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Uggla homers twice as Marlins rip Nationals

Apr 22, 2007 - 9:23 PM MIAMI (Ticker) -- Dan Uggla and the Florida Marlins took their turns teeing off on Jerome Williams.

Uggla hit a pair of home runs and Wes Obermueller made a successful return to the major leagues as the Marlins cruised to a 12-6 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Williams (0-4) entered the game with a 5.63 ERA, surrendering 10 runs and 17 hits in 16 innings over his first three starts. The righthander was not able to turn things around against the Marlins, giving up 10 runs and nine hits in six innings.

"Obie gave us some innings there, and offensively Uggla had a (heck) of an afternoon," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

The Marlins hit three of their four homers off Williams, the first a solo shot by Miguel Cabrera in the third inning that made it 4-0.

Cabrera had been sidelined the last two games with stiffness in his oblique muscle and wasn't full strength Sunday. It was hard to tell with the 467-foot upper-deck shot that moved him into third place on Florida's all-time RBI list with 418. He trails only Jeff Conine (553) and Mike Lowell (578).

"A bomb. That's what it was," Williams said. "About 460-something feet. I wanted to go in and I actually got part of the plate and he put that ball in the upper deck. Its just mental. A mental mistake.

Uggla, who had three hits, belted a three-run homer in the fourth to extend the lead to 7-0. He added a two-run homer in the eighth to make it 12-2.

"It's just one of those ones where you're looking for a pitch and you get it and you connect with it," Uggla said of his first shot that also landed in the upper deck of Dolphin Stadium. "It doesn't happen every time. Even when you get your pitch you still have to make contact and hit it as well as you can."

Washington manager Manny Acta said Williams knew he'd have to go deep in the game to give the overused bullpen some rest.

"We're thankful. He knew he had to take it on the chin for us today and he did," Acta said. "I told him before the game, we needed seven innings, I need an effort. That's why I appreciate what the kid did.

"I told him I felt sorry that he had to take it for us, but he did take it for us. That's good. That's a good sign."

Uggla added a run-scoring-single and had a career high six RBI while recording the second multi-homer game of his career.

"I've been scuffing all season long, but the sooner you can get out of it, the better and everybody expects more out of yourself than what I've been doing," Uggla said.

The offensive explosion was more than enough for Obermueller (1-0), who had not pitched in the majors since 2005, when he went 1-4 in 23 appearances with Milwaukee. He allowed two runs, four hits and four walks with five strikeouts in six innings.

"It was another dream come true," Obermueller said. "This is what you work for all the time to get back and the thing with me in the past was to find that consistency, get over that hump and just keep getting better and better. Because I believe I can do it, I know I can do it. It helps when your team puts up 10 runs for you, so I thank them for doing that."

"He threw strikes, he settled down (after the first), his command was good," Gonzalez said. "He'll be here a while. He gave us six plus innings. That's what we needed. He settled in and we swung the bats."

Obermueller, who had been Milwaukee's Opening Day starter in 2004, spent last season in Japan after the Braves released him from their Class AAA Richmond farm club. He said the decision to pitch in the Far East was financial and he was given a six-figure deal that he didn't expect.

"I initially said no to Japan," Obermueller said. "They surprised me. A lot of guys have good experiences over there. Mine wasn't. It was a good life-learning experience that I can carry over. They put a lot of pressure on you when you're not performing."

Kevin Gregg pitched the final three innings to pick up his first save of the season. He allowed four runs on a grand slam in the ninth by Ryan Zimmerman.

Williams said his problem was simple.

"Not finding the strike zone," he said. "I just didn't pitch good. I was just trying to execute pitches. I just didn't do that."