Considered trade bait in April, Adrian Gonzalez remains in San Diego.
The San Diego Padres and Florida Marlins have a lot in common as two of the lowest payroll teams in baseball. They’re also fighting for playoff berths as they continue their weekend series Saturday night in Southern California.
San Diego (60-40) is 3.5 games ahead of San Francisco in the NL West pending Friday night’s late results. The Padres are 9-3 since the All-Star break, 5-1 at home.
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The Padres were predicted to finish last in the division before the season. It was thought they’d be sellers at the trading deadline with star players Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell the first to go. Instead, they just obtained Miguel Tejada from Baltimore, who will play some third base and some short.
Tejada is struggling this year (.670 OPS) and won’t play every day, so he won’t cure the NL’s 11th=ranked offense. San Diego will continue to rely on MLB’s top-ranked pitching staff (3.22 ERA).
The Marlins (51-51) are 9-5 since the break and coming off a four-game split at San Francisco. They’re still alive in the NL East at 7.5 games back, but have Atlanta, Philadelphia and the Mets ahead of them.
Florida just traded Jorge Cantu to Texas in exchange for a couple of minor leaguers. He’s a free agent at season’s end, so it wasn’t surprising. Still, it’s disheartening for the players to see subtractions instead of additions this time of year. At least closer Leo Nuñez seems to be staying put.
Ricky Nolasco (11-7, 4.35 ERA) will start Saturday night for Florida. He surprisingly leads the team in wins over ace Josh Johnson (10-3, 1.72 ERA).
The 27-year-old righty has surrendered 21 homers, fourth-most in the NL. A whopping 10 of those came in six June starts. He’s allowed just two home runs in July, going 4-1 with a 2.94 ERA in five starts. The ‘under’ is 4-0-1 in those outings.
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Nolasco is 7-2 with a 3.93 ERA away. He’s 4-0 in his last four road starts (2.96 ERA). That includes one run and four hits over 6 1/3 innings at San Fran last Monday. This is his first start against San Diego this year. He’s 2-1 with a 1.77 ERA lifetime at Petco Park.
Kevin Correia (7-6, 5.09 ERA) will counter for the Padres. He’s their only starter with an ERA above 3.56. One of his problems is walks, 46 allowed in 104 1/3 innings. The ‘over’ is 8-2 in his last 10 starts.
The 29-year-old righty won his last two starts (Pittsburgh, Arizona) and is searching for three straight quality starts for the first time this year. His ERA is better at home (4.52) than away (5.98). However, he’s only made it past the sixth inning in one of 19 starts.
Correia got a 6-4 win at Florida on April 28, surrendering four runs over five innings. San Diego was trailing 4-0 before a five-run explosion in the fifth inning off the now-released Nate Robertson.
These teams have met six times this year (all in Florida), with San Diego winning five. Florida has won the last four meetings in San Diego with the ‘under’ going 4-0.
First pitch on Saturday is 5:35 p.m. (PT). Weather should be clear and in the low 60s.