Comeback wins are becoming the norm for the Marlins, who now count 11 of them following Sunday's ninth-inning fireworks.
"It's exciting for the ballclub, the fans and the media -- but not for the manager," said Ozzie Guillen. "It's not fun for us. But it's great for this ballclub, because I think this ballclub is very young. Now they find a way to fight back when they're behind. It's nice to see that. Most young teams just pack it in and wait for the next day. Now they have confidence. Now when they get to the eighth or the ninth, it's in their minds -- they say 'Well, we've done it before.'"
Yesterday's victory was a microcosm of the season offensively. The Marlins were dead early, failing to score through the first six innings, but explosive late. On the season, the Marlins rank 28th of the 30 big-league teams in runs scored from innings one through six. But they are fourth overall in scoring runs after the sixth.
"At least we're get it done late," said Jose Reyes. "But we need to find a way to score early in the game and take some pressure off the starters. When you score early you're going to have a better chance to win the game. Hopefully it doesn't happen for too long. If we win late. We take it. But we don't want to have that habit for a long time. We want to score early in the ballgame."
________________________________
A.J. Burnett, who once threw a warmup pitch through the window of a moving pickup truck back in his days with the Marlins, said he would not attempt to break one of backstop aquariums at Marlins Park with one of his fastballs.
"No, I love fish," said Burnett, who is now with the Pirates.
________________________________
Guillen is aware that some people might question why he's used Austin Kearns in the cleanup spot. The reason: "A lot of people criticize me because, 'How the hell is Ozzie batting Kearns fourth?' Well, if those people see his at bats, they're very professional at bats. And I need somebody, a veteran player, in the middle. We know he can do it against lefties. I want him in the middle to take the pressure off the (younger) guys."
________________________________
TONIGHT'S LINEUPS:
MARLINS: 1. Jose Reyes, ss; 2. Omar Infante, 2b; 3. Hanley Ramirez, 3b; 4. Logan Morrison, lf; 5. Giancarlo Stanton, rf; 6. Gaby Sanchez, 1b; 7. Emilio Bonifacio, cf; 8. John Buck, c; 9. Anibal Sanchez, p.
PIRATES: 1. Jose Tabata, rf; 2. Neil Walker, 2b; 3. Andrew McCutchen, cf; 4. Pedro Alvarez, 3b; 5. Casey McGehee, 3b; 6. Alex Presley, lf; 7. Rod Barajas, c; 8. Clint Barmes, ss; 9. Brad Lincoln, p.
Umpires: HP -- Mark Wegner; 1B -- Mike Muchlinski; 2B -- Wally Bell; 3B -- Brain Knight.
Matchup notes: Kearns (1-3) and Buck (0-1) are the only Marlins who have faced Pirates starter Brad Lincoln; Pirates who have faced Anibal Sanchez include Barajas (3 for 7 with a pair of doubles and a home run), McGehee (2 for 3), McCutchen (1 for 6) and Walker (1 for 5).
