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MIAMI — San Francisco Giants rookie Dereck Rodriguez is thrilled to be in the major leagues while Miami Marlins veteran Dan Straily is just relieved he’s not on the disabled list.

Rodriguez and Straily will go at each other in Thursday’s finale to this four-game series. The Marlins (26-42) have won the first three games against the Giants (33-35) including Wednesday’s 5-4 victory Tony Pollard Jersey , which ended with Brian Anderson’s walk-off sacrifice fly in the ninth inning.

As for Rodriguez (1-1, 5.25 ERA in three starts), he is the son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, Straily (2-2, 4.08 ERA) survived last week when he got hit by a 110-mph line drive off the bat of San Diego Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer. It was a terrifying play, but Straily escaped with bruised ribs and did not miss a start.

“It definitely took the wind out of me,” Straily said of the Hosmer line drive. “I felt myself kind of spinning around.

“When you get hit, you don’t really remember it — you kind of have a momentary blackout. Your body takes over, whether it’s adrenaline or whatever the actual reaction is … You don’t feel anything for a few minutes.”

Straily said it wasn’t until he left the game after 3 2/3 innings that he felt “a little bit of soreness” while back in the locker room.

“It’s never anything you want to deal with, but you keep going forward,” he said. “We all know that we (pitchers) stand the closest to home plate, but you can’t let that stuff bother you or you won’t be able to pitch. You can’t let that be a fear.”

Straily said x-rays were negative — no broken bones.

“If there were any doubt that I’m not 100 percent, I wouldn’t be on the mound,” Straily said. “It’s not about trying to be a tough guy or having a lot of pride.”

The Marlins are 5-3 when Straily starts, but he has allowed 10 runs (nine earned) in his past 13 2/3 innings. He has just two quality starts this season — both on the road — May 18 and 23.

In fact, Straily has been better on the road (1-2 Noah Fant Jersey , 2.67 ERA in five starts) as opposed to his home numbers (1-0, 7.11 ERA, three starts).

A promising note for Straily is the fact that he is 4-0 with a 2.43 ERA in five career starts against San Francisco.

His counterpart Thursday, whose full name is Ivan Dereck Rodriguez, is 26 years old and has endured a long journey to get to the majors.

Rodriguez was an outfielder at two South Florida high schools, Hollywood Chaminade and Monsignor Pace. He was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the sixth round in 2011 and switched positions to pitcher late in the 2013 season.

It wasn’t until last year that he finally got to Double A, going 5-4 with a 3.94 ERA in 15 appearances (13 starts).

This year, he went 4-1 with a 3.40 ERA in nine starts at Triple-A Sacramento, earning his promotion to the majors May 29.

Rodriguez lasted only 3 1/3 innings in his debut, allowing five hits, one walk and four runs (one earned) at the Colorado Rockies.

His next start, at home against the Philadelphia Phillies, marked his only major league win as Rodriguez picked up a quality start, allowing one run, five hits and two walks in six innings.

However, Rodriguez allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings last week against the Washington Nationals Dalton Risner Jersey , and that has produced an early trend in which he is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in two road starts.

He clearly has a long way to match the exploits of his father, who was a 14-time All-Star and a 13-time Gold Glove winner. Pudge also won a World Series championship in 2003, his only year with the Marlins.

“I was there almost every game,” Dereck Rodriguez told the Sun-Sentinel when asked about that 2003 season. “I remember everything. It was a year to remember, honestly. I spent a lot of time on the field with the guys. It was a lot of fun.”

Rodriguez can jack up his fastball to 95 mph, which is not surprising given what a strong arm was possessed by Pudge.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy praised Dereck Rodriguez for having good command of four pitches.

“Being a converted (pitcher), it’s impressive how fast he has come on,” Bochy said. “He earned the promotion with the way he was throwing in Sacramento.”

METAIRIE, La. (AP) — The irritation was evident in Saints coach Sean Payton’s voice on Monday.The end of the regular season meant a number of his colleagues were getting fired .That meant clubs with new vacancies would be requesting interviews with assistants on the most successful teams, such as New Orleans, during the very time Payton wants to focus on getting ready for the playoffs.While Payton tersely mentioned that assistants such as defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. and tight ends coach Dan Campbell all would make good head coaches, he said he didn’t want to talk about that now. He was more concerned with the recent performance of his team. New Orleans’ 33-14 loss at home to Carolina on Sunday gave the Saints two losses in their past five games. They needed fourth-quarter comebacks in their past three victories, two of which were decided by just three points.“With the way we played yesterday and some of the things that we’ve done offensively recently, our focus is going to be strictly on the Saints and the fundamentals and techniques we need to improve on,” Payton said. “We’ve got a lot of things we want to improve on — and this week gives us a chance to do that.”As the NFC’s top seed Drew Lock Jersey , New Orleans has a first-round bye and is just two home victories from reaching the second Super Bowl in the franchise’s 52 seasons. What remains to be seen is whether the Saints can recapture the juggernaut form and swagger of midseason, when they posted a handful of multi-touchdown triumphs.“The No. 1 seed guarantees you nothing except you host a playoff game,” Saints defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said, noting that New Orleans cannot afford to dismiss Sunday’s loss to Carolina as an outlier — even if it was a low-stakes game with numerous starters seeing less action than usual.Quarterback Drew Brees and dynamic running back Alvin Kamara were among the Saints that saw no action on Sunday, and numerus others saw their snap counts scaled back.Still, they expected to be more competitive than they were. They were down by 30 before scoring their first points in the fourth quarter, and it was the first time since Payton took over as coach in 2006 that his team had been shut out at home in the first half.“When teams start to game-plan for us, they’re going to turn on that tape,” Rankins said. “They’re going to see things they think they can attack. So for us, it’s on us to fix those mistakes.”Tight end Ben Watson said it is common for fundamentals to slip on all clubs throughout the season, particularly as it relates to the more physical elements of football, such as blocking to tackling, as coaches focus more on preserving players’ health.“You’re usually as fundamentally sound as you’re going to be at the end of training camp,” Watson said. “Fast-forward five months, our practice aren’t as long, our practices sometimes aren’t padded — not just us Andy Isabella Jersey , everybody — because of the attrition that happens during the season.“Fundamentals is what’s going to take you where you want to go. It always has. It always will,” Watson said. “Over time, when you get into game plans and you’re not just doing that all the time, you lose some of that. So now is a good week to just sharpen that stuff up.”Meanwhile, veterans who’ve won championships have been trying to share their experience with younger players about the level of focus required to advance in the playoffs.“You’ve got to really embrace this opportunity that we have because you understand it’s very hard to get in this position,” said offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod, who was part of the Saints only Super Bowl team 10 seasons ago. “You’ve got to really focus and take your preparation to the next level and eliminate distractions.“Whether it’s turning the TV off, getting off the phone or going to bed early, we’ve got to find a way to give ourselves, individually, an extra edge,” he said.