Phillies Put Marlins Behind Eight-Ball

Florida’s descent from its World Series championship of a year ago has reached new depths.

The Marlins, winless since an opening-day victory, set a team record by losing their eighth consecutive game, 9-5, to the Phillies at Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Dismantled in a cost-cutting move after they won the Series, their teal uniforms and Manager Jim Leyland are about the only things familiar about this year’s Marlins.

“We’re getting what we deserve right now,” Leyland said. “We all stink, including the manager and the coaches. We’re not doing anything well and it’s the manager’s responsibility.”

The responsibility for Florida’s latest loss goes mainly to the bullpen, which helped turn a close game into a blowout. When starter Eric Ludwick (0-2) left the game in the third inning because of a stiff back, the Marlins were down, 1-0. Three innings later, the Phillies led, 9-3.

Relievers Kirt Ojala and Oscar Henriquez gave up 10 hits and eight runs (six earned) in four innings.

Rico Brogna went four for four and scored three runs to lead Philadelphia to its third victory in a row.

St. Louis 13, Colorado 9--Mark McGwire and the Cardinals weren’t about to apologize the way they beat the Rockies, getting 13 singles and only one home run at Denver.

The Cardinals, who had nine consecutive extra-base hits Tuesday, had 12 singles in a row Wednesday before Ray Lankford’s two-run homer in the seventh. Lankford also had a two-run single.

McGwire, who hit 58 homers last season and who homered in each of his first four games this season, failed to connect for the third consecutive game. He did, however, have two singles and two RBIs.

“Who says you have to score runs on a home run?” McGwire said. “That’s the beauty of the game. You can score runs any which way.

“If somebody expects home runs every day, they’re crazy. I’ll take a bloop hit, an infield hit, anything to help the team win.”

Lankford, playing in his 1,000th game for St. Louis, said offense is critical for the Cardinals, who have four pitchers on the disabled list.

“Our staff is hurting right now, so we have to pick up our offense,” he said.

As for the rash of singles, Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said, “Look at the Rockies. That’s how they score in double figures. They throw a lot of line drives at you and then someone hits one. We got a long one from Ray and that was big for us. We had a lot of good hitting tonight.”

Ellis Burks had a single, double and triple and drove in four runs for the Rockies, who lost their fourth consecutive game. Mike Lansing added four hits.

Manny Aybar (1-1) was the winning pitcher.

The Cardinals built a 9-1 lead for the second consecutive game, taking advantage of six walks by Rockie starter Jamey Wright (0-2).

“We’ve been playing uphill from the first inning,” Colorado Manager Don Baylor said. “It becomes a strain on the offense. If we’re going to do this for 79 more ballgames here, it’s not going to be a fun year.

“We have to get some people out early. We just have not been able to put up enough zeros on the board. We get close, then we fall behind again. Everybody knows that once your offense scores, you’re looking for a zero [against the opposition in the next inning]. We haven’t been able to do that. We get right back in the hole we started in.”

San Diego 6, Cincinnati 3--Andy Ashby won his first game in nine career decisions against the Reds at San Diego and Greg Vaughn and Wally Joyner homered.

Ashby (1-1) didn’t give up a hit until a leadoff single by Bret Boone in the sixth inning. He wound up giving up five hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven and walking two.

The victory put the Padres (6-2) within one win of matching their 7-2 record to open the 1996 season, when they won the NL West. Their best start was 10-2 in 1984, when they reached the World Series.

Gabe White (0-1) drew the start for the Reds as a late replacement for left-hander Steve Cooke, who was scratched because of a sore elbow on his pitching arm. In his last start, Cooke limited the Padres to one run over six innings in a 5-1 victory on April 2.

Pittsburgh 5, Atlanta 3--Jason Kendall homered and went three for three against former batterymate Denny Neagle (1-) at Pittsburgh to support another good early-season start by Esteban Loaiza.

Although Andres Galarraga hit a pair of homers for Atlanta, Loaiza (1-0) improved to 3-0 in April over the last two seasons.

Rich Loiselle finished off the Braves for his third save.