This was a weird one for the Golden Marlins! The game started normally enough for the Fish, with Jim Ansel stranding two Cyclone runners in the first inning followed by the Marlins plating 3, in the bottom of the frame, to take a 3-0 lead, on singles by Tim Brown, Tom Maney, and Mike Ferraro. That is when a Twilight Zone episode began! The first three Cyclone batters reached base, in the top of the second inning, on consecutive Marlins errors. It is rare enough that the Marlins commit 3 errors in a game, but three in a row, in the same inning is an extreme rarity. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Ed Rogers hit a hard ground ball to short. TJ Scorsone got the ball to Tim Brown at second, who relayed on to first in time to complete the double play. The REAL Golden Marlins were back, right?! Wrong! Three more consecutive errors plated the 2nd and 3rd runs for the Cyclones, to tie the game, and left runners on the corners with two outs, and the middle of the Cyclones order coming up. Jim Ansel got Mark Mitchell to pop out to first to end the nightmare. The Cyclones took a 4-3 lead on a one-out walk, a stolen base, and ground out that moved the runner to third, and a wild pick-off attempt by the Marlins catcher, with 2 outs. So, the go-ahead run was scored without the benefit of a hit, on the 7th Marlins error of the day. Jim Ansel Proceeded directly to his lawyers office to file suit against his teammates. The Marlins got even, in the bottom of the 3rd inning, on a lead-off walk by Tommy Smith, a perfect sacrafice bunt by John Latorre, and a two out RBI single by Tom Maney. John Latorre came on to pitch for the Marlins in the top of the 4th, and got the Cyclones in order. The Fish responded, with 2 runs, in the bottom of the inning. Ron Lochner led off the rally with a single. Courtesy runner Mike Girard stole second, and Mike Clary followed with a walk. Clary and Girard then executed a double steal, to give the Fish runners on second and third with nobody out. Francisco Rosello (Cyclones starter) got the next two Marlins batters to pop out to the infield and hold the runners. That set the stage for the head-to head match-up of the game: Jim Ansel now needed a base hit vs Rosello to get the Marlins the lead. Mr. Ansel came through with flying colors, delivering the clutch 2-RBI single to put the Golden Marlins up 6-4. John Latorre then did what a top-notch pitcher does when his team hands him a lead, he set the Cyclones down in order. The Marlins again responded, in the bottom of the inning, with an insurance run. Tom Smith walked, with one out, and stole second. John Latorre singled sharply, moving Smith to third. It looked like the Cyclones would get out of the inning on a double play, when Tim Brown grounded to short, but Tim hustled all the way and beat the relay throw to first, scoring Smith with the insurance run. Phil Gadomski came on in the sixth inning for the Marlins, and gave up a single run on singles by Francisco Rosello, Frank Kerbein, and Harold Jenkins. That closed the gap to 7-5, but the Golden Marlins would close out the scoring with2 runs, in the bottom of the sixth, on singles by Lochner, Clary, and Gadomski. The game ended 9-5 after an uneventful 7th inning. The Golden Marlins move to 5-0, with the win, while the Cyclones slipped to 3-5 with the loss.
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Monday 25th of June 2012 09:07:37 AM
