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Marlins Extend Mastery Over Punchless Nats
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"He, so to speak, called my bluff," Redding said. "I tried to throw him sliders that broke in the zone and broke out. He didn't swing at any of them. Tried to throw him sinking fastballs to try to get him to hit one into the ground for a double play." Again, nothing.
"The guy could hit from the leadoff spot to the nine hole and still be a .330 hitter," Redding said.
With that came four straight balls, and the Marlins had a rally. Two batters later -- after an out and another walk, this one to Dan Uggla, who Redding had struck out twice -- Redding was gone. Jesús Colome came on, and González immediately shot his double to right field. Marlins 6, Nationals 1, and they tacked on one more in the inning.
"I missed my spot," Colome said.
Even with all that, the Nationals had one monumental chance to come back. In the seventh against Florida reliever Doug Waechter, Cristian Guzmán hit an RBI single, Nick Johnson an RBI single, pulling the Nationals within 7-3. Lastings Milledge walked to load the bases and oust Waechter.
Marlins Manager Fredi González brought in right-hander Justin Miller to face Kearns. Miller threw a fastball for strike one, but then missed. With the count 1-1, Kearns swung hard. A single would have kept the rally alive, but this ball settled into shallow center, where Ross caught it easily just after Kearns tossed his bat to the ground in disgust.
Today, the two teams will play again, their eighth of 18 meetings on the year. Florida will take the field as the surprising first-place team in the division; the Nationals are securely in last. One possible explanation: One team has Ramírez, the other does not.
"When you have a guy like that -- that's that good -- in your lineup," Boone said, "you tend to not go through stretches as a team where you struggle. He's just really, really special."
