Game #60 Preview: Marlins @ Blue Jays

After last night's drubbing (which made being at the game pretty dry after the first), the Marlins will take another swing at the Blue Jays tonight to try and even up the series. Mark Buehrle takes the mound looking to continue his fine form recently facing off against Dan Haren, who is pitching pretty well this season despite threatening retirement after the Dodgers traded him to Miami this offseason. The 34-year-old righty who's family was settled comfortably in California said he would retire if he was traded away from the West Coast but decided to play for at least one more year...since it's pretty hard to walk away from $10 million and a home in Miami.

Despite declining strikeout numbers, Haren has ridden a .241 BABIP to a 3.18 ERA in 11 starts proving he is still as dependable as ever. Although he's criminally underrated, Haren has not had a bad season since he entered the league over a decade ago. The matchup is interesting tonight because the Marlins used to have another workhorse pitcher like that by the name of Mark Buehrle, although Haren hasn't cleared the 200 inning hurdle in the past couple seasons as age is catching up to him (although he's made 30 starts every year since 2004). Thanks to all of the injuries to the NL East squad, Haren has pretty much taken over their number one starter role for the time being and has risen to the occasion pretty well.

The 6'5" starter from California has seen his velocity drop rapidly over the past few years and it's clear he'll have to take the path that his counterpart tonight in Buehrle has taken, using smarts instead of dynamite pitches to continue being successful.

As you can see above, Haren throws a sinker, curveball, splitter, and a cutter with the latter being his most used pitch this season at 41.48%. There's not a lot more to say about Haren as he's extremely similar to Mark Buehrle, even down to the fact that they both pitch extremely rapidly with both hurlers in the top four in terms of pace this year.

Hopeful Lineup

Reverse splits for Haren, although it's not like the Jays have a bunch of flexibility in terms of loading the lineups with righties.

1. Jose Reyes SS
2. Josh Donaldson 3B
3. Jose Bautista RF
4. Chris Colabello LF
5. Russell Martin C
6. Justin Smoak 1B
7. Dioner Navarro DH
8. Kevin Pillar CF
9. Ryan Goins 2B

Bullpen Usage

A good start by Marco Estrada last night rested the bullpen even further.

Find the Link

Find the link between Dan Haren and the third-best draft pick by the Blue Jays in the 1997 draft. (fun fact: Orlando Hudson surpassed Vernon Wells in rWAR in 400 less games...Wow)

Enjoy watching two masters of their craft tonight.