The second leg of the road trip finds the Marlins in Atlanta for three-game set against the Braves.
It's reunion time for Fredi Gonzalez, Dan Uggla, Omar Infante and Mike Dunn. As each will be facing their former team for the first time in regular season play. Hopefully Danny will keep his usual slow start on track. He never hit much in April when he was with the Fish, so there is no need to go a changing now.
Chris Volstad takes the mound for the Marlins. His first start was really better than the numbers above show. He was able to keep his sinker down in the zone. However, home plate umpire, Tim Tschida, decided there was no such thing as a low strike and forced both starters to pitch up higher than would've liked in order to hit that postage stamp zone he was calling. Volstad has pitched well in Turner Field in the past with the only kink in the armor being giving up the long ball. If he can keep his pitches down and gets a fair strike zone, he should do fine. But since he is ground ball pitcher, the infield is going to have to avoid errors and extending the Braves innings.
Tommy Hanson gets the call for the Braves. Hanson will be making his third start for the Braves and the first two were very un-Hanson-like. As it appears to me, his first two starts were like extended spring training. His velocity is down, he had trouble commanding his pitches, and he had no feel for his normally very good slider. This won't last. Now, we can hope it does for one more game, but at some point he will get it together. He is too good of pitcher not to. Hanson throws a fastball, slider, curve and change. Normally his fastball and slider are his best pitches, but so far this season he has just been searching for anything that works.
Hanley is back in the lineup. This is the second time that both Hanley and Stanton grace it with their presence. The only other time they both started was on opening day. Donnie Murphy is getting the night off and Greg Dobbs will start the game at third.
Note, maybe of interest, this will be the first time that John Buck has ever faced the Braves. Apparently Atlanta wasn't on the interleague rotation for Kansas City or Toronto during his time with the two clubs.
Ichthyomancy should be well rested and is ready to go.
Best of Luck to You!