Arizona Diamondbacks @ Miami Marlins (4/27-4/30) Preview: The “Has Stanton hit a homer yet,” Series

The Miami Marlins did not play well at all on their road trip. The team went 0-5 on the road trip, getting swept by both the Washington Nationals and the New York Mets. The finale of the Nationals-Marlins series was rained out.

The Marlins return home hoping to see continued success from their starters. What the team needs to see more of is the teams offense stepping up. The Marlins bullpen blew leads in each of the Marlins last three games, that will need to be improved on as well.

The Marlins return home to face the Arizona Diamondbacks, marking their first encounter with a National League West team this season. This will also be the Marlins first four-game series of the season.

I had a chat with Chris Czar, the Editor of Fansided’s Diamondbacks site, Venom Strikes. I will post that chat later on today.

Arizona Diamondbacks (9-10) @ Miami Marlins (7-11) , April 27-30, Games 19-22

NL East Standings

Stadium: Marlins Park

Five-year Run PF*: N/A
Five-year HR PF*: N/A
Stadium Dimensions:
Left field line—340 ft.
Left-center field—384 ft.
Center field—416 ft.
Right-center field—392 ft.
Right field line—335 ft.

*Five-year regressed park factors provided by Patriot here

Projected Pitching Matchups

April 27: Joe Saunders vs. Carlos Zambrano
April 28: Ian Kennedy vs. Anibal Sanchez
April 29: Wade Miley vs. Josh Johnson
April 30: TBD vs. Mark Buehrle

ZiPS In-Season Projections

The Diamondbacks have not announced who they are starting for the final two games of the series. As soon as I have the info on who is starting, I will update the probable pitchers and the stats for each pitcher going.

Projected Lineup

Gaby Sanchez and Omar Infante each went deep for the Marlins in their last series. In order for the Marlins to start winning games and scoring some runs, the top of their order needs to get it going. Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio and Hanley Ramirez have gone a combined 4 for their last 64, including Hanley being 0 for his last 20.

Notes:

• The Marlins will get a break from NL East action and start a stretch of 10 straight opponents from the West.
• Both teams are coming into this series with underwhelming performances so far.
• The Diamondback hit just .231 and scored 3.7 runs per game during a 3-7 homestand.
• Their relievers posted a 6.67 ERA during their 10-game home-stand.
• The Marlins offense has totaled just six runs and are batting .157 in their last 5 games.
• The Marlins bullpen walked 11 and posted a 7.36 ERA on the trip.
• The Marlins are averaging 6.0 runs and hitting .307 during a four-game winning streak at Marlins Park.
• Carlos Zambrano will take the hill for the Marlins to open the series. He has a 4.38 ERA in six starts versus Arizona
• The Diamondbacks will counter with Joe Saunders. He has 6.75 ERA career vs the Marlins.
• Bonifacio if 4-for-6 with two doubles off Saunders.
• The second game will feature the Marlins best pitcher so far in 2012, Anibal Sanchez.
• Sanchez in his career has gone 34 innings with a 3.71 ERA.
• In In 19 1/3 innings, Sanchez has 19 strikeouts and just four walks. He’s scattered 16 hits in his three starts.
• The Diamondbacks will counter with Ian Kennedy, who has not lost a regular-season decision since Aug. 18 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
• Kennedy has a career 4.91 ERA against the Marlins in 18 innings.
• The third game, Sunday afternoon, will feature Josh Johnson for the Marlins.
• JJ had a no-decision after allowing one run and striking out nine in 6 2/3 innings.
• The Marlins will need him to build on his last start in order for the team to get better.
• Johnson has a just a 1.00 ERA in 27 innings against the Diamondbacks, including 28 strikeouts.
• Mark Buehrle will continue his tour against the National League for the first time on Monday afternoon. This will be Buehrle’s first career start against the D-Backs.
• Buehrle has posted a quality start in each of his first four starts, but has not had the team pick him up in those games.
• The Marlins and D-Backs both desperately need to win this series to right their ships.

Prediction:

I expect the Marlins to come out strong this series and continue to be a dominant team at home. The Marlins will take three out of the four games from the Diamondbacks, after dropping the first game of the series. Joe Saunders will beat Carlos Zambrano in game one. The D-Backs and Marlins will both struggle to score runs in this game. The D-Backs will win the game in the 11th inning, 3-1. Concern will be raised higher for the Marlins due to a 6-game losing streak, but the team will bounce back in a strong way the rest of the series.

May 1-3: @San Francisco Giants

May 4-6: @San Diego Padres

May 7-9: @Houston Astros

*Get your tickets now from TiqIQ.

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.