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Marlins, Nationals battle to stay out of NL East cellar

Sep 3, 2007 - 2:30 PM Florida (60-77) at Washington (60-77) 1:05 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - Two of the worst teams in the National League face off as the Washington Nationals host the Florida Marlins in the opener of a three-game series on Monday.

Florida has lost 14 of its last 18 games, while Washington has dropped 12 of 17. The loser of the set will wind up in the cellar of the NL East.

Jason Bergmann (2-5, 4.56 ERA) takes the hill for the Nationals, who took two of three games from the San Francisco Giants over the weekend. Ryan Zimmerman delivered a game-winning single in the ninth inning of Sunday's 2-1.

In his last outing, Bergmann allowed three runs and six hits in six innings of a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday after spending a month on the disabled list with a left hamstring injury.

The 26-year-old righthander struggled in his previous start against Florida, getting pounded for a career-high eight runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings of an eventual 14-10 win on July 14.

Washington has won four of the six games between the two teams here this season.

Rookie Rick VandenHurk (4-4, 6.59) gets the ball for the Marlins, who tied a team record with five home runs in a 7-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.

VandenHurk yielded one run and five hits in five innings with a career-high eight strikeouts in his last outing, but did not factor into the decision in a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in 11 innings on Tuesday.