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Marlins-Phillies Preview

Oct 2, 2009 - 4:51 AM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Florida (85-74) at Philadelphia (92-66), 7:05 p.m. EDT

The Philadelphia Phillies have wrapped up their third straight division title, giving them the opportunity to rest some players this weekend. With a chance for home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs, however, they also want to focus on winning.

The Phillies will try to avoid losing a fifth straight at Citizens Bank Park to the Florida Marlins on Friday night when the teams open a three-game series.

After clinching the NL East title on Wednesday, Philadelphia (92-67) suffered a bit of a letdown Thursday night, losing 5-3 to Houston. Cliff Lee gave up four runs in 5 2-3 innings and the Phillies were down four before scoring twice in the ninth.

"We want to win every game," Lee said. "We're already in the playoffs, but we want to guarantee ourselves home-field advantage. That's a big difference. You also want to feel good about yourselves going in, but it's not a bad feeling knowing we're already in the playoffs."

Philadelphia was 4 for 15 with runners in scoring position. although the lack of offense wasn't a huge surprise considering Chase Utley and Shane Victorino both had the night off. Manager Charlie Manuel is expected to rest more starters this weekend. However, he is also trying to find a balance between keeping players fresh and still competing during the final three games of the regular season.

The Phillies are a game behind Los Angeles for best record in the NL.

"There are some guys that I'd like to give some time off," Manuel said. "But also, home-field advantage comes into play, and we'd like to win that too."

The Phillies are 8-7 this season against the Marlins (85-74), losing five of six at home.

Ryan Howard is hitting .367 against Florida this year, but Utley is batting .224, and only .158 over his last 10 games overall.

While there will be no playoffs for the Marlins, they can still take some comfort in finishing with the third-highest win total in franchise history and the most since the 2003 team had 91 victories.

Florida won two of three at Atlanta, concluding the series with a 5-4 victory Wednesday. Jorge Cantu had three hits and Ricky Nolasco struck out 16 - the most by a pitcher in two years.

"I'm not much of a history person," Nolasco said, "but if my kids come across it some day, that would make me proud."

Dan Uggla looks to continue his success against the Phillies this weekend. He's homered four times and driven in 10 runs against them this year.

The Phillies will hand the ball to Joe Blanton (12-7, 3.95 ERA), who has won his last three starts. After pitching 13 scoreless innings in the first two, Blanton gave up five runs in 5 2-3 innings of a 6-5 win over Milwaukee on Sunday.

The right-hander is 2-1 with a 1.31 ERA against the Marlins this season.

Rick VandenHurk (2-2, 4.44) will counter for Florida.

VandenHurk does not have a decision in his last four starts, although the Marlins have won each of those games. He gave up four runs in six innings of a 7-6 victory over Philadelphia on Sept. 23.

The right-hander lost his other two starts - both in 2007 - against the Phillies.