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The Florida Marlins ' Dontrelle Willis is looking to match his season-high three-game winning streak and he may be facing an ideal opponent. Willis (6-7, 3.80 ERA) is looking to defeat the Washington Nationals for a career-best 10th time in the middle of a three-game set on Tuesday. The hard-throwing left-hander is 9-3 with a 3.03 ERA in 12 career starts against Washington. While he has nine wins apiece against the Nationals and New York Mets , he hasn't beaten any other team more than five times. He defeated Washington for his first win this season, yielding three runs - two earned - in 5 2-3 innings of a 5-3 win on April 14. It was his lone victory in his first 11 starts of 2006 as he started 1-6 with a 4.93 ERA. Willis has turned around his season, going 5-1 with a 2.51 ERA in his last eight starts. He will equal his longest win streak of the year, set from June 2-20, with a victory Tuesday. He did not get a decision in his last outing, but allowed one run and six hits in seven innings of a 5-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Thursday. ''I'll be all right. I'll continue to give the club a chance to win,'' Willis said. ''I won't die over it, but I am upset that we lost.'' The 2005 NL Cy Young award runner-up has given up two earned runs or fewer in nine of his last 11 outings. Willis hopes to help the Marlins (41-50) to their third straight win and first series victory this month. They defeated the Nationals 4-2 in the series opener on Monday after salvaging a split of their four-game set with the Astros in a 9-3 win on Sunday. Rookie shortstop Hanley Ramirez homered for the second straight game Monday and is 5-for-13 (.385) with four RBIs in the last three contests. ''I'm just trying to get on base,'' said Ramirez, who has five homers in July after hitting just three in the first three months of the season. The Nationals (39-55) hope to avoid their seventh loss in eight games. They may have to do it without leading hitter Jose Vidro , who is listed as day-to-day with a left hamstring strain suffered in the fourth inning Monday. The second baseman is hitting .300 in 90 games this season and may again be replaced by Marlon Anderson , who went 1-for-3 in his place on Monday. Anderson has a .279 batting average and has only started seven games at second in 2006. Second baseman-turned-left fielder Alfonso Soriano has gone 8-for-15 (.533) with two homers and three RBIs in four games since the All-Star break. He is hitting .366 with 19 home runs and 41 RBIs in Washington's 38 wins, while batting .226 with 10 homers and 18 RBIs in the losses. The five-time All-Star is 5-for-7 (.714) in his career against Willis.The Nationals are recalling 25-year-old rookie Mike O'Connor (3-6, 4.32) from the minors to start for the first time since a disastrous outing against the Marlins. The left-hander was removed in the second inning on July 5 after allowing five runs and two homers in an 18-9 loss.''I didn't want to come out at that time, but it's not my decision,'' O'Connor said. ''I definitely didn't want to come out at that point of the game. I gave up a couple of hits, and I walked a guy. That's about it. It went quick.''
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Topic: Gameday Thread: Nationals @ Marlins, Game 2 (Curly W) (Read 24366 times)
