Marlins use small ball to beat Phillies

Without the injured Ryan Howard and Chase Utley to start the season, the Phillies talked about playing more small ball.

For an example on how small ball is executed, all the Phillies had to do was look in the opposing dugout on Monday.

The Miami Marlins ruined the Phillies home opener by alternating small ball with some heavy hitting during Monday's 6-2 win at Citizens Bank Park.

Miami put the heat on immediately when Jose Reyes and Emilio Bonifacio opened the game with singles and then executed a double steal.

Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen said he didn't call the double steal. It was Reyes' idea. Reyes then scored the first run on Hanley Ramirez's groundout to second.

Entering the game, Reyes was of the mind-set that he was going to run if he reached first base.

"I have faced Hamels plenty of times in my career and know he's a little slow to the plate, and when we get on we try to put pressure on," Reyes said.

Reyes couldn't emphasize enough the importance of scoring first, especially since it was the Phillies' home opener.

"It's good when you score first against him. He is a very good pitcher," Reyes said of Hamels. "If we continue to do that, we will be competing all the way through."

One has only to look at how the first two hitters on each team fared to explain the outcome of the game. Reyes and Bonifacio were a combined 5 for 8 with 2 runs. The Phillies' Juan Pierre and Placido Polanco were a combined 0 for 8.

"Human nature is we realize we're not scoring runs and realize we're getting great pitching now," Pierre said. "Everything is magnified right out of the gate, and we're not hitting like we're supposed to."

The fourth Miami run was also generated by speed. In the sixth inning, Bonifacio led off by bunting to Hamels, who threw to first. But nobody was covering. Bonifacio, who was credited with a single, went to third base on the overthrow and later scored on Gaby Sanchez's double.

"It is really hard on the other team when you can put pressure on them," Bonifacio said.

Not all the Marlins' gambling worked. Reyes was thrown out by Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz attempting to steal third base to end the fifth inning.

"That is a bad play by me with two outs," Reyes said. "You have to make sure 100 percent you are going to make it, and I wasn't able to do that."

Still, don't look for Reyes to be conservative on the base paths.

Miami also incorporated the long ball with small ball when Omar Infante clubbed two home runs, and Austin Kearns added a solo blast in the ninth off Jonathan Papelbon.

What made Miami's effort more impressive is that the Marlins were without Giancarlo Stanton, who was in the original starting lineup but was scratched due to a sore left knee. He is listed as day-to-day.

"They have a good team," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of the Marlins. "Their top four or five hitters were very strong."

Then he added this about a team that is expected to contend in the National League East:

"They can throw a stronger lineup than that on the field - Stanton was out," Manuel said. "They're going to score a lot of runs. They're going to be good. They have talent enough to get better."