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Astros-Marlins Preview

Aug 21, 2010 - 4:21 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Houston (53-67) at Florida (60-60), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Florida's continued success at home over the Houston Astros has the Marlins on the verge of a season-high winning streak.

The Marlins try to record their fifth consecutive victory and hand the Astros a sixth straight road loss Saturday night.

Anibal Sanchez pitched seven scoreless innings while Cody Ross and Hector Luna hit back-to-back homers in Florida's 9-0 win over Houston on Friday.

The Marlins (61-60), who have won four in a row for the third time this season, have outscored the Astros 80-44 while winning nine of 10 against them at home. Houston has not won a series at Florida since May 18-20, 2004.

Ross and Luna each had two of Florida's 12 hits Friday night. Dan Uggla added a hit and two RBIs to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games. The second baseman is 20 for 45 with 13 RBIs during his run.

"You hear all of these talks about MVP candidates and (Uggla) is not even mentioned, but I'm going to throw it out there," said Ross, who according to the Marlins' official website was claimed off waivers by San Francisco on Friday.

The Marlins have been streaky all month. After opening August with five consecutive losses, they won four in a row. They then dropped four straight immediately preceding their current winning streak.

Florida's starting rotation has allowed four total runs during the current streak. Chris Volstad (6-9, 4.91 ERA) hopes to continue that trend and avoid his second straight loss when he takes the ball Saturday.

The right-hander has allowed nine runs in 10 innings while going 1-1 in his last two starts. He gave up five in five innings of a 7-1 loss at Pittsburgh on Monday.

Volstad is 1-0 with a 4.82 ERA in three starts against the Astros (53-68).

Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez went 2 for 3 with an RBI and three runs scored in the series opener. He is 5 for 11 with two triples against Houston's scheduled starter Wandy Rodriguez (9-11, 4.04 ERA), who has not lost since July 11.

The left-hander is 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA in his last six starts, and has posted a 1.33 ERA but not factored in the decision of his last three outings. He gave up one run and four hits while striking out six in seven innings of a 3-1 loss to the New York Mets on Monday.

Rodriguez has fared well against the Marlins, going 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA in five starts that have all come at home. He's allowed three runs and struck out 19 in 21 innings in his last three outings versus Florida.

Houston, which managed three hits Friday, has totaled 10 runs while losing three of its last five.

Rookie third baseman Chris Johnson had one of those hits after going 0 for 13 over his previous three games. That stretch has dropped his batting average 25 points to .340.