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Marlins-Mets Preview

Sep 7, 2009 - 8:58 PM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Florida (72-65) at New York (62-75), 7:10 p.m. EDT

The Florida Marlins played a major part in the September collapses by the New York Mets the last two seasons. Now the Mets are looking to return the favor when the NL East rivals open a three-game set at Citi Field on Tuesday night.

New York (62-75) lost 12 of 17 in September 2007 as a seven-game division lead evaporated, leaving Philadelphia as the East champs. The Mets, still in contention for the division title as well as the wild card on the final day, lost 8-1 at home to the Marlins to miss the playoffs.

The following year, New York dropped 10 of its final 17 to squander a 3 1/2-game advantage on the Phillies, who went on to win the World Series. The Mets fell to Florida in the first game of a season-ending three-game set, ending their postseason hopes.

New York lost two of three in each of those home series versus Florida.

The Mets won't be in position to pull off a similar fade this year. They have been reduced to a spoiler's role after a once-promising season was derailed by a rash of injuries and are headed for their first sub-.500 finish since 2004.

This time, it's the Marlins (72-65) who are in contention for the wild card, and they face the Mets six times in their remaining 25 games.

Florida has won seven of 12 meetings in 2009, but has split six games at Citi Field while hitting .199.

The Marlins, though, have produced at the plate recently, collecting at least 10 hits in five consecutive games while posting a .339 average with seven homers.

"Everybody throughout our lineup can hit, and it's fun to be able to put runs up and a lot of hits," leadoff hitter Chris Coghlan told the Marlins' official Web site.

Coghlan is on a season-high 14-game hitting streak, during which he is batting .443 with 13 runs. He leads major league rookies in batting (.310), hits (123), runs (65), on-base percentage (.382) and slugging (.448).

"I just feel right now that everything feels slow to me at the plate," Coghlan said. "I'm just trying to stick to my approach and ride this out."

Despite Coghlan's streak and their hot hitting, the Marlins had their four-game winning streak halted with a 5-4 loss at Washington on Sunday, as Leo Nunez allowed a two-run walkoff homer to Ryan Zimmerman.

"This time of year, all of them are tough," manager Fredi Gonzalez said, "especially when you have leads in the eighth and ninth inning."

The Marlins will try to rebound behind Rick VandenHurk (2-2, 4.91), who didn't get a decision in an 8-7 win over Atlanta on Wednesday. The right-hander allowed three runs in five innings a day after being recalled from Triple-A New Orleans.

VandenHurk has gone 0-1 with an 11.25 ERA in three starts against the Mets.

New York, with a dozen players on the disabled list, beat Chicago 4-2 on Sunday for its third win in four games.

The Mets will turn to Tim Redding (2-4, 5.70 ERA), who has gone 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in three starts since being moved into the rotation.

Redding was solid again Wednesday, yielding two runs and striking out six in 6 2-3 innings of a 5-2 loss at Colorado. That came six days after he beat the Marlins 10-3, allowing three runs in 6 2-3 innings.