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Off to disheartening starts to the season, the
San Diego Padres
and
Florida Marlins
will both be looking to snap losing streaks when they meet Tuesday in the Marlins' home opener.
The Padres (1-4) have lost four in a row and were embarrassed by Colorado at home during a three-game sweep over the weekend.
Florida (1-4) has dropped three straight and will be trying to avoid its worst start since 1998, when it opened 1-11 en route
to a 54-108 record.
San Diego's slide is particularly alarming. The Padres allowed 32 runs to the Rockies, a Petco Park record for any series,
and were outhit 48-19. Colorado had 24 extra-base hits, including eight home runs, and its 18 hits in Sunday's 10-4 victory
were also a record for the 3-year-old stadium.
The Rockies became the first team to score at least 10 runs in three straight games at Petco. Colorado's
Cory Sullivan
became the seventh player and first since 1951 to hit two triples in the same inning Sunday.
''You look at their numbers and you'd think we were in a softball league when it was over,'' San Diego manager
Bruce Bochy
said.
Woody Williams
hopes to fare better for the Padres than
Jake Peavy
did Sunday. San Diego's ace allowed back-to-back homers for the second time in his career.
''Our (pitching) staff had trouble executing the whole series,'' Bochy said. ''We just made poor pitches when we were ahead
in the count. We executed very poorly, and we paid for it.''
Williams is 2-5 with a 4.35 ERA in 10 starts against Florida. This will be the 39-year-old right-hander's first start of the
season after throwing one inning of relief against San Francisco on Wednesday.
Florida will look to back up
Sergio Mitre
, its Tuesday starter, better than it did
Dontrelle Willis
on Sunday. Willis held the
New York Mets
to two runs through seven innings, but once he departed, New York rallied for the winning run in the ninth for a 3-2 victory
and a sweep of the rain-shortened two-game series.
''It's a frustrating 1-4 because it could have been 4-1,'' Florida manager
Joe Girardi
said. ''In the four losses, three of the losses, we were one hit away from winning the game.''
Florida has struggled offensively so far. Aside from an 11-2 victory over Houston last Tuesday, the Marlins have scored a
combined 10 runs in their four losses, with three of the defeats coming by one run.
''We're playing tough baseball, (but) things aren't going our way,'' Willis said. ''We had certain situations where things
could have struck, and they didn't. That's just how the game is.''
Mitre was the winning pitcher in the 11-2 win over the Astros last week, his first start as a Marlin, when he gave up three
hits in six shutout innings. Mitre spent three seasons with the
Chicago Cubs
, shifting between the bullpen and the rotation.
The 25-year-old right-hander has thrown 10 2-3 innings in two starts against the Padres in his career, posting a 1-1 record
with a 6.75 ERA.
San Diego will be opening a nine-game road trip that also takes it to Atlanta and Colorado.
The Padres went 4-2 against Florida in 2005, but the Marlins have won 10 of the last 12 meetings at Dolphin Stadium.
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