Greg Maddux makes his fourth try at career win No. 350 on Sunday as the San Diego Padres play the finale of their three-game series against the Florida Marlins in Miami.
Maddux, 0-2 with an ERA over 5.00 since picking up his last victory in mid-April, is only 2-2 despite a respectable 3.76 ERA this season.
The Padres (12-19), plagued by a weak offensive punch all year, are having a rough go at it in the first month of the year and find themselves already 9 1/2 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks — baseball's best team — in the NL West.
The Marlins (16-14), who have fallen out of first place in the NL East, will send struggling Andrew Miller (1-2, 9.12 ERA) to the mound to counter Maddux.
Miller has surrendered at least five runs in four of his six starts this year, and he hasn't pitched more than five innings in any outing.
Could Maddux finally join the 350-club?
Yankees-Mariners
At Yankee Stadium, the Seattle Mariners try to salvage the finale of their three-game series by sending newcomer and current ace Carlos Silva to the mound to stop the Yankees attack.
The Mariners have lost four straight, and dropped 5-1 and 6-1 decisions to New York in the first two games of the series.
The Yankees have already beaten the Mariners' two other aces, Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez. They will try to complete the sweep after getting swept themselves by the Detroit Tigers earlier in the week.
Silva has been a surprise for Seattle so far, with a 3-0 record along with a 2.79 ERA. The right-hander has pitched at least seven innings in five of his six starts in 2008.
Right-hander Darrell Rasner, making his first appearance of the year, starts for the Yankees. Rasner has a 4.13 ERA in 10 career big-league starts.
Angels-Mariners
Meanwhile, lefty Joe Saunders looks to improve to 6-0 as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim wrap up their home series against the Baltimore Orioles.
Saunders who has never won more than eight games a year in the big leagues, was 5-0 with a sparkling 2.08 ERA in April.
Saunders is coming off a strong effort against the Oakland A's, pitching eight shutout innings in the Angels' 2-0 win over their AL West rivals on Tuesday.
In fact, the Angels have a pair of 5-0 hurlers this early in a season for the first time in franchise history.
Ervin Santana is also 5-0 for the Halos, owning a 2.47 ERA, part of the reason that Los Angeles tops the division with a 19-13 record.
The Angels are tied with the Boston Red Sox for the best record in the American League.
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