The Florida Marlins used the lethal combination of power(2 homers) and speed(pressure on the defense and bothering pitchers) to defeat the NY Mets, 5-4 Friday night in Miami. Marlins star infielders, SS Hanley Ramirez and 2nd baseman Dan Uggla, both hit solo shots off of Mets starter John Maine, while the team beat out several infield hits and took extra bases all game. 3b Emilio Bonifacio had 3 hits and 3 runs, scoring the walk off winner on a single by Jorge Cantu in the 9th.
The Mets had plenty of chances in this contest, leaving 14 men on base, stranding at least one runner an inning.”A couple of hits here and there, and we could have broken it open,” manager Jerry Manuel said. All 3 NY outfielders- LF Daniel Murphy, CF Carlos Beltran(solo homer) and RF Ryan Church- had 3 hits to pace the attack. Unfortunately, the club stranded 2 runners in 5 of the final 6 innings. Backup OF Jeremy Reed tied the game in the 9th with a great at bat leading to a pinch hit rbi single with 2 outs vs Marlins closer Matt Lindstrom.
Pitching wise, Mets starter John Maine threw a good ball game and showed enough to give NY fans hope for the 2009 campaign, after missing the last 6 weeks of ’08 with arm issues. He went 5 strong allowing only 2 hits(the solo shots to Uggla and Ramirez) while walking 1 and striking out 5. Sean Green and Bobby Parnell got small balled to death, to give up a run each in an inning. J.J. Putz calmed things down in the 8th but an infield hit by Bonifacio followed by a walk set up Cantu’s big hit to left vs new comer Darren O’Day, making LH Pedro Feliciano the tough luck loser.
Star of the Game: Bonifacio, who is red hot, was a pain all night. A big reason the Marlins are 4-0, his 3 for 5 now puts him at .579(11-19) on the year. He has also scored 9 runs.
Mets Notes: Mets OF Gary Sheffield has 68 home runs in Dolphin Stadium, the most of any ball park…Beltran scored 2 runs… SS Jose Reyes walked twice… 2b Luis Castillo went 0 for 4 and is now hitting .100 on the year
Next Game:
Game 2 of 3 game set in Miami,Saturday, 6:25 pm
Mets RH Livian Hernandez vs Marlins RH Ricky Nolasco(1-0,7.50)
