Today’s game against the Giants was very much unlike our last game against them. When we first played them early in the season, the defense was excellent and the pitching did just enough to keep us in the game. The bats were silent for most of the game and we ended up coming back to within one run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
This game, the defense was spotty at best, the pitching was inconsistent, and that bats kept us in the game. I have always told this team that I am not worried about the bats. This team can hit. They have always been able to hit and they have always been capable of scoring double-digit runs every time they take the field. One of our batters hit our third homerun of the season today, another shot to deep left field. It was another ball that was hit pretty much perfectly, clearing everything. The batter hit the ball so far that he was able to make it all the way around the bases standing up. That is quite an accomplishment for an eleven year old. Still, the homerun came to lead off an inning, meaning that only one run was scored on it.
We did have an extended inning, however, in the fourth. Our batters batted around and managed to tie the game, coming back from seven or eight runs down. Under the old rules, we would have been able to go up by five runs before the inning ended, but those rules no longer apply. What was remarkable, though, was that we got contributions from all parts of the batting order throughout the entire game. The top of the order got on base, the middle of the order drove them in, and the bottom of the order managed to get on base and score runs as well This what happens when a team is on and seeing the ball well. I just wish our pitching had been a bit more consistently in the strike zone.
When I was watching the umpires in the first few innings, it seemed as if my pitchers were being squeezed whereas the Giants pitchers were being given a bit bigger strike zone. I was not happy when I saw outside pitches that were being called balls for us called strikes for them. Same with the inside pitches. I certainly hope that when we reach Major League in the Fall that we will have paid umpires and not these volunteer high school kids.
I was disappointed that we lost this game considering how well we have played against the Giants this year in different aspects of the game. Next week, we are playing the Reds again, which was our hardest game so far this season. The Marlins need to be ready to face that challenge.
The Marlin Way 