Results tagged ‘ Ronny Paulino ’

Fish Beat Grandfather Moyer

GameFish is now a regular blogger for FishStripes.com. Read her game recaps and thoughts on the 2010 Marlins season there.

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The Marlins and Phillies faced off for game two of their series at a very chilly Citizen’s Bank Park Saturday, and like Friday, the first inning wound up being the deciding factor. This time, though, it was advantage: Marlins.

With Jamie “Freaking” Moyer on the mound, the Fish put up a five-spot in the first inning. Cantu started up a brand new RBI streak when he singled in Maybin, Uggla drove in a run with a single of his own, and Ronny Paulino delivered the big blow in the inning with a three-run homer to left field.

It seemed the Fish had solved Grandpa Moyer, who has traditionally owned them on the mound, but he settled in after the first, and didn’t allow another run through six innings.

The story of the game, though, was Ricky Nolasco, who was about as “on” as it gets. Ricky pitched his fourth career complete game with 109 pitches and allowed just 5 hits to the Phillies, and very nearly threw a shutout. He carried it all the way to the second out in the ninth inning, when Jayson Werth hit a home run to put the Phillies first and only run on the board.

The Phillies didn’t have a hit against Ricky until two outs in the bottom of the fourth when Chase Utley singled. Ricky ran into a little trouble in the sixth when he gave up a single to Bryan Schneider and walked Victorino and Utley to load the bases for Ryan Howard. But Howard grounded to first and Ricky escaped the inning with his shut-out intact.

Ricky even worked the bat a little in the game, with a two-out hit against Moyer in the fourth.

Behind Ricky No-No’s fantastic start, the Marlins split the series with the Philths, and have a chance at the win in Sunday’s finale.

Not much in life feels quite as good beating the Phillies.

Marlins make it two in a row in Cinci

If there was any lingering doubt as to whether the Marlins were really through with their losing ways in Cincinnati, they were laid to rest Saturday night when the Fish and the Reds faced off in game three of their series at the Great American Ball Park.

It was once again a good night for pitching. Ricky Nolasco put in a beautiful four hit, ten strikeout, seven inning performance, and Bronson Arroyo matched it with a nice night on the mound himself, allowing six hits to the Marlins through eight strong innings of work. 
The teams hit two home runs apiece to account for the only scoring in the game. 
The Reds took the lead in the first on a solo home run by Drew Stubbs, and maintained their lead until Jorge Cantu tied it up on a home run in the fifth. That was all the scoring the Fish could manage through the first seven innings of the game, so when Ricky gave up a solo home run to Ryan Hanigan in the seventh, he exited down 2-1, and in line for the loss. 
But after Ronny Paulino doubled in the eighth, Ross Gload pinch hit for Ricky and went deep to give the Marlins the lead, and a chance for Ricky to win the game.
Brian Sanches handled the eighth and one out of the ninth, and Dan Meyer got the second out of the ninth before Matt Lindstrom finished things off for his 15th save of the season. 
Thanks to Gload’s gritty pinch hit home run, Nolasco got the W, and the Marlins took their second game in a row at the Great American Ball Park.

But the good news is I took my Prozac today.

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After losing two straight, and six of their last nine, the Marlins were in serious need of a quality start from Ricky Nolasco as he took the mound Saturday night in the second game of the weekend series with the Padres. 
Things looked pretty promising to start as Ricky opened up the game by striking out the side, before the obligatory Super Saturday deluge showed up to delay the game. 
44 minutes later the tarp came off the field, and a rainbow over the stadium undoubtedly signified a covenant between God and the Marlins, that He would never again send a rain delay to destroy a game… or, you know, once the stadium is built and stuff.
Wade LeBlanc made the start for the Padres, and the Marlins got on the board in the bottom of the second when they loaded the bases with nobody out. Paulino hit a sacrifice fly to score the first run of the game, and Bonifacio followed with a sac bunt that put the Fish up 2-0. 

Through five innings, Ricky looked good as he struck out seven and held the Padres scoreless until Will Venable led off the fourth inning with a home run that cut the Marlins lead in half. But the trouble began in the top of the sixth, when Nolasco loaded up the bases and walked in the tying run. 
Tim Wood, one of the pitchers called up Saturday to help our tired bullpen, came into the game to relieve him, and Ricky was done after giving up three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
The Marlins reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Ronny Paulino came to bat with one on and two out and crushed his eighth home run of the year. But said lead was short-lived as another “fresh arm” came into the game.
Luis Ayala–another pitcher called up Saturday to relieve our weary bullpen–gave up the game-tying single to Kevin Kouzmanoff in the top of the seventh. The run was tagged to Tim Wood, but Ayala followed the seventh by treating Fish fans to just a pleasure of an eighth inning in which he gave up two singles and a triple to give the Padres a 6-4 lead.

Kiko Calero replaced Ayala with men on first and third and nobody out, and Everth Cabrera hit a sac fly that put the Padres up 7-4 over the Fish. That added another run to Ayala’s wildly impressive three-run, four-hit, one-third of an inning. 

It appears to have escaped Luis that he was called up to record outs. Our bullpen’s dead arms could have done that.
While Ayala was busy giving up runs, the Marlins lineup decided that they were done scoring them. After LeBlanc finished the sixth, the Padres bullpen took over and that was all for the Marlins. 
The Fish have now dropped three in a row, and seven of their last ten.

If you’re looking for an update on the Marlins place in the NL East or the Wild Card race, you’ll have to look elsewhere. HLD&S is done keeping track. 

And the Fish Take the Series.

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“Look, kid, we’re beat. Our friggin’ arms are about to fall off in here, and it’d be huge if you could do us all a solid and go at least six tonight.”
Brendan Donnelly’s words to Sean West may not go down in history as the most inspirational pre-game pep talk of all time, but they were all the rookie needed to hear as he made his way out of the bullpen to take the hill in the final game of the Marlins series with the Astros Thursday night at The Shark. 
Actually, to be perfectly honest Donnelly’s words probably won’t go down in history as anything, since I just made them up. But I’m pretty sure somebody had to have said something to West to inspire an outing in which he walked nobody, struck out three and allowed just five hits and one run through six innings of work. Whatever the reason behind his performance, I (obviously) think I speak on behalf of the entire Marlins bullpen when I say THANK YOU, Sean West.
Jorge Cantu got the scoring started off for the Fish when he took a little break from his, uh, break from hitting home runs, and went deep against Mike Hampton in the bottom of the first to give the Marlins the early 2-0 lead. Ronny Paulino also hit a solo shot off of Hampton in the fifth that put the Marlins up 3-1 as the Astros went to their bullpen.

In the end, it turns out the Fish didn’t actually need any of the half-dozen runs they scored off of reliever Chris Sampson in the sixth, but it was entertaining to watch them do it anyway. Ten Marlins came to bat in the inning, and RBI from Helms, Gload, Coghlan, Bonifacio and Ramirez put another six runs on the board to make it a 9-1 ball game. 

After the game, Sampson, who walked two and gave up five hits and six runs in 2/3 of an inning, was optioned to AAA… and another one bites the dust courtesy of the Fish and their smoking bats.
Chris Coghlan’s single in the sixth extended his hitting streak to twelve games, while Hanley Ramirez went 2-for-4 to stretch his own hit-streak to nine games. As a team, the Marlins extended a streak as well– the Fish have now logged double-digit hits in ten straight games, with 11 hits off of the Astros in the series finale.
Brian Sanches pitched two scoreless innings in relief of West, and Chris Leroux–who was recalled from AA Jacksonville Thursday to take Tim Wood’s place on the roster, and promptly sent back there after the game–gave up two walks, two hits and a run to the Astros before he recorded three outs in the ninth. (We’re going to have to stop allowing Matt Lindstrom to give these kids pointers before they pitch.)
The Marlins took three out of four from the Astros, and remain 4 1/2 games back from the Phillies in the East, and three games back of the wild card-leading Rockies, who are in town for a three-game series which starts tonight.
Let’s hope the Fish have some hits left in them for the weekend.

Vazquez, McCann take brief hiatus from sucking against Fish

no broom.pngObviously, walking Chipper Jones was the thing to do in the top of the tenth inning Thursday night in the series finale against Atlanta. I mean, come on, Chipper is Chipper, and who could have foreseen that Brian McCann–who was 0 for his last five games against the Fish–would choose that specific moment to decide to snap out of his Florida funk? 

Then again, we can’t blame the game entirely on McCann. Javier Vazquez undoubtedly influenced the catcher’s turnaround with one of his own. After four straight losses to the Marlins, something suddenly inspired Vazquez, and he held the Fish to one run over seven innings.

Rick VandenHurk deserved a better result from his start, as he went six, giving up just two runs and striking out a career-high nine batters. Unfortunately, the only run support Vandy’s teammates could generate was on an RBI single from Ronny Paulino in the 5th.

Cody Ross homered off of Vazquez in the eighth, and Cantu tied things up on a lucky RBI chopper to send the game into extras, but that’s where the comeback ended. Luis Ayala served up the three-run shot to McCann in the top of the tenth, and this time the walk-of magic was a no-show for the Marlins, who dropped the finale, settling for the series win.

We will resist the urge to complain about Land Shark’s “no brooms” policy, since obviously, it helped us to not look idiotic at the stadium Thursday.

6-3, Braves

What an inspiring way to start back.

retiremoyer.jpgWhen Jamie Moyer is starting a game against the Fish at home, you pretty much have two choices, Marlins fans: 1) heavily medicate yourself and watch only the top half of each inning, or 2) skip the game to do something that doesn’t make you feel like ripping all your hair out and screaming, and just check the box score the next day to confirm all of the zeros you knew were coming anyway.

Hopefully you opted for choice #2, because even the most potent of meds could not possibly have shielded you from the displeasure of watching what went down at Land Shark Stadium Thursday Night as the Fish took on the Phillies to kick off the post- All Star stretch of the season. 
Jorge Cantu singled in the fifth inning. Ronny Paulino walked. And that’s it. One single and a base on balls is all Fish fans had to cheer about offensively last night. Moyer went seven innings, gave up one hit and one walk, and then the Phils bullpen took over where he left off, not allowing a base-runner in the final two innings. 
There shouldn’t even be a Marlins lineup when Grandpa Moyer is on the mound. Seriously, what a complete waste of energy. Just give the boys a night off to relax, and send a string of lifeless mannequins to the plate in their place. The results, I assure you, could not be any worse than what we’re used to seeing from the Fish when Moyer is pitching.
While Moyer was doing his thing, Chris Volstad was doing his as well: leaving pitches up in the zone to yield his 18th, 19th and 20th home runs of the season. So instead of gaining ground on the Phillies, the Marlins are now five games back in the division.
Oh, joy.

Citrus Series Canker to Marlins Hot Streak

crying oranges.JPGThings didn’t go so well for the Marlins at the Trop this weekend. 

Or, I guess more accurately, things went pretty badly for the Marlins at the Trop this weekend, as the Rays swept the three-game series, shoving the Fish back to three games behind the Phillies and a game under .500.
Here’s a quick (yet extremely informative) recap: The Marlins starting pitching wasn’t too terrible overall, until Big Game Andrew struggled Sunday, but the bullpen pretty much made up for that, getting tagged with two losses in the first two games. Really though, first prize for making the sweep a reality goes to the Marlins cold, lifeless offense, which couldn’t put much of anything together all series long and combined to go 2-for-68* with runners in scoring position (*this is a completely fabricated number. We’re too lazy to look it up). I heard somewhere once that scoring runs can be helpful when a win is the goal. Maybe someone should fill the Fish in on that.
The Marlins teased their fans mercilessly in the top of the ninth Sunday, refusing to go quietly without one last display of the art of leaving men on base. The Fish loaded ‘em up and even scored a run on a Wes Helms walk before ending the game with what they’d been doing all series long: leaving multiple runners in scoring position. Paulino and Gload struck out to finish things up, and that’s all for the Citrus Series. 
The Marlins end interleague play at 10-8, going 1-5 against the Rays this season. Remember when we used to win more games against them than we lost? That was fun. Good riddance, Tampa Bay. 
The Nationals are looking really inviting right about now.
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