Cincinnati Reds at Florida Marlins Game Preview
Written May 5, 2009 by Steve Janus
The Florida Marlins look to start a new winning streak on Tuesday after defeating the Reds 3-2 yesterday. The Marlins are just a half game ahead of the Phillies in the NL East, and would like to stay that way, while the Reds try to keep from falling any farther behind in the NL Central. The two meet again tonight for the final game of this two-game series with two of the most exciting young pitchers in the National League on the mound. Today’s MLB odds show the Marlins -118 against the Reds with a total set for 8 runs.
Florida Marlins – Pitching: Chris Volstad gets the nod for the Fish tonight, and the young righty has been electrifying to start the 2009 season. In 5 starts, Volstad is 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA and has 27 strikeouts in just 30 1/3 innings pitched. The key for him tonight will be coaxing some movement out of his fastball. He’s given up 4 home runs in his last three starts, and while his team is still 2-1 in that span, he’ll need to limit the long ball from the Reds tonight if he wants to be successful. What the Marlins really need is Volstad to pitch as deep into this game as possible. Once they turn it over their bullpen, anything can happen. As a unit the Marlins’ bullpen is 9-3, but they’ve blown 4 of 9 save attempts and have a collective ERA of 4.26.
Cincinnati Reds – Pitching: It’s been rough start to 2009 for Reds’ starter, Edinson Volquez, but it looks like he has turned the corner. Through 5 starts, Volquez is 3-2 with a 4.45 ERA, but over his last 3 starts, he’s notched 2 of his three wins and his ERA in that span is just 1.89. Those numbers include his most recent start against the Houston Astros, where he went 8 innings, giving up just one hit and one walk, striking out 6 in the win. The Cincinnati bullpen has been perfect in save attempts this year, going 7 for 7. The unit has a collective ERA of 3.99 and a record of 1-2. If the Reds can get the lead late into the game, it’s very likely they’ll be able to hold on with the way their pen has been pitching this year.
Florida Marlins – Hitting: The Marlins started the season on a tirade at the plate, but they’ve since cooled off considerably. Florida is averaging 4.8 runs per game, but as a team they are hitting only .243. Their average has shown an increase at home this year, up to .267, but the result hasn’t been many more run as they average 4.9 in Florida with 10 games played there this year.
Cincinnati Reds – Hitting: The Reds have a lot of young talent at the plate, but they’ve yet to really get going. As a team they’re hitting a mere .240 and scoring just 3.8 runs per game. They haven’t left many runners on base, which sounds like a good thing, but the reason their numbers are low there is because they aren’t getting many runners on, shown by their .314 team on base percentage. The Reds’ young hitters obviously need to learn some discipline at the plate. If they do, they can be a dangerous team in the National League this year.
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