The Marlins were never supposed to be here. Despite being
virtually eliminated midway through the season, the Marlins
finished with a 10-game winning streak including an 11-3 victory
over the Rockies in the San Benito Babe Ruth championship game.
Marlins end season with ten consecutive victories
By NATHAN MIXTER
Sports Editor
The Marlins were never supposed to be here. Despite being virtually eliminated midway through the season, the Marlins finished with a 10-game winning streak including an 11-3 victory over the Rockies in the San Benito Babe Ruth championship game.
The turning point of the season was when the Marlins played the White Sox back to back in three of their four games. The Marlins won all three teams and switched places with the White Sox, jumping from fourth to second place. The Marlins pulled off close games against the White Sox and Giants.
“It seemed like we were winning one then losing one or winning one and losing two,” said Marlins’ coach Naz Martinez, whose team started the season at 7-6. “All of a sudden, the kids just started putting it together. They committed very little errors. Sometimes we would commit four or five errors an inning before that. They hit like crazy. They hit a lot with two outs. Once there were two outs, it was happening.”
The Marlins played error-free ball in the championship game and capitalized on several Rockie errors. Only seven of the 11 Marlins’ runs were earned.
The Rockies on the other hand were on an emotionally high after knocking off the first place Cubs in the playoffs to face the Marlins, but they never were able to pick up any momentum.
The Rockies had just four hits in the game – two by Kevin Mederios, and one by Andrew Miller and Francisco Anaya.
The Rockies scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning and even took a 3-1 lead to knock out starter Michael Garcia. But Joey Covey came in and shut down the Rockies attack.
The Marlins broke the game open with six runs in the fourth inning and four more in the fifth.
Marcus Syngal and Sterling Wilson were both 2-for-3 for the Marlins. Wilson had three RBIs. Joey Escamilla was 2-for-2.
Josh Huaracha had a two-RBI double, and Michael Martinez, Joey Covey and Jeff Keppers also brought in runs.
