The Marlins reached 11 hits, and had the benefit of two unearned runs, but they still lost ground in the standings.

Brian McCann tied a career high with five RBIs, including a tie-breaking two-run single in the eighth inning, to rally the Braves to a 7-5 win over the Marlins on Sunday afternoon in front of 30,478 at Turner Field.

The loss dropped the Marlins into third place in the National League East, one game behind the Braves and 7 1/2 in back of the Phillies with 38 games remaining.

Matt Diaz added four hits and he was a home run shy of the cycle. After taking the first game of the series on Friday night, the Marlins dropped the next two, finishing up a 2-4 road trip.

A day after having his career-high 16-game hitting streak snapped, Hanley Ramirez went 3-for-4, raising his NL-leading batting average to .361. But Jorge Cantu had his 11-game hit streak snapped on a hard-luck afternoon.

A pivotal play came in the eighth inning, after Ramirez led off with a bunt single, Cantu ripped a hard liner right at shortstop Yunel Escobar, who doubled up Ramirez at first with the score even at 5.

It was a struggle for right-hander Ricky Nolasco over 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander scattered nine hits, walked three, struck out four and threw 95 pitches.

Atlanta’s Derek Lowe gave up five runs, with three earned, in five innings.

Nolasco started off the road trip with a complete-game, three-hit, 6-2 win at Houston last Tuesday. In the remaining five games of the trip, four times a Florida starter was unable to pitch at least five full innings.

The Braves snapped the tie in the eighth. Kiko Calero, who gave up a run in the seventh, walked Omar Infante to begin the inning. Renyel Pinto replaced Calero and walked Kelly Johnson. Chipper Jones’ grounder advanced both runners into scoring position. With the infield in, McCann smacked a two-run single to right.

Ricky Nolasco struggled early, but the offense let him leave with a lead. Unfortunately, once Cristhian Martinez’s 1.1 innings were done, the rest of the pen decided they didn’t want to win the game, and Kiko Calero and Renyel Pinto both struggled with their control and gave away the game.

Hanley had another 3 hit game, and Chris Coghlan continued to be amazing at the top of the order, getting on base 3 times. Dan Uggla and Cody Ross also added two hit games, and the offense as a whole was pretty good. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get the big hit as the game progressed, and the bullpen just couldn’t hold it.

Maybe a little overuse for Kiko and Pinto? Pinto has pitched in 13 games in August alone. He’s got terrible control as it is, but being overused can’t help it.

Still…

Today’s “winner” is…

Being tired doesn’t get you out of the Scott Olsen Mugshot Memorial Award, Renyel.

Playoff chances are not looking good now. They weren’t ever too great (though I had my hopes), but now they look pretty slim. Gotta take care of things at home in the next few series, and losing another series will just about end the season.

We need Nick Johnson and Jorge Cantu back in the everyday lineup, please.

Josh Johnson matched a career high with nine strikeouts and hit a home run, but he was unable to record his 11th victory of the season after struggling in the eighth inning.

The Nationals batted around and scored six runs in that frame to erase a four-run deficit and claim a 6-4 win over the Marlins on Tuesday night at Nationals Park. Adam Dunn poked a two-run home run to the opposite field for the go-ahead runs.

Johnson cruised through the first seven innings, retiring 20 straight batters after giving up a pair of early singles. With a 4-0 lead to start the eighth, he immediately ran into trouble. Johnson yielded three straight singles, and pinch-hitter Ronnie Belliard doubled to score two runs and knock Johnson out of the game.

Nyjer Morgan hit an RBI groundout off lefty Renyel Pinto, cutting the lead to 4-3. Against Kiki Calero, Cristian Guzman followed with a game-tying RBI single past a diving Nick Johnson at first base. Then Dunn struck on a 3-2 pitch from Dan Meyer.

Before Tuesday, the Marlins had won 10 straight games against the Nationals.

Johnson’s homer in the fourth inning — his third this season — tied Dontrelle Willis (2006) and Alex Fernandez (1999) for most home runs in a season by a Marlins pitcher.

Two batters before Johnson, Cody Ross banged his 18th home run of the season.

Man, that’s a tough loss. JJ was cruising after allowing two hits in the first. He retired the next 20 he faced and looked overpowering and well on his way to another CCHOTGA as he also hit his 3rd home of the season.

But then came the 8th, and the wheels came off. This one was a collective loss, as everybody that pitched in the 8th had a hand in the loss, so you can’t blame any one pitcher.

However, Jeremy Hermida did have 9 LOB in the game, including bailing out MacDougal in the 9th when he couldnt’ throw a strike to save his life, and ended the game on a double play, so he’s the obvious recipient of the Scott Olsen Memorial Mugshot Award tonight.

Jeremy Hermida…

Maybe he needs to bring the beard back. It worked for me. Nothing like a slumpbuster beard.

Not defending him in this game, but overall this season he pretty much can only hit with runners on. He had a terrible game, but he’s hit .287/.372/.433/.805 with men on compared to .232/.316/.355/.670 with the bases empty. Yeah, he’s the reason we lost tonight, but he’s been pretty OK with men on. Just sucks that he had to be the goat tonight, because the team really struggled with runners on today.

I’ve defended Hermida since he came up with the team, as his apparently lackadaisical playing style and sometimes terrible defense really gets on his skin, but after 3 straight terrible months from May to now, I’m ready to give up on him. You’re telling me Brett Carroll couldn’t give you the .700 OPS Hermida has? And the defense would be absolutely unquestionably better. I would’ve liked to have seen Hermida moved at the deadline just to get a warm body for him. Have to just hope he can give you something these next two months, but it really doesn’t look good.

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.

MIAMI (AP)—A midgame downpour meant an early exit for Cole Hamels on a long night for the Philadelphia Phillies. Yet they keep winning, rain or shine.

Chase Utley’s RBI single broke a tie in the 12th inning, and the Phillies extended their winning streak to seven by beating the Florida Marlins 6-5 on Friday.

The Phils were up 4-1 when Hamels left after a rain delay of one hour, 18 minutes midway through the sixth inning. The bullpen blew the lead, then escaped several jams in the final innings.

Brad Lidge, pitching for the first time in a week, walked two in the 12th and gave up a run on a wild pitch but earned his 19th save in 25 chances. Dan Uggla grounded out with a runner at third to end the game.
-STEVEN WINE, AP Sports Writer

Tonight came a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the Phils, this time in extras, and the Marlins are now 46-46, 0-2 in the series and 6 games behind the Phils. As we said before the series, the Marlins must split the series if they want to stay in the division race so the next two games are arguably the most important of the entire season.

Tonight, Cole Hamels looked like he was back to form in his 5 innings of work before the rain delay, only giving up 1 run and 4 hits with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Ricky Nolasco, on the other hand, gave up 4 runs and 7 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in his 6 innings of work, but arguably pitched better than his line.  He’s now has a  3.06 ERA since returning from AAA.

On the offense, Paulino, Coghlan, and Hanley all had multi-hit games with Paulino going 3-5 and Coghlan hitting a homer in the bottom of the 1st.

The bullpen before Badenhop, Pinto, Meyer, Calero, and Nunez threw 4 innings while only allowing 2 baserunners.

But, now that that’s out of the way, we get to everyone’s favorite segment after a loss.

It’s of course the Scott Olsen Mugshot Memorial Award, given to the Marlins player who most exemplified why some people should never ever ever play a baseball game. Ever. For the game in question.

Tonight’s “winner” is…

Burke Badenhop!

Look at his smug face… The Hopper has been a great asset to the bullpen this year but in his second inning of work faced 7 men, putting on 4 runners and 2 runs, absorbing the loss. For that he “wins” the Scott Olsen Mugshot Memorial Award! Good job Hopper.

Jamie Moyer allowed one hit in seven innings to continue his domination of the Florida Marlins, Ryan Howard hit his 200th homer to sustain an unprecedented pace and the Philadelphia Phillies extended their winning streak to six games with a 4-0 victory Thursday night.

Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero pitched one perfect inning each to complete the Phillies’ one-hitter.

Moyer (9-6) limited Florida to two baserunners and departed after throwing 94 pitches. The 46-year-old left-hander has won all eight of his career starts in Miami, and he’s 13-2 overall against the Marlins.

The Phillies enjoy the longest current winning streak in the majors, and they’ve won 10 of their past 11 games.

- CBS Wire Reports

Volstad really can’t keep the ball in the yard, and it’s the damnedest thing because it’s really anomalous for him. He’s never given up home runs like this, and you want to say it’s unlucky as I alluded to in my pregame post, but quite frankly, he’s leaving too many hittable balls up in the zone.

The Marlins need this series. If they somehow get swept here, you can pretty much write off the season. You hate to say must win, but winning the next three is huge, and two of three is absolutely essential.

Moyer continues to be tantalizingly befuddling to the Marlins, and really there’s no reason for it. These guys need to be better prepared for a guy who is very easy to hit, and yet they have consistently failed to make adjustments. I’m not going to be knee jerk and say that is represents a failure on hitting coach Mark Wiley’s part because, well, Moyer’s just one pitcher. But it’s extremely frustrating to watch a guy who looks like he wouldn’t flourish at the high school level one hit a major league team.

Note

One thing we’re going to be doing is selecting a “Fish of the Game” during Marlins wins to denote the player or players who played the key role in the victory.

Of course, it’s only fair to spread a little blame around in losses (and, in all honesty, it’s fun!), so in our inaugural post game story, I introduce the illustrious Scott Olsen Mugshot Memorial Award for the Marlin who’s play contributed most to the Marlins loss. At the end of the season, we will feature a season long winner (Bonifacio is currently in the lead, though Coghlan is making a strong push recently).

Without further ado, and with much fanfare, I present the very first recipient of the Scott Olsen Mugshot Memorial Award in a miraculous, split ballot decision:

Chris Volstad!

AND

The Marlins bats!

Speaking of Volstad:

Volstad is someone I’ve analyzed and agonized over all year because he really makes no sense.  Low LD rates, good GB rates, low FB rates, decent K rates and improved control, and not an outrageous amount of hits. When he does get hit hard, though, it goes flying out of the park. I’ll probably devote a whole post to trying to figure him out someday soon when I get the time to look at PitchFx

Volstad has probably been miscast by most Marlins fans; he was a top prospect not because he had top of the rotation potential but because he was exceptionally projectable and was a safe bet to be a productive player.