(My Sportsbook) - The Florida Marlins will shoot for their fifth straight win and a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals this afternoon from Dolphin Stadium.

The Marlins have won the first two tests of this series, but still sit seven games back of Milwaukee in the NL Wild Card standings and 7 1/2 games behind New York in the National League East. In Saturday's 4-2 victory over the Nats, Jorge Cantu and Hanley Ramirez each belted two-run homers to power the Marlins to victory.

Ramirez's homer was his 30th of the season and gave Florida three infielders with 30 homers or more on the year. All-Star second baseman Dan Uggla owns 30 long balls, while first baseman Mike Jacobs has left the yard 32 times this year.

Starter Josh Johnson got the win as he gave up just two runs on six hits with a walk and a career-high nine strikeouts for the Marlins, who will hand the ball to Anibal Sanchez on Sunday afternoon.

Sanchez is 2-4 with a 6.46 ERA in eight starts this season and 0-2 in his last three trips to the mound. He will try to perform better than his last showing on September 8 at Philadelphia after he was rocked for five runs in only 1 2/3 innings of work.

The righty, however, sports a 3-0 mark and a 3.28 ERA in six career starts against the Nationals. Sanchez has held Washington a .237 batting average.

The Nationals have dropped four in a row and will most likely finish last in the NL East for the fourth time in five seasons. They were fourth in the standings in 2007.

In Saturday's loss, Elijah Dukes drove in both runs and starting pitcher Tim Redding was saddled with the loss for giving up four runs on five hits in six innings.

Collin Balester gets the nod for Manny Acta's ballclub on Sunday. Balester is 3-6 with a 4.86 ERA in his rookie season and 1-0 over the past three starts - all Washington wins. He previously pitched on September 7 against Atlanta, allowing four runs and 11 hits in six innings of a 7-4 victory for the no- decision.

Balester, a right-hander, took on Florida for the first time in a 9-6 triumph on July 1 and earned the win with five frames of one-run, one-hit ball.

Florida has won 12 of its 14 matchups with the Nationals this season.