250
-- PH Brett Carroll	1	0	1	0	0	0	.300
TOTALS	44	7	17	7	1	8
BATTING 2B: Coghlan (5), Ramirez (5), Uggla (6) HR: Uggla (2) RBI: Coghlan 2 (5), Maybin (5), Cantu (9), Uggla 2 (6), Baker (5) HBP: Miller GIDP: Maybin
BASERUNNING SB: Coghlan (3)

Florida Marlins
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Andrew Miller (W, 1-0)	7.0	5	0	0	1	7	1.00
Brian Sanches	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0.00
José Veras	0.2	2	3	3	3	1	8.53
Renyel Pinto (S, 1)	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	15.19
Totals	9.0	8	3	3	4	9

Houston Astros
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
CF Michael Bourn	5	0	0	0	0	2	.226
RF Hunter Pence	3	0	1	0	1	0	.185
1B Lance Berkman	3	1	1	0	1	2	.286
LF Carlos Lee	4	1	1	2	0	1	.311
SS Jeff Keppinger	3	1	2	0	1	0	.214
2B Kazuo Matsui	3	0	1	0	1	0	.255
3B Pedro Feliz	4	0	0	0	0	1	.240
C Humberto Quintero	4	0	0	0	0	3	.125
P Brian Moehler	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
-- PH Geoff Blum	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333
-- PH Cory Sullivan	1	0	1	0	0	0	.462
-- PH Tommy Manzella	1	0	1	1	0	0	.250
TOTALS	33	3	8	3	4	9
BATTING 2B: Matsui (3) HR: Lee (3) RBI: Lee 2 (8), Manzella (2) GIDP: Matsui, Feliz
FIELDING E: Matsui (1)

Houston Astros
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Brian Moehler (L, 0-3)	4.1	8	4	3	1	5	7.62
Chris Sampson	1.2	2	0	0	0	2	5.79
Jeff Fulchino	1.0	2	1	1	0	0	2.31
Armando Benitez	1.0	4	2	2	0	1	3.60
Matt Lindstrom	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	1.38
Totals	9.0	17	7	6	1	8

[Cane_Mutiny]

Ramirez, Ross power Marlins to sweep of Astros
Marlins 7, Astros 4

HOUSTON -- Hanley Ramirez and Cody Ross each picked up 3 hits, a double, and a 2-run homer, and the Florida Marlins completed a sweep of the Houston Astros, 7-4. Florida starter Chris Volstad was strong, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits over 7 innings. The Marlins moved into sole possession of 1st place in the NL East with the win, while the Astros fell to 8-7 on the young season.

MLB Scoreboard | Florida Marlins (9-7) at Houston Astros (8-7)
April 22, 2010	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida Marlins	2	0	1	0	3	0	1	0	0	7	10	0
Houston Astros	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	4	9	0
WIN: Chris Volstad (2-1) LOSS: Bud Norris (2-1) SAVE: Leo Nuñez (7)

Scoring Summary
			FLA	HOU
FLA	1st	Ramirez homers to right. Maybin scores. Ramirez scores.	2	0
HOU	1st	Berkman doubles to left. Pence scores.	2	1
FLA	3rd	Ross doubles to center. Uggla scores.	3	1
FLA	5th	Cantu flies out to center. Maybin scores.	4	1
FLA	5th	Ross homers to left. Ramirez scores. Ross scores.	6	1
HOU	5th	Quintero homers to center. Quintero scores.	6	2
FLA	7th	Cantu homers to center. Cantu scores.	7	2
HOU	9th	Lee homers to right. Lee scores.	7	3
HOU	9th	Quintero singles to center. Matsui scores.	7	4

Standings Update
Florida pulls ahead of Braves and Phillies for 1st

2010 NL East Division Standings
TEAMS	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Florida Marlins	9	7	.563	-	W3
Atlanta Braves	8	7	.533	0.5	W2
Philadelphia Phillies	8	7	.533	0.5	L2
Washington Nationals	6	10	.375	3.0	L2
New York Mets	6	10	.375	3.0	L1

[Scott]

Saw you issued 4 walks, just curious what your sliders are...Good job on the win.

[Cane_Mutiny]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scott

Saw you issued 4 walks, just curious what your sliders are...Good job on the win.

I use a slider set of my own concoction, but it's somewhat based on PsychoBulk's. I've got user pitch control and consistency somewhat below default. Also, wit most pitchers I try to hit the corners and keep pitches away from the zone, which leads to some walks. I also pitch around certain hitters (Ryan Howard from now on - I learned my lesson).

[Cane_Mutiny]

Series Rewind

Marlins @ Rockies

Helton's walk-off homer lifts Rockies over visiting Marlins

DENVER -- Todd Helton hit a walk-off 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th inning off of Florida closer Leo Nuñez to give the red-hot Colorado Rockies a 6-4 win over the Marlins. The Fish wasted a good effort from starter Ricky Nolasco, who gave up just one run over 6 innings of work. Nolasco left the game with a 4-1 lead before the Florida bullpen succumbed to the furious Colorado comeback that culminated with Helton's game-winning blast.

MLB Scoreboard *|* Florida Marlins (9-8) at Colorado Rockies (15-2)
April 23, 2010	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida Marlins	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	10	0
Colorado Rockies	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	6	11	1
WIN: Juan Rincon (1-0) * LOSS: Leo Nuñez (0-1)

Sanchez, Coghlan power Marlins to series-tying win

DENVER -- Gaby Sanchez and Chris Coghlan each hit their first homers of 2010 to propel Florida to a win in game 2 of their 3-game weekend series with the Colorado Rockies, who lost just their third game of the season. Sanchez's shot was a 2nd inning 3-run blast that put the Marlins up for good, while Coghlan's 9th inning grand slam, the first of his career, iced the win for Florida.

MLB Scoreboard *|* Florida Marlins (10-8) at Colorado Rockies (15-3)
April 24, 2010	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida Marlins	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	7	9	1
Colorado Rockies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
WIN: Anibal Sanchez (2-2) * LOSS: Jeff Francis (1-1)

Johnson's no-hit bid falls short as Rockies rally for victory

DENVER -- Florida ace Josh Johnson took a no-hitter into the 5th inning before the potent Colorado lineup jumped on him for 4 runs in a 4-2 Marlins loss. Johnson looked untouchable for much of his outing, striking out 10, but ended up picking up the loss as the Rockies continued their torrid 16-3 start to the season.

MLB Scoreboard *|* Florida Marlins (10-9) at Colorado Rockies (16-3)
April 25, 2010	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida Marlins	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	1
Colorado Rockies	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	4	9	0
WIN: Taylor Buchholz (2-0) * LOSS: Josh Johnson (2-3) * SAVE: Huston Street (9)

Marlins (10-9) 1
Rockies (16-3) 2

[Cane_Mutiny]

Standings Update
Rockies take commanding lead in NL West, Royals lose 5 straight

MLB Standings - April 25, 2010
AL EAST	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK	NL EAST	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
New York Yankees	12	6	.667	-	W 3	Philadelphia Phillies	11	7	.611	-	W 3
Boston Red Sox	10	9	.526	2.5	W 1	Florida Marlins	10	9	.526	1.5	L 1
Baltimore Orioles	10	9	.526	2.5	L 1	Atlanta Braves	9	9	.500	2	L 1
Toronto Blue Jays	8	11	.421	4.5	L 1	New York Mets	8	11	.421	3.5	W 1
Tampa Bay Rays	7	12	.368	5.5	W 1	Washington Nationals	7	12	.368	4.5	W 1
AL CENTRAL	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK	NL CENTRAL	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Minnesota Twins	14	5	.737	-	W 3	St. Louis Cardinals	13	5	.722	-	W 3
Chicago White Sox	12	7	.632	2	L 1	Houston Astros	10	8	.555	3	W 1
Kansas City Royals	8	10	.444	5.5	L 5	Milwaukee Brewers	8	10	.444	5	W 1
Detroit Tigers	8	11	.421	6	L 1	Cincinnati Reds	8	11	.421	5.5	L 2
Cleveland Indians	7	11	.388	6.5	W 1	Chicago Cubs	8	11	.421	5.5	L 1
						Pittsburgh Pirates	7	11	.388	6	L 1
AL WEST	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK	NL WEST	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Seattle Mariners	10	9	.526	-	W 1	Colorado Rockies	16	3	.842	-	W 1
Los Angeles Angels	10	10	.500	0.5	L 3	Los Angeles Dodgers	10	8	.555	5.5	L 1
Texas Rangers	8	10	.444	1.5	W 1	Arizona Diamondbacks	9	9	.500	6.5	L 3
Oakland A's	8	12	.400	2.5	L 1	San Diego Padres	7	11	.388	8.5	W 2
						San Fransisco Giants	6	12	.333	9.5	L 5

[MrChainsaw]

Nice job sweeping the Stros. Hopefully you can keep up with the Phillies, heck maybe even stay ahead of them in the standings.