04-17-2007, 10:20 AM
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#9 (permalink)
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Greenville, N.C.
Posts: 176
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(5-3)
Quote:
MIAMI (AP) -- It didn't take long for the first suspended game of the season under the new major league rule change.
The Florida Marlins' game against the Milwaukee Brewers was suspended after 10 innings and three rain delays Tuesday night with the score 2-2.
Before this year, it would have become an official tie game and would have been replayed from the start. Because of the change made during the offseason, it will be resumed Wednesday night in the top of the 11th inning and be followed by the finale of the three-game series.
"It's a good rule; it makes sense for both teams," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "We'd both be in trouble if they hadn't changed it. We're better off picking it up tomorrow in a lot better conditions."
Crew chief Doug Eddings suspended the game at 12:03 a.m. -- 32 minutes after the third delay began. The three delays totaled 1:42.
"The umpires did the right thing," Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "It was getting bad the last inning."
Puddles of water were visible in the infield and outfield.
"This is what happens in south Florida," said Brewers infielder Craig Counsell, who played for Florida from 1997-99. "You don't want the game being decided by the conditions. You want it decided by what happens on the field."
J.J. Hardy tied the score for Milwaukee with a one-out RBI double in the ninth off Jorge Julio, who has blown both of his save chances this year.
"I don't know. I'm not in his head," Gonzalez said of his struggling closer's confidence. "The only thing I know is we're going to keep running him out there."
Florida had taken a 2-1 lead on Dan Uggla's sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Baseball umpires Derryl Cousins, left, and Dana DeMuth talk after 11 innings of play during the baseball game in Miami, Tuesday, April 10, 2007 between the Milwaukee Brewers and Florida Marlins. Minutes later, the game was once again delayed by the heavy rain.
AP - Apr 10, 11:57 pm EDT
More Photos
Marlins starter Rick Vanden Hurk, brought up from the minors earlier in the day, made his major league debut and allowed one run and five hits in 4 2-3 innings with five strikeouts and three walks. He did not return after the first rain delay.
"I was a little nervous my first time out there, but once I got a couple of outs I settled down a little bit and felt better throwing the ball," Vanden Hurk said. "Of course you want to go out there as long as possible, Once you get out there, you want to stay there. I'll probably be more settled down next time."
Vanden Hurk, whose parents were in the stands, was only the second pitcher from the Netherlands to start a major league game. Bert Blyleven became the first in 1970 and won 287 games over a 22-year career. Winn Remmerswaal pitched 22 games in relief during a two-season stretch with the Boston Red Sox in 1979-80.
In his first start since the Brewers acquired him from Arizona in the offseason, Claudio Vargas gave up two runs and five hits in five innings, striking out nine.
Mike Jacobs' RBI single put Florida ahead in the first, but Corey Hart's sacrifice fly tied the score in the fourth.
Tony Graffanino was ejected by Eddings for arguing a called third strike that ended the eighth.
Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera had a rough first inning. He was hit in the face while retrieving left fielder Josh Willingham's one-bounce throw following Prince Fielder's single. In the bottom of the inning, while attempting to avoid Vargas' two-strike, inside pitch, Cabrera was hit in the right elbow but struck out when his bat went across the plate.
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Julio's struggle continue.
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