Washington Nationals vs. Miami Marlins Series Preview (5/13-5/15)

The Washington Nationals will finish up a seven game homestand with a four game series against the Miami Marlins.

It has been a crazy week so far for the Washington Nationals (21-13). On Monday, there was the news about Stephen Strasburg‘s contract extension and a walk-off home run by Clint Robinson win over the Tigers that also had some antics from Bryce Harper. There was a controversial slide play at second base on Tuesday night. Then, on Wednesday night, Max Scherzer struck out 20 Tigers in a 3-2 win over Jordan Zimmermann.

After a day off yesterday, the Nats will begin a four game series against the Miami Marlins (18-15) tonight, which includes a makeup of a April 10 game that was postponed due to inclement weather. This season, the Washington Nationals are 3-3 against the Marlins, who are playing some good baseball as of late.

Of course, the Nats will be seeing a Marlins team that is without second baseman Dee Gordon. Gordon was suspended 80 games for PED’s back on April 28. However, the Marlins are 8-4 since Gordon was suspended and they are now 2.5 games back of the Nats and Mets in the NL East.

Even without Gordon, the Marlins still have a good offense. Of course, Giancarlo Stanton is still hitting home runs (ten), but two other players to watch are third baseman Martin Prado (.386, no home runs, ten RBI’s) and left fielder Marcell Ozuna (.295, six home runs, 17 RBI). Ozuna is on a 11-game hitting streak and is hitting .436 in May.

On the mound, the Marlins have a 4.45 team ERA this month (Nats at 4.00). As for the starters, they are fourth in the National League in wins (13), including four from Jose Fernandez and three from Wei-Yin Chen. In the bullpen, closer A.J. Ramos is 10-for-10 in saves with a 1.29 ERA and David Phelps has held opponents to a .196 batting average in the eighth inning.

With that being said, here are my predictions for this weekend’s pitching matchups:

Next: Tonight's Matchup