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Marlins hope to maintain winning record vs. Nationals

Sep 12, 2008 - 10:14 AM Washington (56-90) at Florida (74-72) 7:10 p.m. EDT

MIAMI (Ticker) -- The Florida Marlins managed to stay in the National League East race for most of the season. The Washington Nationals were out of it by the second week of the season.

The Marlins will look to stay above .500 against the Nationals this weekend.

Florida has been one of the better stories of the season, hanging within 1 1/2 games of the division lead as recently as August 13, despite having the smallest payroll in the game.

But the disadvantages of their impressively cheap roster have come to the surface over the last month for the Marlins, as the poor defense, inexperienced pitching and undisciplined hitting have led to an 11-15 record over the last 26 games.

Washington won three in a row to open the season but followed that up with a nine-game slide, dooming the club to last place in the East for good on April 10.

Florida will send lefthander Scott Olsen (6-10, 4.41 ERA) to the mound on Friday. The 24-year-old has not earned a win since July 19, going 0-6 with a 5.74 ERA over his last nine starts.

Olsen has faced the Nationals three times this season, going 2-0 while allowing nine runs in 20 2/3 frames.

Washington will counter with rookie Shairon Martis (0-1, 3.60), who will be making his second major league appearance. The 21-year-old righthander suffered a loss at Atlanta on September 4, yielding two runs and four hits in five innings.