Florida @ San Diego preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 21, 2011 ) San Diego 5, Florida 3

THE STORY: The San Diego Padres are still near the bottom of the league in offense for the season, but they have been one of the better hitting teams in the majors the last few weeks. The Padres are batting .299 as a team and averaging 6.38 runs over the last 13 games going into a four-game series with the visiting Florida Marlins, which starts Thursday night. San Diego has won eight of their last 14 games. The Marlins, who have won just two of their last 13, gave up 24 runs in three games at Colorado. San Diego swept a three-game series from Florida, July 19-21 in Miami.

TV: 10:05 p.m. EST; FS-FL (Florida), Cox4 (San Diego).

PITCHING MATCHUP: Marlins RH Javier Vasquez (7-10, 4.68) vs. Padres RH Tim Stauffer (7-9, 3.53).

Vasquez is 0-1 in three August starts, but has given up just five earned runs in 20 innings. He allowed three runs in seven innings to lose to San Francisco Saturday, dropping his career record to 159-159. Vasquez suffered his only loss in July to San Diego, giving up five runs over 4 1/3 innings. He is 5-5 lifetime vs. the Padres with a 3.26 ERA over 124 1/3 innings. Orlando Hudson is 7-for-22 against Vasquez with a homer and four RBIs.

Stauffer is 1-3 over his last five starts. He gave up five homers and nine earned runs in three innings at Cincinnati his last outing. Stauffer pitched six shutout innings against Florida to win July 19 and has a 1.88 ERA against the Marlins over 14 1/3 innings in his career. Current Florida batters are hitting .132 against Stauffer.

ABOUT THE MARLINS (57-66): Mike Stanton hopes to add to his streak of four straight games with a home run, which equals the club record. It won’t be easy against a San Diego pitching staff that has allowed just 91 homers -- fourth least in the majors. Stanton, 5-for-15 in that stretch with six RBIs, has 29 homers which puts him one behind Albert Pujols for the National League lead. Lead-off batter Emilio Bonifacio has also been productive, going 5-for-10 in the Colorado series, and Bryan Petersen is 10-for-21 over the last six games.

ABOUT THE PADRES (55-70): The Padres are getting contributions from many different players during their recent offensive upswing. Kyle Blanks is 17-for-45 the last 13 games and Jesus Guzman is 28-for-76 over the last 21 to raise his average to .338. Catcher Nick Hundley has also been impressive since coming off the disabled list, with 10 hits in 18 at bats the last five games. Cameron Maybin, acquired from the Marlins in the off season, had nine hits in 15 at bats during the series against his old teammates last month.

FINAL PITCH: Florida’s left-handed reliever Randy Choate has returned to Miami to have an MRI on his sore left elbow and right hander Brian Sanches was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right elbow. Right hander Ryan Webb was activated from the DL.