Mets-Marlins Series Preview

The Mets head down to Florida to take on the Marlins for a three-game series starting tonight. With all the talk revolving around the Phillies and Mets battling for first place, everybody's forgotten about Florida. They're only two games behind the Mets, and trail Philadelphia by one game. They come into the series after splitting a four-game set with the Cubs, and are 5-5 since the All-Star break. While everyone waits for them to fade, they keep hanging around. They can hit home runs in bunches, with three players over 20 (Dan Uggla 25, Hanley Ramirez 24, Mike Jacobs 22), but can their young pitching hold up in a pennant race? The Mets just took two out of three from St. Louis, and are 6-4 since the break. Their record under Jerry Manuel is now 23-12. Whether you want to give the new manager credit or not the Mets are a completely different team under Manuel. They're showing their resiliency game after game. After the debacle in the opening game of the Philadelphia series, they shook it off and won the next two games. And on Saturday night against the Cardinals, after first falling behind by four runs, and then later by three, they fought back each time, taking the game to 14 innings. They're revealing character and grit that they didn't have the last year and a half under Willie Randolph. And they're actually exciting to watch now. Here are the pitching matchups for the series: Monday: John Maine (9-7, 4.20) vs. Ricky Nolasco (10-6, 3.99) Tuesday: Oliver Perez (6-6, 4.15) vs. Scott Olsen (6-5, 4.07) Wednesday: Mike Pelfrey (9-6, 3.67) vs. Josh Johnson (0-0, 3.71) Who's Hot: Carlos Delgado (five home runs, 15 RBIs in last 10 games) Jorge Cantu (.367, six RBIs in last 10 games) Who's Ready to Break Out: Carlos Beltran (.250, 0 home runs in last 10 games, but three hits in last two games) Dan Uggla (.121 in his last 10 games, but two hits and a home run yesterday) The Mets have a 4-2 record against Florida this season.