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Marlins-Nationals Preview

Sep 11, 2010 - 3:39 AM By ANDY LEFKOWITZ STATS Editor

Florida (70-69) at Washington (60-80), 1:05 p.m. EDT

The Florida Marlins look to continue their recent domination over the Washington Nationals when the teams resume their weekend series Saturday.

Alex Sanabia scattered three hits over 6 2-3 scoreless innings to lift Florida to a 3-1 win Friday. It was Sanabia's last appearance before serving a five-game suspension for his role in a bench-clearing brawl with Washington earlier this month.

Dan Uggla added three hits for the Marlins as they beat the Nationals for the eighth time in nine games. Florida, which still has a slim chance to claim the NL wild card, is 11-5 this year against cellar-dwelling Washington including four straight wins at Nationals Park.

Roger Bernadina's eighth-inning RBI single helped Washington avoid a shutout. Nyjer Morgan had one hit in three at-bats, hours after appealing his eight-game ban for charging Florida's Chris Volstad after a pitch was thrown behind him to spark the Sept. 1 brawl.

The speedy center fielder was also awaiting the result of an appeal of a seven-game suspension for throwing the ball into the stands in Philadelphia on Aug. 21.

Volstad is scheduled to pitch Sunday's finale and then sit for six games, while Florida first baseman Gaby Sanchez began his three-game ban Friday. Washington left-hander Doug Slaten dropped his appeal of a three-game suspension and will miss this series.

"Whatever happened at home, happened. That was the end of that," Sanabia said. "There was really no point of starting anything back up."

With tensions apparently settled, Anibal Sanchez (11-9, 3.45 ERA), who has already set a career-high for wins in a season, gets the call for Florida (71-69).

The right-hander is 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA in three starts versus the Nationals this year. His best outing against them came Aug. 31, when he yielded three hits, walked one and struck out seven in seven innings of a 1-0, 10-inning loss.

Sanchez is now coming off his poorest outing of 2010. He allowed a season-high seven runs over four innings Monday during a 7-4 loss to Philadelphia.

After dropping his first seven decisions, Jason Marquis (2-7, 7.14) will try to continue his late-season turnaround for Washington.

Marquis is 2-0 with a 3.09 ERA in his last two starts, including his first victory in nearly a year. The right-hander surrendered three runs and seven hits over 5 2-3 innings Aug. 30 to help beat the Marlins 9-3.

"It was a grind," said Marquis, who hadn't won since Sept. 8, 2009, with Colorado. "Obviously anytime you get a 'W', it's a good outing."

Before his resurgence, Marquis had gone 0-7 with an 8.79 ERA in a Nationals uniform, and missed nearly four months with an elbow injury. Marquis is 5-5 with a 6.24 ERA in 12 career starts versus Florida.

With one more defeat, the Nationals (60-81) will clinch their fifth straight losing season.