Hanley Ramirez was huge for the Florida Marlins all night, as he had 5 hits and the game-winning home run in the 11th inning as the Marlins downed the Dodgers, 5-4. The loss pushes the Dodgers back into 2nd in the NL West.
Chan Ho Park got the start and was ok, but certainly not as sharp as he has been. It didn't help in the 1st when Matt Kemp committed an error that allowed Jorge Cantu to take 2nd base, who then easily scored on a double to center by Josh Willingham. Park finished at 4 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K.
The Marlins got up 3-0 after Josh Baker collected his first Major League hit and home run all at once with a solo shot in the 2nd. It was starting to look like a long night for the Dodgers, but they battled right back in the 3rd. It was all done with a single, sacrifice, single, steal, single, steal, and single. Got all of that? Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Russell Martin all had RBI's to even the score.
The Marlins got one back in the 4th when the damn pitcher, Josh Johnson, singled home a run, but Martin hit his 10th homer of the year to again keep the score tied. The Marlins loaded the bases in the 7th, but Hong-Chih Kuo wiggled out of trouble when Jeff Kent made a nice diving play to get the forceout at 2nd to end the inning.
The only other time the Dodgers had a chance to score was in the 8th when Martin and James Loney reached with 2 down. Who do you think was chosen to get the big hit? Yup, Andruw Jones. And yup again, he struck out. And finally, another yup... he sucks out loud.
Brian Falkenborg was 1 out away from escaping the 11th when he grooved a fastball to Ramirez that was tattooed out to center. So much for that. The Dodgers went down in order to end the game.
I'll look at the positives in that it's good to see them battle back from an early 3-0 deficit. Ethier and Martin each had 2 hits, and the team stole 3 bases. Kuo continued his excellent work with 3 shutout innings to keep the Dodgers in the game. Johnson was making his first start in a little over a year and K'd 6, but did give up 3 runs in 5 innings.
The bullpen did well, giving up only 1 run in 7 innings, but Falkenborg continues to struggle. In only 5.2 IP, he's 1-2 with a 7.94 ERA. I can't imagine he'll be with the team long once guys like Brad Penny and Mark Sweeney come back.
Eric Stults will go tonight against Chris Volstad, another Marlins' pitcher making his first start of the season. Who knows what the future holds for Stults with Penny due back relatively soon, but keeping his ERA around 2.22 will help.
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