PITTSBURGH -- The Florida Marlins' offense threw a party at PNC Park on Monday night, and everybody in the lineup was invited.
All nine starters scored at least a run and had at least one hit, six had at least two hits and seven drove in at least one run, as the Fish pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-4, for their third victory in a row and fifth out of seven.
Hanley Ramirez hit his third home run in two days and Josh Willingham and Dan Uggla also went deep for the Marlins, who pounded out 11 extra-base hits among the 16 hits they posted.
"We know nights like this aren't going to happen every night," said catcher Mike Rabelo, who went 2-for-4 with a run scored. "That's why it's great to look back on it."
Uggla had three hits, Jorge Cantu went 2-for-5 with two runs, and even pitcher Mark Hendrickson went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI for the Marlins, who have scored 31 runs in their past three games.
Lost in the offensive fireworks was another quality outing by Hendrickson (4-1), who allowed three earned runs on eight hits and a walk, striking out five in eight innings of work.
"We swung the bats good, but Mark gave us the opportunity once we got ahead of [Pittsburgh starter Matt] Morris," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He shut the door down. ... He did tremendous today. He changed speeds, located his fastball. ... Whatever you wanted, he did."
Hendrickson has won his past four starts, allowing only seven earned runs in that time. Monday, he retired 11 in a row and 16 of 18 at one point to improve to 2-0 this season against Pittsburgh.
TEAM W L % GB Florida 12 7 .632 - New York 10 8 .556 1.5 Atlanta 10 9 .526 2.0 Philadelphia 10 10 .500 2.5 Washington 5 15 .250 7.5
i tip my hat to Smoltz this guy will always be one of the best pitchers to ever walk this planet.
ATLANTA -- As much as he wanted to downplay the significance, those who knew John Smoltz understood that this would be an evening and milestone he could cherish forever.
Once the crowd at Turner Field rose for Tuesday night's first two-strike count, Smoltz too came to understand the magnitude of what he was about to accomplish. No longer could he hide the excitement of joining an elite fraternity, whose members already included Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson and Tom Seaver.
Instead he simply had to complete the journey that had brought him to this point.
With a third-inning strikeout of Nationals second baseman Felipe Lopez, Smoltz became 16th pitcher in Major League history to record 3,000 career strikeouts. Fittingly, he reached this elite milestone with the splitter that had provided him so much success dating back to the start of his 1996 National League Cy Young Award season.
"I was pretty anxious, more anxious than I thought," Smoltz said. "I had downplayed this as much as I could in my mind, because short of not throwing another pitch, I really thought this was something that would come. I wanted to get it done as quick as possible, so that I could just continue pitching."
Unfortunately, like too many other great performances or memories from his career, this one was soured with the Braves' 6-0 loss to the Nationals.
"I'll remember this for a long time even though it was a loss," Smoltz said.
Entering this season just 25 strikeouts shy of this milestone, it was easy for Smoltz to simply assume this accomplishment would come. But never did he foresee the type of excitement it would create for a group of fans and an organization who understand the dominance, perseverance and loyalty that he displayed on the journey to this point.
I think Smoltz is a great baseball player but even a better person. I just wish the Braves could have given him some support last night. Leave it up to the Queen of Sats to ruin a good thread with his worthless post!
ATLANTA -- Home run totals keep rising for the upstart Marlins.
Hanley Ramirez and Mike Jacobs each went deep in the first inning, providing Andrew Miller with enough support to hold off the Braves, 7-2, on Wednesday night in front of 19,852 at Turner Field.
For the season, the first-place Marlins now have 32 homers in 21 games. Jacobs and Ramirez each have seven.
Power has certainly been prevalent in this young lineup, but the team still feels it isn't being taken seriously.
"I think the one thing that we don't lack in this clubhouse is confidence," said Jacobs, who drove in three runs. "I think everybody in this clubhouse from Day 1, whether this year or going back to '06, was being counted out.
"I think their pregame thing on their [video scoreboard] was something like, 'The Braves [are] facing an unproven lineup.' We've got guys in here who have hit 30 home runs. Hanley has hit over .300. [Josh Willingham] has hit 20 homers in back-to-back years. It just goes to show you that people don't give us ... I don't know if it is respect or what it is. What we don't lack is confidence."
Watching Miller collect his first win as a Marlin also was a boost.
Still, getting the left-hander through innings remains a battle. He qualified for the win by lasting the necessary five innings, and he finished with 98 pitches. He allowed nine hits and had at least two on in every inning but the fifth. Still, the 22-year-old, obtained from the Tigers last December collected his first win with the Marlins in three decisions.
