Well, I kind of gave it all away in the headline, didn’t I?

But yes, Gaby Sanchez will be meeting the team in Houston tonight, implying that Johnson’s injury might be kind of serious, though good to see he’s not going on the DL quite yet. Still don’t expect to see Gaby get much playing time; the management is obviously not thrilled with what he’s shown.

And to make room, Rick Vandenhurk was sent down to AAA New Orleans. Not too surprising given his trouble with the homers, but still would’ve rather seen him stay up and Sean West go down. RVH has shown more than West in my opinion, and he’s more likely to continue to be somewhat successful. He’s kind of like Ricky was early on in the season, and those home runs should normalize. West is also at 130 innings, 30 more than he threw last season. Would’ve been nice to get a few more starts at AA and then shut him down.

Would like to see some more of this.

And lastly, Anibal Sanchez has been great in his rehab starts, so no surprise to see him get the call for Friday. The team is hoping he’ll be able to pitch at a somewhat successful level, something he hasn’t done since that magical run in 06. His control looks pretty good in his rehab starts, and he said he was hitting 95 in his last start, so let’s see what he can do.

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.

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.

In other news, looks like Rick VandenHurk will slide into Sean West’s starter spot. VandenHurk started tonight for Triple-A New Orleans, but he exited after three shutout innings of one-hit ball. That abbreviated outing enables him to start Monday’s series opener at San Diego.

The interesting question is who the Marlins send down? They currently have eight relievers. My guess would be Brian Sanches even though he’s done nothing to merit a demotion. The bullpen has been fantastic lately, allowing just two earn runs over its last 23 1/3 innings for a 0.77 ERA.

-Juan C Rodriguez, Sun Sentinel

RVH has been terrific in AAA this year, so he could really provide a spark.