I feel like everytime I make a post game here, the Marlins lose a few more games than they need to, so I don’t want to make too big a deal here. Get in, get out, hope no one notices and the team keeps going (and hope nobody notices that this is mostly just an excuse for me to go to sleep soon because school is just killing me. Oh, hush!)

Josh Johnson showed why he’s one of the top starters in the majors on Wednesday.

Even without his best stuff, the right-hander was good enough to shut down the St. Louis Cardinals.

Cody Ross had three hits and drove in two runs for Florida, which has won 10 of 14 to stay in the playoff race. Ross extended his hitting streak to 11 games, the longest current streak in the NL, and was 5 for 12 in the series.

• Playoff Race

Florida (78-68) moved within four games of wild card-leading Colorado, which was at San Francisco on Wednesday night.

“This is a resilient team,” Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “They forget bad losses quickly and go on to the next game.”

Johnson (15-4) gave up nine hits but allowed just one run in his 23rd quality start of the season. He struck out five and walked none, improving to 3-1 with a 3.14 ERA in his last five starts.

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“They made good contact with the ball,” Johnson said. “I’d throw good pitches and they’d get hits. It was one of those days where I didn’t walk anybody. That was huge for me today.”

The Cardinals rallied in the ninth. Jason LaRue walked with one out and Mark DeRosa followed with a double to left. Gonzalez then replaced Brian Sanches with closer Leo Nunez, whose wildness got the Marlins into more trouble.

Nunez hit Ryan Ludwick and Albert Pujols to force in a run before coaxing Matt Holliday into a game-ending double play for his 22nd save in 28 opportunities.

“I really focused on throwing the fastball low and away,” said Nunez, who had hit only two batters in his previous 68 innings. “I just wanted to get the ground ball and I got it.”

Central-leading St. Louis fell to 1-5 on its nine-game homestand and lost back-to-back series for the first time since June 22-28 against the New York Mets and Minnesota.

Joel Pineiro (14-11) gave up four runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings for St. Louis.

Eight of Florida’s first 10 batters reached safely. John Baker and Ross had RBI singles and Dan Uggla also drove in a run in the first with a fielder’s choice.

Johnson helped himself in the second, leading off with an infield single before eventually coming home on Jorge Cantu’s sacrifice fly.

Julio Lugo had an RBI single in the sixth for St. Louis, which has scored two or fewer runs in four of its last five losses.

“I’m not worried at all about our offense,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “Good pitching stops good hitting. I really like this club we have.”

I was at work, so I didn’t get to watch it, but I’m bummed Maybin’s slowed down recently. Nice to see JJ pitched well despite not having his best stuff according to the story.
I followed it online and when Pujols came up with the bases juiced down by 4 in the bottom of the ninth, I almost knew what was coming. Hitting him might have been the best thing Nunez has done in weeks.

Josh Johnson wins the award, but like I said, don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to ruin the winning mood.

Cody Ross slumped into a cozy chair in the visiting clubhouse and, with many of his Florida teammates, watched the ninth inning of the NL East-leading Philadelphia’s game.

No matter the first bus back to the hotel was leaving in 20 minutes, the Marlins are in a playoff race. And boy, is it fun.

Ross hit a three-run homer in a four-run first inning, Ricky Nolasco shut down the Mets into the seventh and the bargain-basement Marlins kept pace in the division with a 6-3 victory over the New York Mets.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t look up there after every out in every inning. I just look up there and see what’s going on,” Ross said of scoreboard watching. “I know [the Phillies] tied it up, that they were up by two, and I knew right before we made the final out they were up by one. I mean you got a lot of time on your hands in the outfield.

“All that doesn’t matter if we’re not doing our own business,” he said before tuning into the end of the Phillies’ 6-5 win that kept their six-game lead in the division in tact.

Dan Uggla homered and Nick Johnson had a long RBI double as Florida, with a majors-low $37 million payroll, took their second straight from New York.

The past two Septembers, Florida played a big role in the Mets’ late-season collapses. This season, the Marlins are chasing a playoff spot. They entered Wednesday 5½ games behind Colorado in the wild-card race.

“It’s completely different, but I think we take it the same no matter what situation we’re in,” Nolasco said. “We’re just fortunate we’re in a situation to make the playoffs.”

Well, they’ve still got a chance at the playoffs, but it seems like every time the Marlins win, so do the teams in front of them. At this point, with 6 games remaining against them, the Marlins have to be looking at the Phillies more, especially with how awful their offense has been recently. It’s a long shot, but the season’s not dead by a long shot either.

It would be something if they could go into that final series against the Phillies within 3 games or so. That would be some absolute excellent drama. Not that anyone would notice, of course.

For battling his demons (the Mets, who have given him a lot of trouble in his career), it’s gotta be Ricky. A 6+ inning start is rare these days, so you take what you can get, and Ricky was practically a workhorse today compared to recent performances. Thanks, Enrique!

I’ve got to get to sleep, so I won’t be waiting for an article to be written on the game, but Marlins win on Dan Uggla’s bases loaded, two out single in the bottom of the 11th.

Up and down game, neither team could keep a lead, but the Marlins managed to come out on top despite Chris Volstad’s shaky start.

The offense got more than 10 hits for the 8th straight game now, the longest such streak in the majors, and you really have to like how this offense has looked since the addition of Nick Johnson.

Emilio Bonifacio damn near won it all in the 10th, but Bo Porter made a terrible decision to send Hermida and the throw beat him by about 20 feet. And yet, the Marlins actually might have gotten screwed on that, as Hermida’s foot got on the plate before Pudge got the tag on. Glad that one didn’t come back to bite them.

49 games left, 28 to get to 88, which is the bare minimum for a wild card since 2003. Still keeping a closer watch on the division at this point. Phillies win in extras as Kevin Gregg (GREEEEEEEGG) blew the game for the Cubs, so the Fish are still 3.5 back. 2.5 back in the Wild Card, though Colorado is currently losing so they could be two back by tonight. Would love to have the opportunity to jump ahead of the Rockies this weekend, so take care of the Stros in the next two.

In a season of big streaks, the Florida Marlins are suddenly back in the hunt in the NL East.

Rick VandenHurk pitched five effective innings, five Florida players had at least one RBI and the Marlins beat the Houston Astros 8-6 on Monday night for their fourth straight win.

“It was nice to come out and not be flat,” Marlins catcher John Baker said, referring to the Marlins’ first game since a three-game sweep at Philadelphia.

Baker had two RBI, and NL batting leader Hanley Ramirez had two singles and an RBI to help chase starter Brian Moehler (7-8) after five innings.

Florida moved within 3½ games of idle Philadelphia for the NL East lead.

VandenHurk (2-1) struck out four and allowed two runs and five hits.

“It wasn’t feeling like a good outing early on, but we scored some runs and it allowed me to keep attacking,” VandenHurk said.

Excellent overall win. Vandenhurk wasn’t stellar, but he did enough, and the offense gave him an early cushion to work with by scoring 4 in the first.

The top of the order for the Marlins has continued to play excellent, with Chris Coghlan getting on base 3 more times, though his streak of multi hit games was stalled at 8; just a new club record.

Each of the club’s first 6 batters reached base at least 2 times, and Cody Ross was the only starting position player to not be on base twice; he only had one walk and a sac fly for an RBI.

Don’t have the ability to post photos, so no nice pretty Craig Counsell Hero of the Game Award picture, but we’ll give it out nonetheless, and tonight John Baker is the big winner!

The Marlins are now just 3.5 back and have a real opportunity to bury a hurting Houston team in the next three games going into a big wild card showdown with Colorado on the weekend. Just 26 of the team’s next 32 games are against teams with a winning record, so this is the prime time for the Marlins to make a run.

The magic number for the Wild Card is between 88-92 wins over the last 7 seasons, so you want to see them win 30 of their next 50, a not insurmountable task, but a tall one.

One reason the Florida Marlins are still in contention is that NL batting leader Hanley Ramirez is doing a much better job this season of hitting in clutch situations.

Ramirez drove in three runs with a pair of two-out hits, leading Florida to an 8-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday and helping the Marlins win their third straight series at Chavez Ravine.

Ramirez was 2 for 4, raising his career average at Dodger Stadium to .344. He’s hitting .348 overall this season and .427 with runners in scoring position — second in the majors. Last season, the two-time All-Star shortstop had a .239 average in that department.

“He led off his first three years in the major leagues and won a Silver Slugger. Now we’ve put him in the three hole and he’s driving in runs,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “This guy can do anything on the baseball field. If you ask him to play center field tomorrow, he may win a Gold Glove. He’s that talented.”

Chris Volstad (8-9) allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. The 22-year-old right-hander was helped by three double plays, one of them in the first when Orlando Hudson took off from first base on Andre Ethier’s long drive to center fielder Cody Ross and couldn’t get back in time after having to retouch second.

Hanley is not a fan of getting hit, but he did take home his first CCHOTGA for his troubles.

Tempted to give the Hero award to Burke Badenhop for protecting Hanley, who has been vocal about teams going after him this season. He’s been hit 5 times and has made sure everyone knows he’s unhappy with it. Good to see Burke protecting the star. He said after the game he “let one get away”, but we know better. Hat tip to Burke.

I didn’t actually get to watch any of this series, but it’s nice to see the team take two of three, though would’ve liked to have held on Saturday for the sweep. Either way, a 5-1 road trip has them 3.5 heading into a big series against the Braves this week. I’ll probably be at at least one of the games, maybe more, and hopefully there’s a decent crowd.

Every series from here on out is big, but if the team can take care of the Braves by Thursday, don’t be surprised to see a move on the trade deadline on Friday. Here’s to hoping they put up a better fight than they did against the Phils last week.

I swear, these night games are going to be the death of me. Or at the very least, I’m gonna lose my job.

Rick VandenHurk pitched six strong innings to earn his first win in more than a year, leading the Florida Marlins to a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday night.

VandenHurk (1-0), making his first start since last July, allowed two runs and five hits, struck out four and walked two. He picked up his first victory since he pitched five innings in a 4-0 victory over Atlanta on June 22, 2008.

Hanley Ramirez homered for the Marlins, who put together a two-run rally in the seventh to snap a three-game skid. Leo Nunez pitched the ninth for his fifth save in eight chances to complete the combined five-hitter.

Vandenhurk looked great up until the 6th, when he gave up the back to back shots, though there were some hard hit balls. As always has been the case with him, he loses control as the game goes on. Still, nice to pick up a win, even if we tried as hard as we could to lose it.
In honor of the first victory in the history of this blog, I have the immense pleasure of introducing our Player of the Game award, known by it’s official name as the Craig Counsell Hero of the Game Award, the much prettier, more datable version of the Scott Olsen Mugshot Memorial Award.

This isn’t a game that had a lot of deserving nominees, so I’m going to go with the guy who went 0-4 but who nonetheless saved the game with a runner on 3rd in the 8th inning by picking Emilio Bonifacio’s throw in the dirt.

Hip Hip

JORGE!

Also, I’d like to start doing a little run down of the Marlins minor league affiliates various exploits, so here’s a little rundown of the team’s games tonight as well as the performances of notable prospects (Courtesy of Tealandblack.net):

GCL Marlins: DNP

Jamestown Jammers lost, 8-7
-Chase Austin (rd. 5): 2-5, run scored, 2 Ks (.279)
-Dustin Dickerson (rd. 6): 1-3, run scored, 1 BB (.316)

Greensboro Grasshoppers lost, 5-1
-Mattison: 2-4, run scored, 1 K (.240)
-Galloway: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 K (.282)
-Smolinski: 1-3, (.260)
-Skipworth down to .199
-Koehler: 6 IP, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (3.09 ERA)
-Jennings: 1 IP, 3 K (2.85 ERA)

Jupiter Hammerheads lost 2-1 in 10 innings
-Burns: 2-5, 2 doubles, 1 K (.263)
-Mense: 2-4, 1 R (.232)
-Valentin: 1-2, 1 Double, 1 RBI, 2 BB (.244)
-Allison: 8.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (3.71)
-Harvey: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (3.33)

Jacksonville was idle

New Orleans Zyphers lost, 3-1
-Maybin: 1-4 with a double, (.343)
-Lindsey: 1-2, 1 R, 2 BBs (.260)
-Sanchez: 0-4 (.284)
-De Aza: 2-4, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K (.289)
-Collazo: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (3.54)
-Mobley: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K (3.68)

Also have to post up this picture from the Times-Picayune of  Oklahoma RedHawks center fielder Julio Borbon absolutely robbing Gaby Sanchez of a home run tonight.

And speaking of the minors, starting pitcher Andrew Miller has been sent to AAA New Orleans. He was absolutely dreadful in his last few starts and seems to have lost the consistency his new delivery had brought him.