Marlins-Mets Recap

Sorry I didn't have time to post a preview or post much over the past 10 days. Been busy with school and work lately. I will have daily recaps of games and series. This post is going to recap the Opening Weekend of 2011 for the Florida Marlins.

Friday:

• The Marlins honored Mike Lowell with a video before the game. He then pitched the ceremonial first pitch. It was an amazing thing to watch as a longtime Marlins fan. Lowell has meant so much to this franchise.
• Josh Johnson started the season on fire. In his first 6 innings, he didn't allow a single hit. He looked to be in mid-season form. He gave up his first hit to Willie Harris to lead off the 6th. JJ didn't make it out of the 7th inning. He allowed 2 runs in 6 2/3.
• Mike Stanton had another minor injury. After pulling his quad early on in spring, Stanton hurt his hamstring and didn't play the rest of the series. He should return to the lineup Tuesday vs the Nationals.
• Mike Dunn made his Marlins debut in relief of Josh Johnson and looked good striking out the only batter he faced. Clay Hensley followed that with an impressive 1-2-3 inning, picking it up where he left off last season. Leo Nunez pitched the 9th.
• Probably the most memorable part of Opening Day however, belonged to Logan Morrison. Morrison hit a solo homerun to right and as he crossed home plate, pointed to his mother and then saluted to the sky, in honor of his father.

Saturday:

• Ricky Nolasco started the Marlins in the right direction by having a nine pitch inning in the first. He then was effective throughout the night. He finished the game beating JJ's 6 2/3's by going 7 strong allowing 2 runs. He was hit pretty hard but his defense was there to make some good plays.
• Chris Coghlan finally got his first real test in center field. The first play, Coghlan looked really awkward. However, he used his speed and athletic ability to make the play. On the second play, the ball was hit to shallow center, Coghlan got a great jump on it and made a diving catch. Jury is still out on how he'll play in center though.
• Emilio Bonifacio showed his worth to the Florida Marlins in this game. He had a key hit in the 9th that allowed the Marlins to tie the game at 4. Bonerface started the game in Right, moved to third when Murphy got hurt, and then later moved to center. He tied the Marlins record for most positions played in a game.
• Leo Nunez and Ryan Webb did their best to ensure a Marlins loss. Leo walked the leadoff man on 4-pitches and that run later came on to score. That gave the Mets a 3-2 lead going into the bottom half of the ninth. Gregg Dobbs tied the game up with a clutch base hit off of K-Rod none the less.
• In the 10th, Ryan Webb came in and wasn't effective at all. He was charged with all 3 runs, giving the Mets a 6-3 lead. The Marlins proved to be resilient again scoring one run in the 10th and putting pressure on the Mets before the Mets ended the game and won 6-4.
• The Marlins offense was anemic on this night. The team had most of their hits in the first, ninth, and tenth. Between the second and the eight, they were held to just one base hit
• Donnie Murphy was hit by a pitch on his right wrist, the same wrist he dislocated last season and needed surgery on. Luckily, Murphy's injury wasn't serious and he's expected to play Tuesday.
• The game featured an interesting moment featuring Scott Cousins. I won't go too much into this, I'll just give you guys the article written by Marlin Maniac Michael Jhong which is a good overview the whole event.  http://marlinmaniac.com/2011/04/04/the-cousins-decision-and-the-vazquez-start/

Sunday:

• Javier Vazquez looked horrendous. And that's probably the nice way to put it. He labored through 2 1/3 innings giving up 7 runs, with 5 being earned. While his fastball seemed to have gained back most of the command that it had lost in New York, his fastball didn't seem to have much life. He walked four hitters unintentionally. Vazquez also left pitched over the plate the entire game. The game truthfully seemed over after the first two batter. Reyes led the game off with a double and then Willie Harris hit a 2-run shot.
• Marlins defense was atrocious. Hanley, Bonifacio, and Choate all made key errors. The errors led to big innings from the Mets.
• The Florida Marlins injury streak was extended to 3. Edward Mujica apparently hurt his knee in the game. He is expected to be okay and pitch if needed on Tuesday.
• Brian Sanches went 4 scoreless and hitless innings. A very impressive outing for him.

Player of the series:Gaby Sanchez (6-14 with 2 doubles and an RBI)

Goat of the series: Javier Vazquez (7 runs in 1 2/3 innings.)