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Braves-Marlins Preview

Aug 31, 2009 - 4:56 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Atlanta (68-61) at Florida (67-62), 7:10 p.m. EDT

With five weeks remaining in the regular season, teams in the postseason hunt can't afford to slip up.

Tied in the standings and in the thick of the playoff race, the Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves each look to move closer to a wild-card berth while pushing the other further out when they open a critical four-game series Monday night at Land Shark Stadium.

While Philadelphia will be tough to catch with an eight-game lead atop the NL East, Florida (68-62) and Atlanta (68-62) remain in the thick of the wild-card chase. Both teams are 3 1/2 games behind co-leaders Colorado and San Francisco, meaning a sweep in this series would boost one club's postseason prospects while seriously damaging the other's.

"I think everybody in here knows that there is a lot of weight in the series, and we've got to play well in order to go forward," outfielder Cody Ross told the Marlins' official Web site following Sunday's 6-4 win over San Diego. "We're all excited about it."

Florida snapped a three-game losing streak Sunday, winning for just the fourth time in 11 games.

The Braves haven't been playing much better, losing four of five including a 3-2 setback to the Phillies on Sunday night. They had won four of their previous five, including two of three over Florida at Turner Field from Aug. 21-23.

Atlanta's Brian McCann had one of his best games of the season in the series finale against the Marlins, going 3 for 5 with a career high-tying five RBIs to lead the Braves to a 7-5 victory. He is batting .462 with two home runs and eight RBIs in his last three games versus Florida after going 0 for 16 in the first five matchups of the season series.

The four-time All-Star catcher struggles in particular against Florida ace Josh Johnson (13-3, 3.04 ERA), who will start the series opener. McCann is hitless in 12 at-bats against Johnson since 2007.

Johnson didn't have his best stuff Wednesday, but it was good enough to beat the New York Mets. The right-hander allowed three runs and nine hits with seven strikeouts in six innings of a 5-3 win, improving to 6-1 with a 3.58 ERA in his last eight starts.

"My slider is not there right now at times. My changeup comes and goes," he said. "It's just one of those things during the season that you've got to get through."

In his only start of the year against Atlanta on July 29, Johnson gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings of a 6-3 victory. He is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in three starts against the Braves since the start of last season.

Atlanta counters with Kenshin Kawakami (6-10, 4.08).

Tim Hudson was originally scheduled to make his season debut in the series opener after recovering from Tommy John surgery in Aug. 2008, but has been pushed back to Tuesday.

Kawakami allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings of a 12-5 loss to San Diego on Wednesday after going 1-0 with a 1.77 ERA in his previous three outings.

The right-hander hasn't had much success against the Marlins this season, posting an 8.44 ERA while losing both starts against them.