Miami (Fl.)--- Last night the young Marlins played as good a ballgame as they've played all season. Despite the all too familiar rain delay and the fact that they were playing a team whose payroll dwarfs their own, the Marlins played and looked like a major league baseball team. When the rain ceased after 1 hour and 21 minutes, two young hurlers took the hill and what followed was a masterful pitching duel. Eric Gagne,in his major league debut with the Dodgers, blew away 8 Marlins while only allowing two hits. Matching him pitch for pitch was Marlin rookie Ryan Dempster who struck out 7 in seven innings while only surrendering 4 hits. Even though neither of them figured in the desicion they were both incredibly fun to watch. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the eighth when after a Danny Bautista single and a Luis Castillo sacrifice bunt the stage was set for Alex Gonzalez and he did not dissapoint. He smashed a gapper, which eventually turned out to be a triple, that scored the games first run. The fish added one more when Erik Karros' error led to another run which made the game 2-0. Marlin closer Antonio Alfonseca made it interesting in the ninth by allowing the Dodger's first run but he settled down and picked up the save and gave the Marlins a hard fought victory, 2-1.

GAME SUMMARY

(WP) Jesus Sanchez (5-6)

(LP) Matt Herges (0-1)

(S) Antonio Alfonseca (17)

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Today in Sports by Santiago Fernandez