The Miami Marlins now have seven victories in the month of June, three of them have come against their division rival, the Philadelphia Phillies. The Marlins will try to end the torturous month of June with another victory over the Phillies, making half of their wins in the month against them.

Last night, the Marlins got a great combination of hitting and pitching, to lead the Marlins over the Phillies. Justin Ruggiano continues to be a huge surprise, as he is hitting the ball really well for the Fish right now. He added three more hits in last night’s win. If you want more coverage about last night’s game, check out Geoff’s game recap.

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

Apparently, Cole Hamels is almost unbeatable against the entire league, except for the Miami Marlins. The left-hander is 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA against the Marlins this season, and 10-1 with a 2.64 ERA versus all other opponents. Last time out against the Marlins, Hamels allowed a pair of homers to Hanley Ramirez and five runs overall in 6 2-3 innings of a 5-4 home loss June 2.Hamels has pitched well recently, yielding just two runs and striking out 14 over 15 innings while going 1-0 in his last two outings overall. He gave up three hits in seven scoreless innings Sunday, but the Philadelphia bullpen blew a 1-0 lead en route to a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay. I would expect to see Austin Kearns in the lineup against Hamels, as he has had plenty of success against the left-hander in the past.

For the Marlins, Mark Buehrle will be taking the mound. Buehrle snapped a personal four-game losing streak Sunday, as he allowed seven hits and struck out seven in seven innings in a 9-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Buehrle will try to repeat that same success against a struggling Phillies lineup. Although Buehrle’s career numbers against the Phillies do not look too impressive, you have to keep in mind that most of these Phillies hitters have never faced Buehrle. Placido Polanco has hit .400 in 20 at-bats and Ty Wiggington has hit a career .263 against Buehrle in 19 at-bats. Chase Utley has never face Buehrle. Advantage will lie in Buehrle’s hands on Saturday afternoon.

Marlins Projected Lineup

While it is very likely that the Marlins could give struggling Gaby Sanchez the night off and move Logan Morrison to first base to allow Austin Kearns to be inserted into the lineup, that is not a guarantee. The Marlins want to give Sanchez every opportunity to snap out of his funk and turn things around. You have to think that the Marlins front office’s patience has to be running low with Sanchez right now.

Justin Ruggiano is on a tear right now for the Marlins. There is no doubt that he will continue to be the man out in center field for the Marlins until Emilio Bonifacio is ready to comeback. Although he has only appeared in 23 games this season, Ruggiano is batting .478 (11 for 23) in his last nine games. He has been a major spark in the Marlins lineup, and the Marlins should ride his hot bat while they can. He is obviously not as good as of a hitter as he has shown over the past nine games.

Hanley Ramirez went deep twice last time he faced Cole Hamels. The Marlins hope that he can deliver at least one later today off the Phillies star pitcher.

Prediction:

The Miami Marlins will win their third straight game for the first time since May 28-30, when they swept the Washington Nationals. They will finish the month of June with eight victories, with exactly half of those wins against the Phillies. Giancarlo Stanton and Logan Morrison will go deep for the Marlins and drive in two runs a piece. Hanley Ramirez will have a three hit game. The Marlins will win the game 5-1, behind a second straight solid outing from Mark Buehrle.