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The 2012 season has certainly not been a good one for the Miami Marlins, but looking at the season series against the NL East-leading Washington Nationals you would think it might be. Despite spending much of the season in last in the division and the Nationals spending much of the season with the NL's best series, the Marlins have beat the Nationals in five of the last seven games between the two teams.
On Friday, the Marlins will play a doubleheader in Washington with game one featuring two relatively unknown pitchers without much playing time in 2012. In fact, pitching for the Marlins will be Brad Hand who has yet to take the mound at all this season.
Hand has one career win which he earned in July 2011, but struggled with eight losses. He has spent the 2012 year with Class AAA New Orleans where he has posted a 8-5 record with a 3.66 ERA.
To get his first win of the year he'll have to beat John Lannan who made his 2012 debut with a seven-inning victory over the Braves on July 21 in which he allowed two runs.
The first pitch at game one of the doubleheader and four-game series is scheduled to be thrown at 4:05 p.m. and will be televised on Fox Sports Florida and MASN2.
For more on the Marlins, check out Fish Stripes. You can find more Nationals coverage at Federal Baseball. For news and analysis from around the Major League Baseball, check out Baseball Nation.