Florida @ Los Angeles preview
Dodger Stadium
Last Meeting ( Apr 11, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 5, Florida 6
Only one half of the Florida Marlins’ highly productive middle infield combination is headed to this year’s All-Star Game.
Second baseman Dan Uggla was passed over for the National League team despite having more homers (16) than any other middle infielder in the league. That left shortstop Hanley Ramirez and starter Josh Johnson as the only Florida players on the roster.
So Uggla will focus on having another hot week leading up to the game, beginning with Monday’s opener of a three-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
A two-time All-Star, Uggla is batting .271 with 49 RBIs. He drove in all three of his team's runs in Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Braves.
Uggla brings a five-game hitting streak into the series against the Dodgers, having gone 9-for-22 (.409) during that span.
He has traditionally struggled against Los Angeles pitching with a career mark of .189 but has never faced John Ely, who starts for the Dodgers.
Ely (4-5) had lost four straight decisions until beating the San Francisco Giants in his last outing. Ely held the Giants to one run and five hits over seven innings.
That made two straight solid starts for Ely, who lost to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by a 2-1 score on June 23 despite giving up just one earned run and three hits over seven innings.
Nate Robertson (5-6, 4.97 ERA) starts for Florida and he has just one victory since mid-May, a span of eight outings.
Robertson permitted four runs and seven hits in six innings against the New York Mets in his last outing.
Robertson is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA in two career starts against Los Angeles.
One player undoubtedly happy to see Robertson on the hill is Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, who regularly tormented Robertson when both players were in the American League (Blake with Cleveland, Robertson with Detroit).
Blake is hitting .333 with six homers in 33 career at-bats against Robertson, but went 0-for-10 over the weekend against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
With Manny Ramirez (hamstring) on the disabled list, outfielder Matt Kemp is back in good graces after a brief benching.
Kemp has three homers and seven RBIs and is hitting .409 (9-of-22) since Ramirez was injured.
Shortstop Rafael Furcal has been even hotter for the Dodgers. Furcal is batting .576 (19-for-33) during an eight-game hitting streak and had multiple hits in seven straight contests before going 1-for-3 on Sunday.
Los Angeles, which is sending outfielder Andre Ethier and closer Jonathon Broxton to the All-Star Game, is 3 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres in the NL West.
Florida is 9 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East.
Rookie right fielder Mike Stanton found himself on the bench Sunday. Stanton is batting just .207 and has been mired in a 5-for-34 (.147) slump.