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The Fish head back into Marlins Park today, hoping for a little home cooking after a tough road trip out west. The Diamondbacks will slither into town for four and then the Orioles fly in for a three game set, but first up will be a three game series against the Atlanta Braves. The Bravos currently sit at 15-19, a half game back of the Marlins in the NL East standings. The Marlins are 8-7 at home thus far and will look to build upon that record in this ten game stretch, starting today. Facing off will be Julio Teheran and David Phelps.
Pitching Matchup
| PROJ ERA | FIP | ERA | MARLINS | BRAVES | ERA | FIP | PROJ ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.80 | 2.98 | 2.90 | Phelps | Teheran | 4.74 | 5.74 | 3.54 |
Julio Teheran came into this season as the Braves de-facto ace, but the 24 year old has looked anything but that in the early going. The main culprits are reduced velocity across the board (except, strangely, his two seam fastball which is a tick above last year at 89.7 mph), dramatically increased walk rate (10% compared to 5.8% the last two years running) and being on a pace of giving up almost two homeruns a game(!). There is a chance he is pitching injured, but nothing has manifested itself as of yet. Whatever the case, he's falling behind batters early in the count and not locating his pitches. Teheran was pummeled by the Nationals in his last start, giving up six runs on ten hits. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that he did pick up the win on Opening Day in Miami, pitching six innings and giving up one earned run.
David Phelps continues to be a model of consistency, putting up his fourth straight quality start against the Giants last Saturday where he pitched six innings of one run ball. He's not flashy and he doesn't strike a whole lot of batters out, but I think Mike Redmond will be hard pressed to pull him from the rotation when Henderson Alvarez is ready.
Redmond pencils in the familiar line-up. Dee Gordon continues to lead the world with a .426 batting average and 58 hits to his credit. He is also right up at the top in WAR, if not at the pinnacle entirely (depends upon your sources). Oh yeah, and then there's Giancarlo Stanton who leads the NL in RBIs with 33.
Notes:
- If you could take one player from the Braves roster, who would it be?
- The Braves have gone 4-2 against Miami this season.
- The bullpen had an ugly road trip, but Atlanta's offense has struggled recently, offering a nice match-up which they could potentially build some strong outings upon.
Bold Prediction: Marlins win 6-1.