Arizona has dropped five straight games as the struggles continue this season. The Diamondbacks are now 21 games under .500 and with this losing streak, they have dropped to four games under .500 at home. Florida meanwhile is coming off a series win over the Dodgers thanks to a great pitching effort last night by Josh Johnson who tossed eight innings of shutout baseball. The pitching needs to remain strong if the Marlins are to make a move as the previous slump dropped them below .500 and they currently remain four games under .500 overall.

The road has actually been very kid as Florida is 8-5 in its last 13 games away from home and this is a must win series, with a sweep being paramount. The Marlins will be looking for a rebound performance from Anibal Sanchez who allowed four runs in his last start after tossing three straight quality outings. He got off to a slow start with two bad outings to begin the season but since then he is 10-14 in quality performances and his ERA over those 14 games is 2.89 so he has obviously been throwing very well. He goes up against Rodrigo Lopez who has been just the opposite this year. He began the season with five quality starts in his first eight trips to the mound but in his last nine starts, he has only four quality performances. Surprisingly he has been better on the road than at home as he has a 3.74 ERA, 126.

WHIP and .251 BAA in his eight roadies while at home those numbers jump to a 5.08 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and .300 BAA in nine games. The Diamondbacks are 2-6 in his last eight starts. Overall, Arizona is a dreadful 2-14 in its last 16 home games against teams with a losing record while Florida is 4-1 in its last five games as a favorite of less than -150. The Marlins are also 4-1 in Sanchez's last five starts against teams with a losing record. 3* Florida Marlins