Since the game wasn't on TV and a lot of people didn't listen to it on the radio, here is the official recap:

 

MILWAUKEE -- One night after the Brewers defeated A.J. Burnett and two games after they got the best of Josh Beckett, Florida needed an unlikely figure to help salvage the teams' three-game series.

 

Call him Ismael.

 

Ismael Valdez survived five innings, allowing one run, and Florida manufactured a pair of scores in the 10th to win 3-1 with 22,843 looking on at Miller Park on Thursday.

 

"Those guys have been carrying the team the whole year," Valdez said, referring to the aforementioned twosome and fellow starter Dontrelle Willis. "At this point, cannot compare to those three. Just to contribute tonight and be able to keep my team in the game, it means a lot for us and everybody."

 

It was the Marlins' first extra-inning win on the road this season, a ledger that now stands at 1-6. With the game tied, 1-1, Alex Gonzalez beat out an infield hit against Milwaukee reliever Jose Capellan (0-1) and Paul Lo Duca sacrificed him to second one batter later. With two down, Juan Pierre's sharp liner caromed off an outstretched Lyle Overbay at first, giving the Marlins the lead.

 

"It's always good to be on the other end of it sometimes, especially with two outs," said Pierre, who also tied the game in the third with a two-out double over the outstretched glove of a retreating Carlos Lee. "Against the lefty [brewers starter Doug Davis], I knew he was probably going to throw slider stuff away. I usually don't hit it over the left fielder's head too often.

 

"[in the 10th], I was down, 0-2, and I was hoping he would make a mistake, and he left one out over the plate. I don't usually hit a ball down the first-base line that hard, so it's a couple of ironic RBIs for me today."

 

Pierre eventually stole second -- the first Florida swipe in 11 games and his first in 13 contests -- and Jeff Conine's single plated him with an insurance.

 

Antonio Alfonseca (1-1) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the win, and Todd Jones worked the bottom half of the 10th for his 29th save -- the closing end of an outstanding bullpen performance that allowed three hits over the final five innings. Guillermo Mota worked two of those five, allowing a leadoff double in the seventh before striking out the side and serving up a 1-2-3 eighth to preserve the deadlock.

 

"They all did a fabulous job, really," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said of a relief effort that also featured Brian Moehler in the sixth. "Mota has pitched well the last two or three times out of the bullpen. This is what we wanted to see on a consistent basis, and he's given it three out of four times."

 

Florida almost claimed the lead in the seventh, placing runners at second and third with one out. But pinch-hitter Lo Duca struck out and Mike Lowell, also in a pinch-hitting role, battled for 10 pitches with Davis until grounding out to first.

 

One night after committing four errors, the Marlins defense took a turn for the better. Conine made a diving catch in left to rob Rickie Weeks of a base hit in the first, Gonzalez ranged to make a diving catch leading off the sixth, and Miguel Cabrera made a diving stop and throw from third base one batter later.

 

Cabrera, making his third start at third base, also made a sharp snare on Corey Hart's liner in the fifth, and Mota made a snag on a Bill Hall chopper in the eighth for the out.

 

Valdez's line included eight hits and one walk but only one run, with three strikeouts sprinkled in.

 

"He was dodging bullets all the time," McKeon said. "Your luck sometimes runs out but we got out of here with what we wanted. Five or six innings, 85-100 pitches. And we had enough guys in the bullpen ... he did his share and the rest of the guys picked him up."

 

Added Valdez, "After the first three innings I got my rhythm better. I talked to [pitching coach] Mark Wiley and asked, 'What's the deal? What's going on?' And he said, 'It seems like you're following the other pitcher's rhythm, kind of slow. So pitch faster, get your rhythm.' I followed that advice and the results of the last two innings came better.

 

"The bottom line is that we won the game."

 

http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/...t=.jsp&c_id=fla

Nice Moby Dick reference.