Marlin game results

09/01/2008 5:41 PM ET

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New style, old result: Marlins walk off
Baker's sac fly in ninth scores Uggla with winning run
By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com

MIAMI -- New month. New look. And a refreshingly familiar result.

On a whim of catcher Paul Lo Duca, the entire Marlins squad, including coaches and manager Fredi Gonzalez, turned to the high-socks look. In the ever superstitious world of Major League Baseball, the team's fashion statement worked, at least for a day.

John Baker's sacrifice fly in the ninth inning scored Dan Uggla to give the Marlins a 4-3 win over the Braves on Monday afternoon in front of 12,209 at Dolphin Stadium.

Desperate to regain some momentum as the season begins its final month, the Marlins were able to take the first game of the series with Atlanta. The win prevented Florida from falling to .500 for the first time since it was 3-3 on April 6.

Now 70-68, the Marlins on Tuesday will strive to win back-to-back games for the first time since July 30-31. After going 11-17 in August, Florida opened September looking to change things up. The win keeps the Marlins seven games behind the Mets in the National League East.

Getting everybody to unite around how to wear their uniforms for a day was an example of solidarity. The choice to go with the look was partly based on the fact that Monday's starting pitcher, Josh Johnson, regularly tugs his pant legs high to show his socks.

"Shake something up," Lo Duca said. "That was one of the reasons, too. I know J.J. likes to wear his socks up, so let's try it."

The irony is, for a catcher, Lo Duca says having his pants tugged to his knees is uncomfortable for him defensively.

"For position players, it's OK, but when it actually bunches up around the knees, it's tough," said Lo Duca, who went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. "I don't know if the boys will want to do it [Tuesday]. But I told them if we keep winning, you never know."

The new look wasn't entirely embraced by everyone. Jorge Cantu, who started at first base, wasn't a big fan. As the game wore on, he lowered his pant legs because of how his uniform fits. Still, Cantu produced, delivering a two-run homer in the first inning off Mike Hampton.

"I pulled them up for the team. But they kept coming down during the game," Cantu said. "Everybody is different about how they go with their uniform."

A wild streak by Braves closer Mike Gonzalez enabled the Marlins to load the bases in the ninth inning. Uggla drew a leadoff walk, and after Josh Willingham's sacrifice bunt, Cody Ross was intentionally walked. Gonzalez then walked Wes Helms, setting up Baker's lone at-bat of the game.

On an 0-1 slider, Baker lifted a liner to short left-center. Left fielder Brandon Jones ranged to the gap, made the catch, but he was not lined up towards home. So he had to regroup and launch a throw that was off the mark, as Uggla slid in with the winning run.

The Marlins now have 11 walk-off wins, with the last coming on Saturday night against the Mets when Willingham walked with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.

"We'll take walk-off walks, wild pitches, we'll take anything that results in the winning of a game," said Baker, who replaced Lo Duca in the ninth inning.

When the ball came off Baker's bat, the Marlins were committed to having Uggla tag up and try to score, even though it wasn't hit particularly deep.

"He was going, no matter who was going to catch it," Fredi Gonzalez said. "You've got to make them throw you out. As soon as the ball went up in the air, he has to go back and tag."

Johnson and Hampton each exited after six innings, deadlocked in a 3-3 contest. Johnson has recorded six straight quality starts, limiting Atlanta to three runs in six innings, while he struck out eight.

The Marlins are 8-2 when Johnson has started.

After Johnson stranded Josh Anderson on third base in the first inning, the Marlins grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first. Hanley Ramirez walked and with two outs, Cantu deposited a two-run homer off Hampton.

Now with 23 homers on the season, Cantu is two blasts away from making the Marlins the first team in Major League history to have four infielders with at least 25 home runs.

The Braves countered in the second, pushing a run across on Brandon Jones' RBI single. Yunel Escobar, who singled to open the inning, raced home on the flare to left.

In the third inning, back-to-back doubles by Lo Duca and Luis Gonzalez drove in Florida's third run.

Atlanta used a pesky approach to pull even in the fifth inning. Anderson slapped an RBI single, scoring Brandon Jones, who doubled. Chipper Jones tapped a run-scoring single to center on a ball that bounced just over Johnson's outreached glove. In a game of inches, what could have been a potential double-play ball became a hit that made it 3-3.

"I don't know how I missed it," Johnson said of not clutching Jones' run-scoring hopper up the middle. "I saw the replay, and I thought, 'Are you kidding me?' "

The Marlins are hoping to grab some momentum over the final 24 games, and winning in walk-off fashion is a start.

"This is definitely a big lift. You saw the smiles on these guys' faces," Johnson said. "That's what we want right now, to keep the ball rolling."

Should the Marlins fall short of winning the division, Lo Duca is quick to remind his teammates that the club should play for second place, which is currently held by the Phillies in the NL East.

"If we don't get to first place, we want to get to second place, and finish over .500," Lo Duca said. "There are a lot of different variables."

Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Florida	IP--	H-	R-	ER-	BB-	SO-	HR-	ERA
Johnson	6.0	9	3	3	0	8	0	3.25
Miller, A	1.0	0	0	0	0	3	0	5.58
Rhodes	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.15
Lindstrom (W, 3-2)	1.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	3.38

IBB: Ross (by Gonzalez).
Pitches-strikes: Hampton 106-62, Bennett 22-13, Gonzalez 17-5, Johnson 108-73, Miller, A 13-10, Rhodes 10-5, Lindstrom 17-12.
Groundouts-flyouts: Hampton 8-7, Bennett 4-1, Gonzalez 1-1, Johnson 5-5, Miller, A 0-0, Rhodes 0-3, Lindstrom 1-2.
Batters faced: Hampton 25, Bennett 6, Gonzalez 5, Johnson 27, Miller, A 3, Rhodes 3, Lindstrom 5.
Umpires: HP: Chad Fairchild. 1B: Sam Holbrook. 2B: Mark Wegner. 3B: Jeff Kellogg.
Weather: 90 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 18 mph, In from CF.
T: 2:44.
Att: 12,209.
September 1, 2008

damn that era is ugly They should start over :haha:

And yeah the whole team wore the socks, but I only saw Drew

SoulRat wrote:

damn that era is ugly

You could argue Lincecum's is better...

catbox_9 wrote:

SoulRat wrote:

damn that era is ugly

You could argue Lincecum's is better...

Let me be happy with Andrew today! Meanie

catbox_9 wrote:

You should be :haha: That 15 day DL lasted a long time

I think Andrew's 1 inning with 3 strike outs is fantastic!!!

It was amazing. Granted, a lot of my excitement was just seeing him on the mound again, but wow, he looked really good. I was mad because the pitcher's spot came up to bat that inning so he couldn't go two. (He's not all that great with the bat ) But yeah, he threw very well. I was so excited

Last night, they were talking to Fredi before the game and talked about how great Andrew was the night before and he says "Did you see him warming up? He threw all over the place. He threw a couple over the bullpen wall."