Kyle Chapman Marlins

The Marlins earned two wins Saturday, October 12, 2002. One was easier than it should have been, with the Marlins accepting a forfeit from the Dodgers. One win was much harder than it should have been. The Marlins, coming off of a 10 day layoff since their last game, managed to squeak by the Cardinals 2-1 in a game that went six innings. While the Marlins bats were pretty much silent most of the game, their pitching and defense were virtually stellar. Daniel Rothenberg finally got his first pitching win as a Marlin, going 4 innings and allowing no runs, two hits, no walks and striking out five Cardinals. Grant Haynes got the save in relief with some clutch pitching in the 5th and 6th innings to seal the Marlins' eighth victory. The Marlins hitting story can be told in one sentence-- Josh Hidalgo smacked a double to left-center field, but was stranded there and did not score. Cardinal starting pitcher Will Martin pitched 3 terrific innings for the Cardinals, not allowing a single Marlins hit. The Marlins got one run in the second inning on on a Cardinal error on a ball hit by Trey Hibbert, a walk to Ben Wendt, and a passed ball. Courtesy runner Daniel Rothenberg brought that run across the plate. The other run was manufactured when Jared Rothenberg walked, advanced to second on a walk, stole third on a close play, and scored on a fielder's choice by Josh Silver who was out at first. Following the close victory, Daniel Rothenberg joined the rest of the 14 year old K.C. Titans tournament team at Westbury field to help them win 14 year old division of the Westbury fall classic. The Titans won the championship game 11-8 against a tough NASA team. The Marlins had better rest quickly since they have three games scheduled in the next five days. The Marlins face the Cubs on Monday night, October 14th at 8pm. On Wednesday, October 16th at 6pm, the Marlins face off against the second place 6-2 Pirates. Finally, the Marlins end a tough week with a 6pm game on Thursday, October 17th against the always tough Astros. Tickets for all remaining Marlins games are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and neighborhood Fiesta stores. Go Phish!!!

In one of the toughest games of the season thus far, our Marlins edged the tough Rockies 4-1 in a wild 7 inning contest at K.C. field. Daniel Rothenberg and Grant Haynes combined to hold the Rockies to one run, two hits, and four walks in seven innings. Daniel pitched the first four innings, only allowing one run in the second inning on a Will McCaleb walk and a Clay Stephens blast to left-center field for a run scoring double. Grant came in to pitch the 5th, 6th and 7th innings, and held the Rockies scoreless during that time. Grant was credited with the win when the usually potent Marlins offense finally showed up in the 5th inning. A walk to Daniel Rothenberg, a double by Pat Brosch and a walk to Josh Hidalgo combined with four wild pitches to create three very important Marlin runs. The Marlins might have scored more runs in the 5th, but with two out and Chris O'Shea on third, Rockie centerfielder Brandon Mulder robbed Brian Barker of a sure double with a great catch in center field. Mulder came up big once again in the 6th inning when he robbed Trey Hibbert of an almost certain hit to center field. Phish notes: Daniel Rothenberg, who has been working on a sinker pitch, managed to get 11 of the first 12 Rockies outs by groundouts to the infield. His brother Jared was busy at first base, recording 14 put outs in the game, including one nice pickoff of Zach Taylor in the 4th inning. A weird play in the Rockies 5th-- with runners on first and second, Chris O'Shea fielded a weak grounder to third with his foot on third base before the runner even got close. He threw to first to try to complete the double play, only to find out that neither umpire saw him touch third base. Wonder what game THEY were watching??? Fortunately, Grant Haynes pitched out of trouble, inducing two infield flies and a groundout to first to end the inning with no damage done. The unsung hero of Wednesday night's game? Undoubtedly Trey Hibbert, who, as catcher, did not allow any of the 9 Rockies runners to advance and score on wild pitches or passed balls. Way to go, Trey. While the top of the Rockie lineup was strangely silent Wednesday night, Chris O'Shea and Brian Barker registered singles in the Marlin 3rd, helping to build the Marlins first run. Coach Glenn Haynes was brilliant once again in leading the Marlins to their sixth consecutive victory. In the postgame conference, Coach Haynes pointed out that not all games are won playing "big ball." This one was won with walks, a hit or two, a passed ball or two, and a steal or two. Next practice is 8pm on Monday night at Levy Field (it's sort of near Compaq Center, off Richmond Avenue down Eastside Drive). Next games are Tuesday night at 6pm against the Cardinals and Wednesday night at 8pm against the Dodgers. This is Big Daddy Tuna, the voice of the Phish saying, "great game and have a wonderful weekend!!!"

The K.C. fall ball Marlins closed the book on the first 5 games of the season with an exciting 9-6 win over the K.C. Astros on Monday night at K.C. field. The 5-0 Marlins appeared to be cruising to victory when Joe Silver, the Astros catcher, smashed a booming grand salami to left center field to bring the Astros within one run at 5-4. The Marlins pitching trio of Pat Brosch, Trey Hibbard and Grant Haynes managed to prevent the potent Astros lineup from inflicting much more damage. Finally, the Marlins broke the game open in the top of the 6th with two important runs. It looked as though the Astros might leave the Marlins black and blue since two different Astros pitchers managed to hit three different Marlins batters. Daniel Rothenberg led things offensively with a single, a double and a hit by pitch right in the ole derriere. Daniel went 2-3, drove in two runs and scored a run. His kid brother J-Rod Rothenberg shows signs of breaking out of his fall-long batting slump, going 2-3 with two singles up the middle, driving in two runs and scoring two himself. But the biggest kudos of the night must be saved for starting pitcher Pat Brosch. Astros catcher Joe Silver boomed a wicked line drive right back through the mound, catching Pat solidly on the shin. Writhing in obvious pain on the ground for several minutes, it appeared Pat might not be able to walk again on Monday night, much less continue to play. In a remarkable display of courage and guts, Pat was helped back up to his feet and somehow managed to continue pitching the rest of the second and the third innings. What an incredible display of determination by that young man. Brian Barker joined the razzle dazzle club with his first unassisted double play at second base to snuff out a budding Astros rally. Pat continued to amaze late in the game when he stretched so far for a throw from thirdbaseman Chris O'Shea that the Marlins' announcer, Big Daddy Tuna, thought it was his son J-Rod playing first base. It was only after J-Rod took off his catcher's mask that Tuna realized that Pat had made the awesome strech at 1st base. Way to go Pat. The Marlins play an important game on Wednesday night at 6pm against the Rockies-- the only team not to fall to the Marlins YET this fall season. An added dimension to Wednesday night's game is the fact that Daniel Rothenberg, the Marlins centerfielder and pitcher, was a Rockie last spring, and is one of the Phish this fall. This should be an exciting game indeed. Marlin coach Glen Haynes continues to sparkle in his freshman campaign here at Kyle Chapman. That's all for now!!! Goooo Phish!!!!

Practice for Saturday April 13th at noon at Levy Park is cancelled. We will be playing the make-up game with the A's at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. Please make certain you have a ride and are on time. Call me if you have any questions.

We are 6 and 1 after our win against the A's on Saturday. We play the Royals on Monday at 6 p.m. Be at the field at 5 p.m. Check out the pictures on our roster and the photos from the recent opening ceremonies. Keep your fingers crossed and hope we catch a break or two along the way!!!