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Marlins trounce Phillies for ninth straight win

Sep 20, 2008 - 5:10 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Phillies found out the hard way that there was a team hotter than them in the National League.

Mike Jacobs drove in four runs and Cameron Maybin went 4-for-5 and scored three times as the Florida Marlins remained the hottest team in the major leagues with a 14-8 triumph on Friday over the Phillies, who had their seven-game winning streak snapped.

Maybin, who also went 4-for-4 against Houston on Thursday, tied a franchise record with eight consecutive hits and set a club mark by reaching safely 10 straight times.

"I'm relaxed," Maybin said. "I had a whole year in Double-A to go down there and work on some things. I think that time there helped me out a tremendous amount to make these guys really throw strikes. If I put the ball in play, I can make a lot of things happen with my speed."

Dan Uggla, Alfredo Amezaga and Jorge Cantu homered and combined for eight RBI for the Marlins (81-72), who have won nine in a row and inched closer to a playoff spot. Florida is five games behind the New York Mets (86-67) for first place in the NL East Division and trails Philadelphia (86-68) by 4 1/2 in the race for the wild card.

"I've never not felt confidence with this club," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We've been around here for some tough losses and those crazy games in the ninth inning, but I always felt confidence with this club. These guys never give up."

The Mets jumped one-half game ahead of the Phillies for the division lead with a 9-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday.

Cantu and John Baker scored three runs apiece for the Marlins, who rallied from a pair of deficits to improve to 10-6 against the Phillies this season.

"They did a good job," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. "You guys have seen this all year - we have trouble holding them. That's been our problem when we play them. We can score on them, but we have trouble holding them."

Josh Johnson (6-1) benefited from Florida's offensive surge, picking up the win despite yielding six runs and seven hits in five innings.

Greg Dobbs, Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino belted homers for Philadelphia.

The Phillies took a lead in the top of the first inning for the third straight night as Chase Utley scored on an error by first baseman Jacobs and Jayson Werth trotted home on a wild pitch by Johnson. But the advantage did not last long as the Marlins scored five times in the bottom half before Brett Myers (10-12) was able to record an out.

Maybin led off the frame with an infield single, stole second and scored on Baker's single. Following a base hit by Cantu, Jacobs delivered a two-run double to give the Marlins a 3-2 edge.

"With who we had on the mound and who they had, it was probably built as a pitching battle," Jacobs said. "But it didn't turn out to be that."

Uggla then belted a 3-2 offering over the left field wall for his 31st homer of the season and a 5-2 advantage.

"It was one of those days," Myers said. "Everything I threw up there, they hit. They are a hot team right now."

Philadelphia managed to come back and take the lead against Johnson, however. Dobbs opened the second with a blast to right field and Utley made it a one-run game later in the inning with a sacrifice fly.

Three frames later, Howard completed a nine-pitch at-bat with his major league-leading 46th homer, a two-run shot that gave the Phillies a 6-5 lead. It was the slugger's seventh blast in 12 games.

Again, it did not last long as the Marlins erupted for six runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to seize control.

Myers, who had retired the side in order each of the previous two innings, allowed a leadoff single by Maybin in the fifth. After another stolen base and a walk to Baker, the righthander yielded an RBI double by Cantu that evened the game.

Jacobs was walked intentionally to load the bases for Uggla, who delivered a run-scoring single. That spelled the end for Myers, whose only loss in his previous six decisions also came against Florida.

Rudy Seanez came on and allowed an RBI groundout by Luis Gonzalez and got Cody Ross to pop out before Amezaga deposited an 0-1 pitch into the seats in right field for a three-run homer and 11-6 bulge.

"I got lucky because I was waiting on that pitch and I made a good swing of the bat," Amezaga said.

Jacobs increased the advantage with a two-run single in the sixth and Cantu launched a solo shot in the eighth, his 29th, to cap the scoring. With his next blast, third baseman Cantu would complete Florida's feat of having all four infielders reach the 30-homer plateau.

Second baseman Uggla, Jacobs (32) and shortstop Hanley Ramirez (32) already have eclipsed the mark.

Myers lasted four-plus innings, surrendering 10 runs and nine hits with two walks and three strikeouts.