Cody Ross: "I think I swung at ball four"

Just got back upstairs after the Marlins played their third straight thriller. This time, though, there was no magic finish. Just a few wasted opportunities. 

Both Ronny Paulino and had chances to win the game in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. Paulino swung and missed at a sinker in the dirt from Reds reliever Nick Masset. Ross grounded out to short on a 3-2 pitch, then admitted to us after the game he swung at ball four.

"That guy has good stuff," Ross said of Masset. "You have to give him credit. I had him where I wanted him, 2-0 and then 2-1. After that, it was just a battle. 

"[The pitch] was probably down, a tough pitch to take, a sinker that was pretty good. I went and watched the video and it was obviously down."

Ross' situation might seem like a dream situation for young baseball players everywhere. Tie game, bases loaded, two outs, full count. But when you're trying to win your third tough game in a row, it's not ideal and Ross admitted it.

"When you're a kid that's your dream," Ross said. "But when you're up here it's more 3-2, zero outs. Two outs, you have to come up with a big hit. When you have no outs, you can just hit a fly ball. It was a tough loss for us. But we'll bounce back. We bounced back today. They were up, we were down. Hopefully, though, we can get an easy one tomorrow."

Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez agrees. The season is only seven games in. But playing thrillers every night can take their toll on teams, especially when you are constantly trying to rally. 

"We can't play catch up every night," Gonzalez said. "We have to go out there and throw some zeroes up, keep swinging the bats. I've been real happy with that. [Cameron] Maybin had a couple hits today. Jorge [Cantu] keeps swinging it. Hanley [Ramirez]. Dan Uggla is swinging, hitting the ball hard. I liked the bullpen with [Leo] Nunez and [Clay] Hensley. Both those guys pitched well. We just needed to push that runner across [in the ninth].

"You've seen it before. You don't take advantage of that opportunity and the next inning they score a run."

> Ricky Nolasco obviously had a tough night. The Reds smacked three homers off him and produced nine hits and five earned runs during his 92-pitches and six innings. But Gonzalez didn't think he was terrible.

"I thought he pitched well enough," Gonzalez said. "He kept us in the game. Is he better than that? Absolutely. But he kept us in the ball game."

Nolasco said the Reds "made good swings" on a "couple good pitches." "You just have to tip you're hat," Nolasco said. "[Scott Rolen] did a nice job taking it the other way [for the first home run]. The other [home run] was a hanging curveball."