Are we going to see Gaby again?

Haven’t heard much by way of Nick Johnson news since his injury during the early part of the first part of Sunday’s first game, and now Gaby Sanchez has been pulled early from the Zephyr’s game today, and it isn’t because of an injury to him, apparently.

It would be a big blow to lose Nick Johnson for an extended period of time, and it’ll be interesting to see what the team does if he is indeed out for a while. Would Bonifacio slide back into an everyday role, or would they keep him in the super sub role (Which he has excelled at) and give Gaby a chance to replace Johnson?

Gaby has been killing it down in AAA over the last few weeks since he got sent back down, and has a 1.068 OPS over his last 50 at bats with 4 homers 7 walks and just 3 Ks.

Still, can’t see the team giving Gaby a shot now if they haven’t yet.

I would personally rather see Brett Carroll back up, but if Johnson is out for a while (Which we don’t know yet, nothing has been said), it makes much more sense to get a CI back up and keep Bonifacio in the Amezaga role.

The Marlins scored three runs in the ninth to tie the game, but a home run by former Marlins first baseman Derrerk Lee in the 10th led to a 9-8 Cubs victory before 35,811 fans at Land Shark Stadium.

Florida’s three-run rally started when Ronny Paulino hit his first career pinch-hit home run to spark the Marlins with two outs in the ninth. Chris Coghlan followed with a single to left and Nick Johnson singled to put runners on first and third for Emilio Bonifacio. The infielder, who replaced Hanley Ramirez before the fourth inning due to a left knee contusion, delivered with a two-run triple over center fielder Kosuke Fukudome that tied the game at 8.

Lee led off the 10th inning with a solo home run on a 2-0 Leo Nunez fastball that put the Cubs back in front, 9-8, but that was not all the damage he did on Saturday night. The former Marlins first baseman was 4-for-6 with a double, a home run and three RBIs.

The Cubs scored six runs over 1 2/3 innings off Marlins starter Burke Badenhop, but Florida’s relievers shut out Chicago’s offense until Ryan Theriot hit a two-run double with two outs in the top of the ninth. The bullpen was led by Brian Sanches, who threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Badenhop while striking out six and allowing just two hits.

The Marlins began to claw at the six-run deficit by scoring a run in the bottom of the second. Jeremy Hermida’s single drove in a run in the third while Johnson doubled in a run in the fourth. Hermida drove in two more in the fifth, but the Marlins were unable to score again until Paulino homered in the ninth.

Nice to see them battle back, and great to see the life Nick Johnson injected into this lineup, getting on base 5 times, and even nice to see Emilio Bonifacio excel in his emergency fill in duty. He is overexposed as an everyday player but should be more than acceptable in short bursts.

Burke Badenhop is not a starter at the major league level, he didn’t have a clue of where the strike zone was today. He can be great as the 6th man in the pen when Ricky Nolasco gives up 3 early home runs or something, but like Bonifacio, he is overexposed as a starter. I don’t know if it is a mental thing, but he’s got a 3 run lower ERA as a reliever vs as a starter. He did not look good today.

But really nice to see them fight back, doubly so to score three off Gregg, even if Nunez did turn around and hand it to the Cubs in the next inning.

Now it’s time for that dreaded award, the Scott Olsen Mugshot Memorial Award.

Obviously Burke Badenhop’s 1.2 innings, 5 H, 4 BB line has got to be the choice. Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez looked like they were having batting practice.

Yes, Burke did bad. Burke did very, very bad.

Jorge Cantu was also a candidate for throwing away the first two balls he got at third, but he’ll be given some leeway because he hasn’t played third in a while.

Gotta take tomorrow’s game, Ricky vs. Dempster, and I like the chances of that.

The Marlins rallied late, but Atlanta’s Brian McCann came through with a key three-run homer in the 10th inning to push the Braves past Florida, 6-3, before 14,226 fans at Land Shark Stadium.

McCann drove a 2-2 slider from Luis Ayala into the seats beyond the right-center-field fence. The All-Star catcher had a big day after entering the game 0-for-16 against the Marlins the season. McCann finished 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs.

Atlanta’s backstop was not the only Braves player to enjoy a big game as starter Javier Vazquez dominated Marlins hitters most of the night. The right-hander tired toward the end of his outing, allowing a leadoff home run to Cody Ross in the eighth inning but still pitched well. Vazquez held Florida to three runs on five hits over 7 1/3 innings while striking out eight.
Ross’ home run in the eighth gave the Marlins momentum as they put together a rally against reliever Mike Gonzalez. With two outs and the bases loaded, Jorge Cantu hit a slow roller to third baseman Chipper Jones that allowed pinch hitter Brett Carroll to score and tie the game at 3.
Florida starter Rick VandenHurk struggled early, giving up two runs in the second on a Casey Kotchman double to center field. The right-hander would settle down the rest of the way, finishing his outing allowing two runs on four hits over six innings while striking out a career-high nine batters.

Not much to say about this one. The opportunities to win were there, they just didn’t seize them, unfortunately. Bases left loaded in the bottom of the 8th in a tie game, and then in the bottom of the 9th, runners on first and second with 1 out and Brett Carroll grounds into the double play. Those hurt.

Gotta give out the Scott Olsen Memorial Mugshot Award, for the single player most responsible for the failings of the ball club on a given night. This is most unfortunate, as thanks to our failings as bloggers during the loss to the Dodgers last weekend, it had been damn near two weeks since the SOMMA had to be given out. I rather liked that streak.

Some might argue Luis Ayala deserves it for giving up the three run bomb to lose it, but he was in a tough spot, with the heart of the Braves order up and nobody available in the pen to save him, so I’ll give him a pass. One might also think Fredi Gonzalez might deserve it for intentionally walking Chipper to get to Brian McCann who hit the home run, but that’s also a tough spot. We’re talking about pitching to Chipper with one on and first open (.968 career OPS vs RHP) or McCann with a potentional DP (.902 career OPS vs RHP) possibility. Can’t fault him for playing the percentages. Just about the only thing I constantly defend Fredi on, even when it doesn’t work out.

No, my choice (Which is all that matters) goes to the man who struck out 3 times and went 0-5 batting in the number two hole.. With runners on first and second, he comes to the plate with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th. Pitcher throws a wild pitch, and the runners advance. If he can just get on base somehow, Hanley will get a chance…

And another strikeout for Emilio Bonifacio, who now ranks 2nd in the race for the lowest OPS in the NL. Don’t stop believin’, Emilio! Marlins’ nation is with you!

Wipe that grin off your face, Boner. You blew it!

At some point, the team will realize Gaby should start a game, right? I mean, I was defending Bonifacio aloud when he had that little month streak where he put together a .730 OPS and looked totally respectable, though outcast as a corner infielder still.

What’s sad is at this point, I’d almost be upset if Bonifacio was demoted or benched. I mean, it’s probably too late. Why make the move now?

Note: I don’t expect him to be demoted at all. We will probably acquire an Arthur Rhodes and that is all.

A poster over at SoFlaMarlins.com probably summed up Emilio Bonifacio as perfectly as anyone ever could, so I’ll close this rant up with that. I didn’t expect this to turn into a Bonifacio rant, but thus is the nature of light night writing, it often veers towards that anyways.

Bonifacio’s like that kid on the little league team who really doesn’t like baseball and would rather play xbox or fill his glove with ants, but his dad’s the coach and his son is going to bat 4th, play short-stop and pitch, and at first everyone was really angry, but then they realized it wasn’t the kids fault he was constantly set up to fail so then everyone just kinda hoped that the kid wouldn’t have to deal with a big moment because everyone but the dad knew how it would turn out and the failure isn’t even met with anger it’s just kinda met with sad silence and everyone is just really uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Gaby Sanchez

Corner infielder Gaby Sanchez was recalled from AAA New Orleans this morning, taking Andrew Miller’s spot on the roster. Sanchez hit .289/.357/.447 with 9 HR in 59 games with the Zephyrs this season.

Sanchez was expected by many to be the starting first baseman for the Marlins after winning the Southern League MVP in 2008 but after a terrible showing in spring training and the emergence of Emilio Bonifacio in the Front Office’s eye, he ended being sent to AAA a week before the regular season started.

It has yet to be seen what place he has on the team but this could be a sign of the end Bonifacio’s stay at third base or of a looming trade.