At this point in the baseball season tonight's game between these two division rivals looks like a match-up in reverse. Nobody thought the Marlins would any good at all and the large consensus was that the Braves could easily win the NL East.

View "WinningTotals" picks now!

Right now the Braves are struggling to keep their heads above water, and the boat carrying the Phillies and the Mets is getting further and further away. It is critical for this team that they mount a second half surge and the more division games they can win the better. Last night's 4-0 victory over the Marlins was a good place to start, but they are still sitting six games back from the Mets. The Braves have plenty of time left but their performance must be upgraded significantly for them to become a factor.

Florida, on the other hand, finds themselves just a game out of first place. The Marlins have been able to get it done largely with their bats, but they have also had some surprising pitching. Scott Olsen and Ricky Nolasco have been solid all year long and the bullpen has a collective 3.79 ERA. However, with Andrew Miller joining Sergio Mitre and Anibal Sanchez on the DL, the club will need young pitchers like Chris Volstad and Burke Badenhop to step up in the second half.

Taking the mound tonight for the Marlins will be Rick VandenHurk . VandenHurk is another young arm in the organization who saw his share of big league action in 2007. He has good promise despite being roughed up on a number of occasions last year. Countering VanDenHurk for the Braves will be 24 year old Charlie Morton. Morton, like VandenHurk, is experiencing some trial by fire. He is 2-2 on the year with a 5.93 ERA.

Tonight's game is important for both teams. Florida would love to take advantage of the Mets/Phillies loser and vault into second place. Atlanta needs to stay as close as possible and beating Florida twice in a row in Miami would be a great way to do that.

The BetUS.com moneyline odds for tonight's contest are:
Atlanta -120
Florida +100

The total is set at 10 (-105 Over/-115 Under).

Bet on MLB Baseball at Betus.com View MLB Baseball Betting Odds now!

---