The Marlins will be facing off with the Atlanta Braves for the first time in 2012. The Marlins have not had much success against the Braves in the past few seasons. The Marlins have gone just 13-23 over the past two seasons against their NL East foe. That can directly be attributed to the Marlins unsuccessful runs at the post season. To make the playoffs, you need to beat teams in your division, as those are the teams you play the most.

The Miami Marlins celebrate a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at home. (Image: Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE)

Hopefully the Marlins can turn their fortunes around and post a winning season vs the Braves, like they did in 2008 (10-8).

At the beginning of the season, you would have expected the Braves to be doing what the Marlins are doing, and the Marlins doing what the Braves are doing. The Braves enter this series with a middle of the pack pitching staff, but one of the top offenses in baseball. The Marlins meanwhile have struggled offensively, and are currently a top three team in the National league when it comes to pitching.

Miami Marlins (19-17) @ Atlanta Braves (23-14), May 16-17, (Games 37& 38)

NL East Standings

Stadium: Turner Field

Five-year Run PF*: .98
Five-year HR PF*: .98
Stadium Dimensions:
Left field line—335 ft.
Left-center field—380t.
Center field—400 ft.
Right-center field—390 ft.
Right field line—330 ft.

*Five-year regressed park factors provided by Patriot here

Now we will take a look at the pitching match-ups for the quick and annoying, new two-game series, that everyone seems to despise.

Projected Pitching Matchup:

May 16: Mark Buehlre vs. Mike Minor

May 17: Ricky Nolasco vs Brandon Beachy

ZiPS In-Season Projections

Projected Lineup

Omar Infante, coming off a four-hit game Tuesday night, is looking to have a big series against his former team (Image: Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE)

Head to Head

Miami Marlins 19-17

Atlanta Braves 23-14

via CBS Sports

Series Notes:

• The Braves, like the Marlins, come into this series hot. The Braves have won 8 of their previous 11 games. The Marlins enter this series winners of 11 of their past 14.
• The Braves have outscored the Marlins 81-50, resulting in the Marlins 15 of 21 in this series dating to September 2010.
• The Marlins starting pitching has been on fire this month, they are 6-2 with a 2.55 ERA so far this month.
• Freddie Freeman is expected to return to the Braves lineup, after missing Tuesday’s game with a scratch on his right eye. Freeman is just 2-for-28 in his career vs the Fish.
• Last season, Dan Uggla hit four homers and drove in 10 runs in nine home games against the Marlins.

Game 1:

Probable Starters
Mark Buehrle, LHP	2012 stats 48.0 Innings Pitched 42.1 2-4 Wins-Losses 2-2 2.81 Earned Run Average 6.59 8 Walks 12 25 Strikeouts 41 0.0 Pitches Per Start 0.0 Career vs. opponent 14.0 Innings Pitched 15.1 2-0 Wins-Losses 0-0 3.21 Earned Run Average 6.46	Mike Minor, LHP

• Both pitchers in this contest pitch very quickly, so this game could be done in a very short time.
• Mark Buehrle has recording quality starts in all but one of his seven outings.
• Buehrle has won both his career starts against the Braves, while being a Chicago White Sox pitcher. Buehrle’s most recently start against the Braves was 4-2 victory June 23, 2010, in a game where he surrendered a pair of runs and nine hits over six innings.
• The Atlanta Braves as a team struggle against left handed pitchers, so Buehrle should hold a good advantage over the Braves hitters.
• Mark Minor has surrendered 21 runs – all earned – and seven homers over his last 16 innings, during which opponents are batting .377 against him.
• Minor, in his last start vs the Cardinals, yielded six runs, eight hits and was taken deep a career worst-tying three times.
• Giancarlo Stanton his 2-for-2 in his career against Minor, with two home runs. Hanley Ramirez is 2-for-2 as well with a home run and Logan Morrison is 3-for-5 with a home run as well. Former Brave, Omar Infante is just 1-for-6.

Giancarlo Stanton hopes to continue teeing off of Mike Minor in game 1 of the series on Wednesday evening. (Image: Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE)

Game 1 Prediction:

The Miami Marlins offense will strike quickly in the first inning, scoring four runs, including a moon shot by Giancarlo Stanton. The Marlins will add on a few more runs over the course of the game, and behind another quality start for Mark Buehrle, will take the first game of the 2012 season against the Atlanta Braves, 7-1.

Game 2:

Probable Starters
Ricky Nolasco, RHP	2012 stats 44.1 Innings Pitched 45.0 4-1 Wins-Losses 4-1 3.65 Earned Run Average 1.60 12 Walks 14 24 Strikeouts 33 0.0 Pitches Per Start 0.0 Career vs. opponent 110.2 Innings Pitched 24.2 5-7 Wins-Losses 1-0 4.80 Earned Run Average 4.01	Brandon Beachy, RHP

• This should be a fun match-up as well. If Ricky is on, then this should be a very good pitchers dual, but if he is not, it should be a blowout in the Braves favor.
• Nolasco has had mixed success in his career vs the Braves. It can be argued that he had his best career start against the Braves in September of 2010, when struck out 16 Atlanta Braves hitters.
• Nolasco, uncharacteristically struggled with command in his previous start, walking three hitters in the first inning, after walking three in his previous three games combined, Nolasco also hit two batters.
• Nolasco will be going for sole possession of Miami’s career wins record, he is currently tied with Dontrelle Willis at 68.
• A lot of the Braves hitters have had success against Nolasco. With their bats being as hot as they are, this should be a concern for Marlins fans. Brian McCann has had the most success, with 6 home runs and 16 runs driven in.
• Brandon Beachy is the leader in Major League baseball in ERA right now and is proving to be a valuable starter in the big leagues.
• Beachy has strung together six successive quality starts, including his last start where he allowed one run over six innings, and even had a run scoring hit. The righty has given up two earned runs or fewer in all seven starts this season.
• Omar Infante and Giancarlo Stanton have had the most success off of Beachy, in eight at-bats each. Beachy has a 4.01 career ERA against the Fish in 24.2 innings.

Brian McCann hopes to continue his great success against Ricky Nolasco. Nolasco hopes to be able retire the slugging catcher. (Image: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE)

Game 2 Prediction:

The Braves lineup will return to form and score 5 runs off of Nolasco in just five innings of work. Beachy, on the other hand, will hurl a complete game shutout. Limiting the Marlins to just four hits over the course of the game. The Braves and Marlins will split the two-game series with the Braves taking this game, 5-0.

May 18-20: @Cleveland Indians

*May 21-23: Colorado Rockies*

*May 24-27: San Francisco Giants*

*Get your tickets now from TiqIQ.*

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Without any further ado, here is a look at the chat that Tom and I had last night, regarding this upcoming series:

Ehsan: The Atlanta Braves offense has been one of the elite offenses early on? What is the cause of this dramatic turnaround from last seasn? Is this something that should continue going forward or do you see the Braves regressing?

Fred: The Braves fired Larry Parrish after last season (though Fredi should have dumped him earlier as everyone was going backwards under him) and replaced them with former White Sox hitting coach Greg Walker and Scott Fletcher was hired for a hybrid role as assistant hitting coach — a new position for the Braves — and advance scout. They’ve clearly undone the damage “swing early everybody” Parrish had done. A second factor is health. While Parrish screwed Jason Heyward up initially, his shoulder injury never allowed him to feel comfortable at the plate. This year he’s able to extend his arms and drive the ball the opposite way; Ask the Cards. Martin Prado is now fully recovered from the staph infection he got in a slide burn on his leg. Staph infections drain the body of it’s reserves so he tired early and wasn’t as strong when he returned. He’s back now. Freddie Freeman’s sophomore slump lasted about 10 days then he returned to his rookie year form and is a fixture in the three slot – Even Chipper Jones says he’ll be there for a long time. Michael Bourn’s killing the ball like he did in Houston the first half of last year. When he’s on he changes the game, much like Jose Reyes and Emilio Bonifacio do for you. Brian McCann is slumping. I think the shift is inside his head a bit, I pity the pitcher that opens the door because Mac’s ready to kick it in. He turned on and just missed a 97mph Aroldis Chapman heater last night. He’s close to back but slumps are hard to predict. Tyler Pastornicky has been a surprise to those who didn’t watch his minor league career. He has always hit and he continues to do so. The 8th spot is not conducive to a big average but he’s had big hits with RISP and his wheels have earned him a couple of infield hits too. The hitters are mostly where they project o be. Bourn will probably regress a bit as the year wears on his and everyone will have slumps but these are good hitters – Well except Dan Uggla who as you know is either hitting extra base knocks or striking out – and over all will continue to produce. Injuries are the issue that changes that of course and Chipper’s presence. Even hitting 6th he changes the  lineup and he’s been nails with RISP this year.

Ehsan: A year and a half after the fact, do you still favor the Marlins-Braves swap of Dan Uggla for Omar Infante? Infante has surprisingly been just as productive as Uggla during the span.

Fred: That’s a good question and I alluded to it in the previous answer. The truth is Infante’s year with us was probably a career year for him and we needed right handed thump. I prefer Prado at second – so does he – but apparently Uggla can’t –or won’t – play left field. If he was just a 1 WAR fielder we could survive that. Truthfully he hasn’t yet cost us but his defense – range and throws as you know – is bad enough he wouldn’t play without 30+ and 80 every year. But yep we needed the power bat from the right side and will need another when Chipper goes after this year, so I still favor the trade. The 5 year contract is a different matter but perhaps the a DH position in his future?

Ehsan: What’s been up with the Braves pitching this season? The Braves are currently ranked 21st in ERA, while their division foes, the Marlins, Phillies, and Nationals, all rank in the top 5. Is this something that is correctable for the Braves?

The year started with Tim Hudson out, Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson coming off spring training still trying to find their groove and Randall Delgado as the least bad between him and Julio Teheran this spring. Mike Minor had a chip on his shoulder and started out to prove folks wrong. He did that but has regressed a bit his last three starts. Part of that is our lack of days off, we’re just getting the minimum to start the year more than likely a result of the commissioners’ urgency in adding a wild card. Brandon Beachy continues to improve every outing and Delgado has been horribly unlucky. He went 6 2/3 last night of magnificent baseball and gave up one run when Pastornicky acted like the rookies he is and misplayed the third out of the inning. We just don’t hit when he pitches. In his last 4 starts we’ve scored 2 or less runs but he’s been superb, better than I expected. Hanson is the  enigma. I’ll just link you to my post on him http://tomahawktake.com/2012/05/09/the-enigma-that-is-tommy-hanson/

Jurrjens is doing okay at Gwinnett but he’s not topping 90 much anymore so when he misses his spots he gets killed and he was missing them badly enough that when Hudson returned we sent him down. I think he and Hanson both have shoulder issues that haven’t been seen yet. After listening to John Smoltz and Al Leiter talk about their labrum issues and reading about Michael Pineda I think it’s safe to say that When the labrum gets a little loose the first thing to go is location.  But that may not show up in an an ordinary MRI. But, what do I know? JJ however can pitch at 88 and get away with it when he’s on. Hanson can’t as I wrote. I don’t think Johnny Venters is getting enough work so he was all over the place last night. On the road trip his second game in two days was much better as was Michael O’Flaherty’s. Fredi has finally decided not to use Chad Durbin for more than one batter or in a last out of the pen role. Livan Hernandez has settled nicely into his role and after facing Beachy at 94 Delgado at 93 to see Livan just screws up hitter’s swings entirely.  Since we left Colorado we’re pitching to a 3.28 ERA even after allowing the Cards 7 in St Louis. Don’t know if that answered your question

Ehsan: Can you tell us a bit more about Jason Heyward and his revival this season?.

I think I answered that in the first question. Heyward said last year his shoulder injury prevented him from extending his arms with power so he rolled over pitches and the became double plays instead of hits. He’s fit and back in a groove now going to all fields like he did his rookie year when Posey stole his RoY award. He has his issues and he’s not yet and may never be what some expected – Billy Williams reincarnated with speed – but he can be a force.

Ehsan: Which pitching match-up are you looking forward to see this series? Which pitcher/hitter match-up?

I like Mark Buehrle – Mike Minor.  Minor could become Buehrle-esque one day. I have always admired Buehrle’s steady approach and rapid pace. Minor does that when he’s on and I have a feeling seeing Buehrle pitch up close will be a learning experience. Glavine can help him and has but they are different pitchers. Besides I like quick, well pitched games – as long as we win of course – and this one should be that in spades.  Pitcher/ Hitter is something I don’t really think about. Stanton has been hard on us in the past so seeing him against Venters will be interesting. For that matter seeing Hanley Ramirez against Venters when he’s right will be interesting.

Ehsan: What are your predictions for this series? Who will step up for the Braves, who will take a step back?

The Marlins always give us trouble and good lefties have have had their way with us the last couple of years so I expect the first game to be tight. If Minor bounces back to his form of two weeks ago we could have a 2 hour game 1-0. Of course when I say that they’ll both be gone after 3 and it will be 14-16 or something stupid. I think the former is a better guess. Minor and McCann are the regulars who need to shake off their troubles. I think Minor will be back but probably not dramatically back. McCann’s faced Buehrle three times and is 2 –3 with a double and he loves to see Ricky Nolasco to the tune of a career .340/.360/.787/1.147 with 6 homers, 3 doubles, and 19 RBI’s. So he is a step up candidate.

Ehsan: Bonus Question: How many homers will Giancarlo Stanton hit this series?

The Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves will face each other for the first time in 2012 season on Wednesday evening. (Image: Scott Rovak-US PRESSWIRE)

 

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May 15, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton (27) hits a broken bat single in the fifth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

My ad for base hits was answered with 12 responses!

Following are the notes I took during tonight’s game.  I’ve edited some of the player names to clear up some shorthand, but it’s pretty much as I wrote it.

—————

Top 1^st: 6-3 to start.  Greg Dobbs at 1^st. Nice running catch from Logan Morrison for the second out.  BB to Andrew McCutchen.  Now there’s men on 1 and 2.  Josh Johnson is taking a long time before his delivery.  He’s nervous.  He’s missing the corners.  He just gave up a second base hit that put McCutchen across and left men on 2 and 3.  Bad throw from Giancarlo Stanton.  Tommy Hutton’s comment from the telecast: “When you’re struggling scoring runs, you can’t make those little mistakes.” Line drive to Hanley Ramirez gets them out of the inning.  JJ isn’t overpowering anyone.  There’s no fear in the Pirates lineup.

Bottom 1^st.  Kevin Correia takes the hill.  3-0 to Jose Reyes to start off. Draws a 1-strike walk. Omar Infante draws the 5^th ball. Infante grounded to third for the force at 2^nd. He barely beat the double play. Hanley Ramirez looked at the first two strikes, but roped a ball to the left-field corner double that drives Infante home.  Infante was running on a hit-and-run. Correia throws three balls to Morrison. After taking the obligatory meatball, he draws the walk. Correia is missing down low.  Stanton hit an unlucky line drive to the shortsop’s glove, and the inning ended with a shovel to second to nail Hanley on the tag-up.

Top 2^nd.  Alex Presley K’s on two straight fastballs up. High fly ball to Stanton for out #2. The side is retired when Correia grounded out to Hanley.  It almost got past him.

Bottom 2^nd.  Dobbs grounded out to 2^nd for the first out.  Beeeyoootiful three-bagger for Bonifacio!  1^st pitch schlubber to short wastes John Buck’s AB.  On the next pitch, JJ strands Bonifacio with a dribbler to second.

Top 3^rd. Top of the order.  Texas-leaguer puts Jose Tabata on first.  I think John Buck is setting up too far outside. Neil Walker hits an unremarkable grounder to right field.  Men on 1^st and 2^nd. Very nice low & away fastball puts McCutchen away.  JJ is taking advantage of being ahead in the count.  The Infante-Reyes combo strikes!  4-6-3, and the side is retired!

Bottom 3^rd.  Top of our order. Full count to Reyes ends with a looking K on a questionable inside pitch. Infante followed up with a perfect 3^rd base bunt from Infante. BTW, Foxtrax and the radar in the ballpark are busted.  Hanley tallies the 2^nd out by flying out to McCutchen. Logan Morrison hit into a simple force out at 2^nd to end the third.

Top 4^th.  JJ finally hit the black. Off-the-fence leaping catch from Stanton saved a double.  Not much vertical leap with young Mr. Stanton. Good hustle from JJ, tagging out the runner on a dribbler down the first base line for the second out. Good off-balance throw from Reyes to Dobbs ends the third, 3-up, 3-down.

Bottom 4^th.  Stanton walks.  Correia checks him by stepping off, as if he could steal.  Another nail goes into the Gaby Sanchez coffin when Dobbs singles to left, advancing Giancarlo, bringing up Bonifacio, who singles to right, loading the bases. Let’s see if Buck can show some patience. Nope. He fouled off a high and tight pitch.  After a ball, his bat is stuck to his shoulder. Then, a miracle.  Buck flared a single to right-center to score two.  Dare I dream?  Mound visit.  JJ  sac. bunted Buck over to 2^nd. Smell the panic?  Intentional 4^th ball to Reyes to load the bases and bring up Infante. A seeing-eye grounder between 3^rd and SS scores two! Hanley doubled off of the left field wall, scoring Reyes.  Infante got nailed at the plate for out #2.  C-ya, Correia. Bring in Chris Resop to face LoMo. Morrison goes down looking at Resop’s lively fastballs.

Top 5^th.  Can of corn to Stanton.  1 down.  JJ’s arm is waking up.  He just K’ed batter #2 with serious fastballs. Tabata lunged after two pitches for out 3.  1-2-3.

Bottom 5^th.   Stanton put pieces of his bat into the dugout, and still sent the ball into right field for a single. Dobbs flied out to left for out #1.  Bonifacio grounded to SS, forcing Stanton, but he reaches. Boney registered #19 on the first pitch, without seeing his stretch motion. Buck walked. JJ flied out to left to end the inning.

Top 6^th.  Routine 3-1 grounder for out 1.  McCutchen up for a base hit to left-center., and subsequently stole second. Fly out for out #2.  JJ at 89 pitches. Beautiful fastball across the outside black to end the half on a looking K.

Bottom 6^th. Reyes leads off., and looked at two straight strikes, and then grounded out to the first baseman. Resop starts with a nice curve ball to Infante.  He sends the next pitch up the middle for an infield single. Hanley outhustled a high-spin dribbler that started foul and spun fair to put men at first and second. Excellent effort by Hanley Ramirez. Just shows that if you watch baseball long enough, you’ll see everything. Morrison’s AB goes to 2-2 before he goes down swinging. Stanton was a bit early on his first pitch (!) and flied out to left-center.

Top 7^th.  First batter K for JJ.  6^th K. 1-3 for out 2. Michael McKenry homered to left.  6-2 Fish. Grounder to 2^nd to retire the side.

Bottom 7^th.  Tony Watson (Cornhusker!) pitching for the Bucs., Dobbs leads off with a check-swing K.  Edwin Mujica up in the ‘pen.  Bonifacio is patient and draws a walk. Let’s see if Buck can move him around.  Donnie Murphy up to PH, so JJ is done after 7. Will he get the win?  Only the bullpen will tell.  Watson has a difficult motion. Boney staying put.  Buck K’ed; 2 down.  Boney still nailed to 1^st.  Watson misses a few to Murphy for a walk.  Up comes Reyes.  He flied out to right to end the inning.

Top 8^th.  Mujica in.  Fly balls to left and right account for the first two outs. Infante faded back to right-center to nail the third out.

Bottom 8^th Jared Hughes in for the Bucs.  Infante smoked a base hit to left.  Hanley hit to the third baseman for the DP. A fly ball to left ended the inning.

Top 9^th.  Three outs to go, and Randy Choate comes in to slam the door.  Pedro Alvarez is the leadoff hitter.  Wicked breaking ball coming out of Choate tonight, and Alvarez goes down in a 4-3. Another lefty, Garrett Jones, comes up to the plate and grounds out.  Will Choate get to finish?  Unbelievable transfers and throws out of Reyes tonight on defense. Choate stays in to face Clint Barmes, and finishes the game with a swinging K.  Congratulations to Josh Johnson for his first win since April of last year!

————–

Tonight, the Marlins looked like a team that could be close to the top of the NL East.  The game was a confidence builder, for players, managers, and fans. The trip to Atlanta will be a crucible. If we can continue to hit, we will continue to win.  I’m looking forward to shutting down Dan Uggla‘s bat, and forcing three errors into his stats of the trip.

Without Fixing Hitting,  the Marlins are in Trouble

May 14, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder

Last night, the Marlins’ MLB-trailing batting average with runners in scoring position was once again instrumental in a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Despite another quality start from Anibal Sanchez and solid, effective relief performances by Steve Cishek, Randy Choate, and Ryan Webb, the Marlins only managed to score twice. One run was a Hanley Ramirez solo shot into the cheap seats, and the other was an Emilio Bonifacio single that put Logan Morrison across in the fourth.

The bottom of the eighth was the best shot to tie up the game when Jose Reyes reached with a bloop to shallow left field.  Infante K’ed, and then Hanley Ramirez moved Reyes to third with a strong single to right. Unfortunately, the tying run got stranded again, as Morrison went down swinging, and Stanton popped out to end the inning.

In the top of the ninth, John Buck made a picture-perfect kill shot from his knees to put Alex Presley over his mantle, bringing him to an outstanding 16-7 for the year.

Folks, the Marlins simply cannot keep depending on heroic home runs, come-from-behind Cinderella stories and grand-slam walkoffs to put notches in the Win column.  The top of our lineup is starting to do their job and get on base, but the middle of the order continues to struggle to put a man on second base across the plate. The team batting average with runners in scoring position (RISP) is a dismal .201, and just .235 overall (26^th ).

Our rotation continues to pitch extraordinarily well, but their win stats don’t reflect their pitching due to lack of run support.  Off to a shaky start, the bullpen has been pitching better lately, with Steve Cishek taking the role of the go-to guy in the ‘pen.

The Marlins have one player batting above .300, and the first baseman is below the Mendoza Line.  In order to move up in what is proving to be one of the two toughest divisions in baseball, the Marlins have got to work some extra hours in the cages to learn how  to start cranking out singles to the right side of the diamond. During the last road trip, plate discipline looked like it was getting better; back home, it seems like the outs on first-pitch choppers to the infield are going back up.

The bad news about basic journeyman hitting is clear, and the Marlins will languish until it’s fixed.  In the meantime, Marlins fans can enjoy some of the most effective and exciting offense in baseball when they do get runners aboard.  Emilio Bonifacio is 18-0 for stolen bases, and Reyes is 9-4.  Opposing batteries are starting to develop facial tics and poor sleeping patterns when they know they have to hold them at first.

Ozzie Guillen does an excellent job at keeping defenses on their toes, but his rationale for moving Boney to the seven-hole isn’t clear just yet., unless he plans on having his pitchers bunt more than they are right now.

Prediction: Josh Johnson will have another good outing, and a few of the Marlins’ hitters will find the six-square-foot area between the foul poles that Andrew McCutchen can’t quite get to, and Bonifacio will be 20-0.  Marlins by three to split the quickstand.

Without any further ado, here is a look at the chat that Tom and I had last night, regarding this upcoming series:

Credit: Rum Bunter

Ehsan: The Pittsburgh Pirates will be bring the third ranked pitching team, in terms of ERA, to Miami. What makes this Pirates pitching staff so good? Can they sustain their early season success?

Tom: The staff has been tremendous.  I think they will each regress, but as long as they are healthy it will be primarily sustainable as Burnett, Bedard and McDonald have been able to strike out the opposition with regularity.  Morton needs to rely on his sinker and in his last start he did that getting sick groundball rates as he did last season.  Correia is the weak link and at some point should be moved out of the rotation. 

The starters have been backed up by solid numbers from the bullpen even without Hanrahan having his best stuff to date.  Jason Grilli and Juan Cruz have slammed the door repeatedly, each putting up nice strikeout numbers.  Grilli has been off the charts in numerous high leverage situations. 

A positive sign for the Bucs is the fact that Jeff Karstens will be returning in the near future and should replace Correia.  Other arms like Brad Lincoln and believe it or not the AAA depth of Jo Jo Reyes (stop laughing) look to add depth along with Justin Wilson and Rudy Owens staff has been the remarkable.

Ehsan:Andrew McCutchen is one of the best young hitters in baseball. Is the Pirates offense, solely him, or do the Pirates have anyone else stepping up? If the Pirates can stay in striking distance of the division, do you see them making a move for a big bat?

Ehsan: What kind of impact has A.J. Burnett made on the Pirates pitching staff? Does he still have the stuff to be a top of the rotation guy?

Tom: Burnett has been tremendous on the mound.  Off the mound it’s been reported that he has taken a mentor role with the young Bucs staff particularly James McDonald who is having a great start to his season. 

We will see if he can sustain his success.  It certainly is hard to imagine his The Cardinals destroyed AJ.  We look forward to seeing him face the champs a second time. Throw the Cardinals start away, and AJ’s had a moster start to the year.  We can see his strikeout numbers continuing, but we cant imagine his numbers remaining so strong the rest of the way.

 

Ehsan: What are your predictions for this series? Who will step up for the Pirates, who will take a step back?

 

Tom: Pirates sweep the series.  The offense comes alive lead by Pedro Alvarez and Andrew McCutchen.  The key is how well Brad Lincoln pitches in his first start this year.

 

 

Ehsan: Bonus question: How many homers is Giancarlo Stanton going to hit this series?

 

Tom: Zero.

I also had the liberty of having a chance to chat it up with Tom on Rum Bunter as well. Here is the link for that chat.

 

The Pittsburgh Pirates, like the Miami Marlins, enjoyed a walk-off celebration. (Image: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE)

 

You can ‘Like’ Marlin Maniac by clicking here. You can follow Marlin Maniac on Twitter @MarlinManiac and you can follow Ehsan Kassim on Twitter at @ehsank24.