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As they've been doing all year, the Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals traded wins and losses in the first two games and now stand at 6-6 against each other on the not so young season anymore. The victor today will sit with a winning record against the other until September, when, as I mentioned in the series preview, they will hook up again after a lay-off of three and a half months.
The Marlins have done their part keeping pace against a solid division leading squad, now it's up to the rest of the field to keep them in check while the Fish seek victory elsewhere.
Pitching Match-up
| Team | Starter | ERA | FIP | ZIPS Projected ERA |
| WAS | Max Scherzer | 4.01 | 4.39 | 3.06 |
| MIA | Adam Conley | 3.40 | 3.23 | 3.92 |
I opened up the MLB leaderboards expecting to see Scherzer at the top of the K/9 and strikeout categories, but he's actually 2nd (11.73) and 3rd (76), respectively. Ahead of him? Jose Fernandez at an absurd 13.08 K/9 and 78 strikeouts (bested only by Clayton Kershaw's 88).
Obviously, the point we should take out of this is that while Scherzer is good, José is better, ergo, suck it Nationals. Scherzer was the tough luck loser last time out against the New York Mets, giving up only two runs on three hits and striking out ten.
Scherzer is not facing Fernàndez today; instead, he'll be facing Adam Conley, who has proven his value in his own right. Conley beat the Phillies Monday in the Marlins lone win of that particular series, going six innings, giving up one run on eight hits and striking out five while walking just one batter.
Same lineup as yesterday with the exception of Jeff Mathis in for J.T. Realmuto, batting eighth.
Notes
- Christian Yelich continues to be day to day with back spasms.
- Ichiro got the start yesterday in Yelich's stead and made the most of it, going 4-4 with a walk. He now sits 46 hits shy of 3,000.
- Marcell Ozuna was a homerun short of a cycle yesterday, but didn't receive any further at bats despite A.J. Ramos' best efforts to give him one. The Marlins still have never had a player hit for the cycle.