ALARM: Miami Marlins DROP Key Series to Chicago Cubs - Is the Wild Card DREAM DYING?

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by the Dell XPS. I'm Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA Daily and Lockdown Heat. So what does it feel like to have a better laptop like the Dell XPS powered by Intel Core? With a premium design that's thin and light, it feels smooth. With a responsive touch screen, it feels fast and precise. And with long lasting battery life, it feels like non-stop energy with a laptop that can keep up. Built for those who want better, the Dell XPS. Built for you. Marlon's dropped two out of three against the Cubs and if they don't turn it around quickly, they can kiss their playoff chances goodbye. To our Lockdown Marlins, your daily podcast on the Miami Marlins.

1:01Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jamie Goldman and welcome into another edition of Lockdown Marlins. Lockdown, now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you for 10 years of the Lockdown Sports Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by Koushi for a limited time. Download the Koushi app and use code Lockdown to get $10 when you trade $10. On today's show, I will preview a very important series with the New York Metz beginning today. It is Labor Day. Maybe you're listening to this on your way to the ballpark. Happy Labor Day, everybody. Plus, I'll also discuss what changed this weekend in the playoff race. I'll keep you updated where the Marlins stand and what needs to happen if the Marlins want to claw back and get into this playoff race. But I will start today with the Marlins dropping two out of three over the weekend against the Chicago Cubs

2:06and underwhelming weekend for the fish when they needed it most. You dropped two out of three. You do salvage this series yesterday with a nice 10 to three low stress type of victory. But overall, you really would have liked to take at least two out of three against the Cubs this weekend. So we'll dive into that one. The Marlins now 72 and 72 back to square one, back to 500 on the season. And you know, you had an opportunity to gain some ground. But luckily, it didn't lose that much ground this weekend. Still, only four games out of the final wild card spot with a little bit less than a month to go here. The Marlins, you know, they're not in the playoffs by any means. But with a couple of weeks left to go, you got a couple of these opponents on your schedule here the rest of the way. I'm not counting the Marlins out. But every game they drop, your chances get lower and lower and lower.

3:11So you got to turn it around here quickly if the Marlins want to place some October baseball this season. This weekend began on Friday, zero offense in that game. Zero offense from the Marlins. You find yourself down five to nothing before you have any runs on the board. And it's very tough to win a ball game like that. Imanaga. I can't say this guy's name, but the Marlins struggled versus Imanaga. Imanaga. The Marlins really struggled versus Imanaga. He went six more than six innings, only three hits, one earned run, left handed picture, whether his name is tough to to pronounce or not. The Marlins can't hit left handed pitching. It's been a problem all season long. I don't think the Marlins did enough at the deadline to kind of help their right handed hitting and help their hitting against left handed pitchers. It's been a problem all season long.

4:12And the Marlins struggled again on Friday night. Imanaga just absolutely shut down the Marlins in that ball game. Junk was solid. Junk gave you five innings, three hits, one earned run on only 75 pitches. Again, I don't, I, Junk gets pulled after five. Junk is rolling after five. And the Clayton McCullough and this Marlins staff is so intent on not letting guys like Junk or Gusto or Phillips go past the second run through the order. And I don't understand that if they're rolling, let them continue to roll. We've seen this happen over and over again, where we pull a starter that is playing well. And then the bullpen comes in and lays an egg. And we saw that again on Friday. Junk is solid. He's keeping us in this ball game.

5:14It's a one nothing game and Junk is rolling. And then he gets pulled and the bullpen absolutely falls apart and and lets the game go. You find yourself down five to nothing after Ralston really struggled in the sixth. And I know Ralston has been good so far, but you're throwing him into a very important moment in a ball game. He's only been up to the majors for less than a month at this point. Or you have your starter who's been pitching really well and you pull them. These analytics, they just, they drive me nuts sometimes. They've tried me nuts. And we saw it again on Friday. The Marlins let that and let another one slip. A game that the Marlins offense was not competitive. The Marlins bullpen was not competitive. And the Marlins get blown out at home on Friday night, a six to one loss. And Junk doesn't get an opportunity to go out there and get a quality start. After giving you five innings of very solid work. Only 75 pitches.

6:16If it were me, I let him go back out for the sixth inning. And if he allows any base runners, that's when you turn to the bullpen. We have me and Clayton have been on opposite sides of this all season long. And whether I'm right or wrong, this might be the death of the Miami Marlins this season. Obviously, there's a lot of other things that have not gone the Marlins way lately. What this has definitely been one of them. The Marlins pulling starters, having a quick trigger on starters, pulling them early. It's unbelievable how Clayton McCullough treats Sandy all contra in Yuri Perez is like on one spectrum. And then how he treats Jansen, Junk, Ryan, Gusto and Tyler Phillips is on a completely other spectrum. Just have a little bit, like I shouldn't say I was going to say have a little bit more consistency. But he is consistent. He consistently puts Sandy out there and goes too far. And Yuri goes too far.

7:17And he consistently gives guys like Jansen, Junk and Tyler Phillips and Ryan, Gusto, enough of a leash. And it infuriates me. And we saw it come back to bite the Marlins again on Friday. And I'm saying all this. And honestly, it doesn't matter how the Marlins manage their pitchers if they can't get any offense going. Which was the case on Friday night. They only had one inning where they really had any kind of offense mustered up at all. And that was the seventh inning. They got to the starting pitcher in that inning. And then he got pulled. Marlins loaded up the bases in that inning after scoring a run. Joe Max struck out to end the seventh. And that was the end of the Marlins offensive opportunities for the entire night. Marlins lose six to one. And they fell back down to 500 in that one. And then I moved to Saturday. I spent too much time on Friday's game. But Saturday was probably the toughest loss that I can remember in a while here for the

8:19Marlins. You lose six to five. You find yourself down four to nothing in that ball game. And you climb back into that game. You feel the momentum really starting to go your way. You turn to four nothing deficit into four to two. And then it became five to two. And you turn it into five to four. You come six four. You clawed back making six five. And you're not able to ever get over that hump. A Kona in two run home run made it five four. A stowards home run made it six to five. And you're just not able to get that big hit to tie the game or take the lead in that one. It felt like a game. The Marlins were going to come back and win. And they just never did. They never made that final push that you were expecting late in that ball game. They never got that. And the Marlins dropped that game. That was a game that you felt like the Marlins were going to come back and win. They didn't. And it was a game that the Marlins needed to come back and win.

9:19We could be sitting here three games out right now. Winning two out of three against the Cubs feeling really good about things heading into the men's series. Instead, you drop that game and perspective completely shifts. And the Marlins four games out. You lose two out of three against the Cubs. You feel like, yeah, you salvaged yesterday's ball game with a nice 10 to three win. But it's not enough. And that's what we've seen from these Marlins over the last couple of weeks, last couple of months. You get less than enough in every series. I'll pull up the schedule right now. Recently, you didn't get nearly enough in Washington. You lose three out of four there. Major blunder there. You go to Kansas City. You take the first two and then you drop the third. You have an opportunity to grab a sweep in Kansas City. You're not able to do it. And then Chicago comes to town. You drop the first two games of that series. You put yourself way behind the eight ball. So that's three series in a row where the Marlins left something on the table.

10:23And it's going to be the death of them. They're getting all the help that they could possibly get. The debacks are not going out there and seizing that final wild card spot. Neither are the Padres. It's up four grabs. And the Marlins just aren't grabbing it. They're not. A good win yesterday. A five run fifth inning put the Marlins up big. You had hits all across the line up. All singles in that inning as well. You got help from Sonoma, Stowers, K9, Casey, Bert, Joe Mac, a big fifth inning for the Marlins. Something we haven't seen enough of from this Marlins team this season. You got it yesterday. It seems this team always plays better in teal. That's neither here nor there. But you got a win on the day you honor Josh Beckett, a franchise legend had that classic game six where Jack McKee and went to him a game early. The Marlins get the win. Josh Beckett's a legend.

11:24You honor him. You get a good win yesterday. Something teal feels really good to do that. But the Marlins are running out of time here folks as far as the playoff race goes. Coming up, I will preview that or not preview, but really kind of give you of where things stand right now for the Marlins in the wild card race. It's not over. It's not over by any means. You still have about a month left here and you're not done. You have an opportunity to catch some lightning in a bottle and make something happen here. But time is ticking for the Marlins. Can we talk about one of the most underrated organs in your body, your liver? It's your body's filter processing everything you consume and performing more than 500 functions every day. It's involved in things like energy production, digestion, fat metabolism and vitamin storage. So it's doing a lot of work behind the scenes. Just by giving your liver daily support can be an important part of building healthy habits.

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14:36The Marlins did not help themselves this weekend, but somehow they're still not dead. Four games out of the playoffs. I'll flash the playoff picture on your screen right now if you're watching this on YouTube. Marlins four games out. You still got the Padres in front of you and you have let the Cardinals creep back into things as well. Cardinals tied with the fish at 72 and 72. Three and a half games behind the Padres and four games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for that final wild card spot. So although the Marlins keep losing series and letting one slip and not going out and sweeping the royals and not doing enough, there's still somehow in the picture here with about three and a half, four weeks left to go in the season. So we'll take a look at some of the other teams and what they have going on in this playoff push as well.

15:37The Diamondbacks headed to Kansas City for three right now. They'll begin that series today. Then they'll head home to face the Texas Rangers and then the big one. Then they welcome the Miami Marlins into town for a crucial mid September series. So I'll kind of let you know what the Marlins have coming up here. You get three against the match here, which I'll preview that series coming up in a little bit, but you have to capitalize against the 65 and 78 New York match right now. This is a team that has been placed on your schedule and a perfect opportunity. You have to go out there and get a couple of wins there and keep pace, maybe gain some ground against the Diamondbacks and Padres because after that match series, you get the Dodgers coming into town. One of the best teams in baseball, then the road trip begins. Road trip of the season begins. You get three against Arizona, which you need to win that series. Then you get three against San Diego.

16:40Those are the two teams in front of you. You take care of those couple of series. You stay hot in these next couple of weeks against the Dodgers and the Mets right here. You might find yourself sneaking in and stealing that final wild card spot. If the Marlins are going to get in the playoffs, that's exactly how it's going to have to go. You're going to have to steal it. The Marlins have not played well enough this season, Junicide, to be a playoff team this year. They just haven't. They have been the definition of a mediocre team, not really good at home, struggling on the road. That's a telltale sign of a mediocre team right there. Also doing really well against poor teams, played good against the Nationals this season, took two out of three against the Royals recently, have done well against the Mets this year, struggled against the Phillies, struggled against the Braves, struggled this past weekend against the Cubs. It's exactly what the Marlins are.

17:40They are a mediocre team. That's not a bad thing to be. I do think the Marlins are ahead of schedule this season. I keep going back to Vegas. Vegas coming into this season had the Marlins 72 and a half wins was there over under for win total. They look like they are going, they are already at 72 wins. They would have to lose out for the under to cash on that one. They are going to win a lot more than 72 and a half games. They are right on schedule as far as their ready-built goes. Three years ago this team was dead in the water. Last season, you saw a little bit of a spark with this team, 79 wins. This season, you have an incredible June. You see guys like Otto Lopez and Max Meyer, Xavier Edwards, Aeroberto Hernandez, start to blossom a little bit. You had some injuries hurt, but that always happens. That's not an excuse. Every team in the league deals with injuries.

18:43You didn't make much of a splash at the trade deadline. In fact, overall, I think the Marlins were more so sellers than they were buyers. Some hits could really help right now. Victor Vodnick is basically a wash when you think about how you lost Lake Bacher. Overall, you didn't do much to help your team at the deadline. You didn't completely sell the farm, but you didn't help the team either. For right now, you got some pieces that will help along the way, hopefully next season in years to come. Overall, this team didn't do enough at the deadline. They've played like a 500 team all season long. If they want to make the playoffs, they're going to have to get hot in September. They're going to have to put together a September surge. It's going to start with starting pitching. We need Sandy and Yuri to really carry the load here. You're going to need some timely bats. Aeroberto needs to keep swinging it. Stowers needs to keep swinging it. No, no, it needs to come through in the clutch.

19:43You need guys like Xavier Edwards and Otto Lopez to be your table-setters. Our seed needs to take it up. Owen Casey, your rookie needs to show a little bit more power. All of these things need to come together at the right time in order for the Marlins to sneak into the playoffs here. Not to mention, you don't have much of a reliable bullpen. Especially, listen, we've dogged on Pete Fairbanks all season long, but without him recently, you've seen the effects. This bullpen has kind of taken a step back recently. I think the injuries to Bender and I think the injuries to Fairbanks have a big reason to do with that. As Marlins theme, four games out, you have an opportunity to get hot in September. It starts right now with the New York Mets. Coming up, I'm going to preview that series with the New York Mets. I'll give you my Goldies guarantee. I'll wish you a happy Labor Day and I'll send you on your way.

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22:50Marlins begin a series with the Metz today. Happy Labor Day, everybody. Maybe you're on your way to the ballpark right now for a little mid-afternoon ballgame. Marlins Metz today. It's a nice day out, hopefully in Miami. The roof will probably be closed anyways. It's a nice day out. It's a nice day out. Marlins need to take care of the Metz here. It starts here with the Metz. You get a lowly opponent. You get a team that you have played pretty well against this season. Marlins have a sweep against the Metz this year. But don't forget, the Metz have a sweep against the Marlins this year as well. Overall, Marlins 6 and 4 against the Metz this year. And before I get into the actual series, the pitching matchups, what to look for and all of that. I want to remind you that the Metz had an opportunity to make the playoffs last season. It was the final series of the year and the Metz all they had to do was beat the Marlins and they would get in the playoffs. The Marlins played spoiler. The Marlins ended the Metz season last year, denied them, rejected them a chance to go

23:57and play October baseball. The Marlins won that final game of the season. Everything was on the line for the Metz. Nothing was on the line for the Marlins except knocking out your division rival. Well, now the tables have turned and the situation is reversed. Now the Marlins have everything to play for. They must win this series if they want to have an opportunity to play October baseball. And the Metz have nothing to play for. The Metz 13 games under 500 virtually eliminated from any playoff contention possibility. And here we are. Three games in Miami, Marlins Metz with everything on the line for the fish and nothing on the line for the Metz except for a little bit of pride and a little bit of revenge after the way of the Marlins and their season last year. So today, this afternoon, it will be Yuri Perez against Jonah Tongue.

25:00I'll start with Tongue because it's an interesting one. Making his first MLB start of the season. He's only making his fourth major league appearance this season. Only his fourth major league appearance. Only his first major league appearance since June 2nd. This guy has been in AAA Syracuse for months at this point. He's called up and gets the start today on Labor Day. He's been pretty good in his first three appearances this season. He's got a 1-1 record, a 360-ERA, seven strikeouts and 10 innings. Very limited sample size, but he's been OK. And actually, one of his outings this year came against the Miami Marlins. Wave-back on May 22nd, he went three innings, no hits, no earned runs. He did walk one, but two strikeouts against the Marlins. So has a little bit experience against this Marlins team, but limited experience overall. Hasn't pitched in the majors since June 2nd, folks.

26:03So we'll see how he fares in his first start of his career. Hopefully, Marlins can jump on him early and get another stress-free win like they did yesterday. On the other side, for the fish, it'll be Yuri Perez going today, which you remember when he came back from that injury, he was red-hot playing great baseball. Compile, the bunch of really good starts in a row. But suddenly, he's hit a roadblock. And in his last two starts, Yuri has gotten beat up pretty good. Most recently, if you remember in Kansas City, he got really roughed up, especially in those first couple of innings, ended up going four and two-thirds. But nine hits, three walks, six earned runs, allowed three home runs in that ballgame as well. So a really rough outing for Yuri. And the time before that one against Washington really struggled there as well. Three innings pitched, only two hits, but four walks in those first three innings, allowed a home run as well.

27:04Five earned runs in only three innings. So really, really struggled in his last two starts. He's got a seven, nine, four ERA in those two starts, 11 earned runs, and only seven and two-thirds innings pitched. So he's really struggled recently for the fish. But he struggled on the road. I feel like Yuri's a guy for whatever reason that pitches a lot better in Lone Depot Park. So hopefully, he gets an opportunity to turn things around here today. But he's been good against the Metts at the very least. July 30th, he held New York to one earned run on six innings, also had six Ks, only allowed three hits in that ballgame. So he's done well against the Metts, struggled on the road, been good at home, struggled of late. So that's kind of the full picture, full pie for Yuri Perez as he gets to the start today as the fish look to get a Labor Day win here today. Tomorrow, it'll be Sandy's Beach for the fish.

28:06Sandy all-contra against Sean Manaya. Sandy, he's been really good for the fish this season, as you probably know. Last innings pitched in baseball, almost 196 innings over the court of the season. Could be, after this game, he'll be the first major league pitcher to reach the 200 March mark this season. So we'll keep an eye on that. As of late, Sandy's been, he's been Sandy. 32 innings pitched in his last five games, 366 ERA. So keeping it steady, keeping it strong. Not his best outing in his most recent start when six innings four earned runs in his most recent. One of his only non-quality starts of the season for Sandy, looking to bounce back here today or tomorrow as he'll face the Metts tomorrow night. Sean Manaya, he's been okay for the Metts this season, four in seven, a four seven, O-E-R-A, but he's been roughed up lately. In his last two starts similar to Yuri, he's given up 11 earned runs in less than 12 innings.

29:11So ERA hovering around nine for his last two games. So hopefully the Marlins can continue that trend and get after Manaya tomorrow night. Series will wrap up on Wednesday. Janssen Junk going against Robert Stock. Junk has been really solid recently for the fish. I talked about it a little bit earlier in the show. I'm really looking for Junk to get more of a leash. He's pitched really well recently. I'd like to see Clayton allow him to go a little bit deeper into ball games over his last five, a two to one ERA. So doing a really good job of keeping runs off the board is Junk. Robert Stock has not been great for the Metts this season. 2020, 26 and a third innings pitch. So not a ton, but a 581 ERA is with almost 1.8. So allowing a lot of base runners, allowing a lot of runs is Robert Stock.

30:11Fish, what can I get after him this week? I'll leave you with my Goldies guarantee for this weekend. It's a simple one, but it's an important one. I think the Marlins are going to keep their playoff hopes alive. They're going to bounce back after a rough weekend against the Cubs. They're going to carry that momentum from the 10 to 3 win yesterday. Right into this series, they're going to sweep the New York Metts, stay alive in the playoff race, keep their heads above water as they welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers into town. So the Goldies guarantee for this week against the Metts is a sweep. A win Monday, a win Tuesday, and a win Wednesday. The Marlins need it. And the way the Marlins have been so rollercoaster this season, I don't think that rollercoaster is ready to end just yet. I think the Marlins go out there. They take care of business against the lower opponent in the New York Metts. They sweep the Metts and stay alive in the playoff push. That's a Goldies guarantee. And that's where I'll leave you today.

31:11Happy Labor Day, everybody. I want to thank everyone for tuning in to Lockdown, Marlins. I'll be back with you tomorrow to give you the recap of today's ballgame. Get you a set for tomorrow's ballgame. Thank you all for making Lockdown your first lesson every day. For your second lesson, go out and check out the all night MLB Game Night. Every game every night until a World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale. Find MLB Game Night on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. That's going to do it for me today. Have a good day, everybody. Celebrate a good Labor Day. Have a good day. And as always, go tomorrow's. Thank you for making Lockdown your first lesson every day. For your second lesson, find the all night Lockdown MLB Game Night. Every game every night until a World Series champion is crowned.

32:14Get local analysis on a national scale. Find MLB Game Night on Lockdown MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.