Putting the Marlins in the past, looking ahead to Lannan

Think the Nationals will be happy to be done with the Marlins for a while? They've averaged just 2.8 runs per game against the Marlins this season and 4.3 runs per game against everyone else. They're 4-5 against Miami and 47-30 against everyone else. They're 2-5 at Marlins Park and 25-18 at every other road ballpark. Yeah, it'll be nice not to see Ozzie Guillen and his boys for a couple of weeks. The Marlins, on the other hand, have a .555 winning percentage against the Nats, and a .463 winning percentage against the rest of the majors. For whatever reason, the Fish play their best against the Nationals, while the Nats can't seem to solve their Florida-based division rivals. Guillen will be itching for his next chance to face the Nationals, and not just so he can talk some more about his feelings on Bryce Harper. His team seems to play with some fire against the Nats, something which doesn't always appear to be the case. A split of the four-game series in Miami might be a bit of a disappointment for the Nationals, especially considering they entered last night's game with a chance to take three of four and add a little more separation between themselves and their pesky NL East opponents. They also now have just a 2 1/2-game edge over the red-hot Braves, who have won seven in a row. Starting tonight, the Nats have seven games over the next six days against two other division rivals. They'll get four with the Braves later this week, but first will open a three-game set with the Mets. And luckily for them, they've fared much better against these two squads than they have against the Marlins. During this week's slate of games, we'll see a familiar face making his 2012 major league debut. Davey Johnson implied yesterday that John Lannan will get the call for half of the doubleheader against Atlanta, telling reporters that of the three healthy minor league starters on the Nats' 40-man roster (Lannan, Yunesky Maya, Ryan Perry), it should be clear who will be activated for Saturday. Oh, it's clear. Lannan's the guy. Teams are now allowed to add a 26th player to their active roster for doubleheaders, so the Nats wouldn't need to make a corresponding move in order to promote Lannan. The lefty could then be optioned back to Triple-A Syracuse after Saturday's doubleheader is in the books. Lannan is making $5 million this season. He was the Nationals' opening day starter in 2009 and 2010. He's now set up to put on a Nationals jersey for the first time in 2012 nearly three and a half months into the season.