FADING: Miami Marlins Playoff Hopes DWINDLING After Ugly Loss to New York Mets

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1:01Tickets are on sale at UNLVTickets.com. Get 20% off by using code Team USA. Defensive blunders, rattle-yurry Perez and the Marlins get blown out by the Mets. You can't feel good about anything after a loss like that. You are Locked on Marlins, your daily podcast on the Miami Marlins. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jamie Goldman and welcome into another edition of Locked on Marlins. Locked on, now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you for 10 years of the Locked on Sports Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Get $350 in bonus bets. Guaranteed when you bet $5 every day for 7 days.

2:02Join all the action at Fandall.com. On today's show I'll get you set for the rest of the series with the Mets. As Sandial Contra tries to once again stop the bleeding for the Marlins. Plus, I'll discuss realistic expectations the rest of the way. Now that the playoffs continue to get further and further out of reach, I'm not going to say we're dead yet. The fat ladies warming up her vocal cords. I'll go as far to say that. She ain't singing yet, but she's about ready to come on stage for this Marlins team. The reason I say that is because I'll start today with last night's loss. Oh boy, that was a tough pill this wall of last night. It just was bad and then it got worse and then it got a little bit worse in last night's ball game. Marlins lose 9 to 4 to the Mets. You fall five games back in the playoff race. Again, not going to say they're dead because of the way the schedule falls, but it doesn't look good.

3:06A very sloppy defensive performance, just a gut punch type of loss. You really can't feel good about anything after that one. It started early. The issues defensively started right away. Two first inning errors. The one with Sonoma, where the guys going a second base, Sonoma throws it into center field. It would have been the second out of the inning if you just get the out at first. It's inexcusable. It's inexcusable this late in the season when you're a team that's trying to make the playoffs struggling in the field like this. It's unnecessary errors. It's unnecessary mistakes that are costing this Marlins team. Yesterday got out of hand, but I really think Yuri Perez got rattled. Coming off of two starts in a row where he hasn't had his best stuff.

4:08Then you come into yesterday's ball game. You get a strikeout off the bat. After that strikeout, things just went downhill. They get a runner on and then he gets a ground ball and a tough play at seconds. Sonoma should have just thrown it to first. Sonoma tries to be the hero and throw it to second base. It goes into center field. Soto ends up scoring on the play. It just blows up in your face. Tommy Hutton said it. Take the easy play. Get the out at first base. What about out number two? Later on in the inning, you had a guy tried to steal second base. Mac made a bad throw from behind the plate. It went into center field as well. The Met scored on that one as well. That put the Met's up to to nothing. I really think Yuri was not right after that moment. Even so, after that moment, you fall behind three to one a little bit later. You get a massive, what seemed like, a massive three run home run from Grand Poly.

5:10To take a four to three lead. You feel really good about it. Galvanized the team. You felt like that was going to be the moment that you put that ugly start behind you and you're able to bounce back and keep moving forward. That just wasn't the case. The Met's were rattled off six unanswered runs after that and the Marlins were never able to get it going. Yuri struggled again. His inconsistencies have been the one thing that's been holding him back. We've seen flashes of greatness from Yuri Perez in not just this season, but this season, especially, you had that perfect seven innings against the athletics. I won't get into the decision making there, but a really good game from Yuri there. He had an incredible month of July, a 197 ERA, at 084 Whip in five starts in the month of July. All five of them. He went at least six innings. All five of them were at least where quality starts.

6:14He kept that rolling into August. He had a stretch where over three starts. He only allowed one earned run in 18 innings pitched. That's two months of really good baseball that Yuri was stacking up, coming back from that injury that kind of sidelineed him for a little bit of the early going of the season. He really started to turn it on. He really struggled in a start against Washington. He really struggled in his most recent start. Then yesterday, the first inning blunders, I really think got to him and clearly rattled him a bit. He was never able to really get it going after that. He gets hammered in yesterday's ballgame. The meds hang a bunch of runs on him, and Yuri never able to really settle in out there after those first inning mistakes by the Marlins. You'd like to see a guy like Yuri hang in there a bit better than he did yesterday. I'll admit, the defense gave him no favors back there.

7:19Now he's been hammered in three straight starts. Something's definitely off with Yuri Perez. He's not that dominant guy that we saw throughout July and throughout a lot of August. All of a sudden, the wheels have fallen off for Yuri Perez. I go back to what I said earlier about his inconsistency. That's one thing. He's been consistently inconsistent throughout his career. Perez, he's a big looming question for this Marlins team moving forward. The Marlins view Yuri Perez as a pillar of this baseball team moving forward. A guy like a Sandial Contra, a guy like a Max Meyer. I believe they look at those three really sandy and Yuri ahead of Max as the rotational guys, those pieces in your rotation that you're going to bring back next season. And kind of, how do I say, finance foundational, foundational pieces for this Marlins team moving forward.

8:21And we stay in, he's young. He's a young player. Don't get me wrong. But we still have yet to see him be able to put it together for a full season. Every time he gets hot, it seems he brings himself right back down to Earth. We've seen him struggle on the road as well. I know yesterday's ballgame was in Miami, but we've seen his road struggles really pile up as well. So I'm starting to get a bit concerned about Yuri Perez because, you know, three starts in a row where he's really struggled. And we've seen these blow up games happen throughout the course of his career. You know, he'll be stellar on one game. And then the next outing, he'll get blown up for 10 hits and five innings and five runs or something along those lines. So the big question Mark with Perez is, can he put it together for a full season? Time will tell on that one. You still got a couple more starts this season. I would imagine. But the Marlins are fighting for a playoff spot.

9:23You cannot have one of your big three pictures crumble and struggle like this down the stretch as we have seen Yuri do. You know, if Yuri were to go the opposite way and keep rolling and have three stellar starts over his last three, let's say the Marlins win two of those games. Instead of five games out, your three games out right now. So it's so crucial to have your star players playing like star players down the stretch, late in season, late in ball games. And we haven't seen that from Yuri. And I think that, listen, I'm not going to blame this whole season on Yuri Perez. In fact, he's been really good at stretches. As I've said, but down the stretch, we've seen Yuri kind of crumble. And it definitely hasn't helped this Marlins team. Blow up games are going to happen. But three in a row was a pattern and three in a row in late August, early September when the heat is really turning up and your playoff,

10:23you know, outlook is continuing to get more serious and more significant. And you kind of lay an egg out there. That's not what you want to see. It's not what you want to see. So unfortunate there from Yuri again, his defense didn't do him any favors last night. And then, you know, late in that ball game, after that grand poly home run, Marlins didn't muster any offense. So it doesn't just fall on Yuri. Like, you know, I don't want to make it seem like I'm ragging on Yuri. And it's his fault that the Marlins aren't going to make the playoffs. But, you know, he didn't get any help from his bullpen. He didn't get any help from his offense. And he was kind of just on an island out there. Didn't get any help from his defense either. So really ugly night for the Marlins. Listen, I don't want to shut the door on the playoffs here. But, you know, I keep throwing different cliches at you to say, we're not done yet. But, you know, it's not looking good. It's not looking good for this Marlins team.

11:23And a loss like that can really deflate your tires a bit. And you've kind of seen the air kind of slowly seep out of these tires. Anyways, over the last couple of weeks with these Marlins, you lose three out of four in Washington. You lose two out of three against the Cubs. You're not able to get the sweep in Kansas City. And all of a sudden, you'll leave a game on the table here. You'll leave a game on the table there. You'll leave two games on the table against the Cubs and the Nationals. And, you know, a lot of those games could have swung the other way. And we could be having a lot of a different conversation right now. But, the cookie crumbles the way it did. And the Marlins haven't been able to get it done. So that being said, coming up, I'm going to tell you what a realistic, successful rest of this season could look like for the Marlins, as the playoffs seem to be a heavy long shot. A big thank you to our friends at Amazon for this limited break.

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13:33Or yesterday afternoon, I should say it was a Labor Day midday game. Disappointing Labor Day performance from the Marlins. But we got into that in the first segment. You now sit five games out of the playoffs. You continue to just... You're losing grasp. You're losing grasp. You're as close as three games. You're as close as two and a half games. Not too long ago, but the Marlins haven't done themselves any favors and continue to slide further and further down. I'll flash the standings on the screen right now for those of you watching on video. You know, you see the Phillies and Cubs, they have pretty much... They feel pretty good about themselves right now. Four games ahead of the Diamondbacks who hold that final spot. The Diamondbacks hold the final spot. The Padre is a half game behind them. And then the Marlins almost seems like an... I don't know what to say, but a big gap is in between those Padres and Marlins. A much bigger gap than what's in between the Diamondbacks and Padres.

14:36The Marlins now five games out. You're under 500 at this point. You're really reeling as a baseball team. And honestly, it reminds me a lot of what we saw from this Marlins team last season. If you remember, the Marlins had a very up and down year last year as well. And they kind of went into a skid in late August and early September right around the same time as the Marlins are skidding right now. Last season, the Marlins were 66 and 78 in mid-September. This was after getting back to 500 after that rough start to the season. So last season and this season, kind of a lot of parallels going on there. Because last season, you had that great run to get all the way back to 500. I think it was 52 and 52 or 55 and 55 around that 100 and 110 game mark. And then after the Marlins hit that 500 mark, completely fell off a cliff.

15:40Similarly, how the Marlins had that great june this year. And then out of the All-Star Break just completely fell off a cliff, lost 12 games in a row. Very similar thing happened last season. But also last season, the Marlins found themselves after getting back to 500, really skidded, found themselves at 66 and 78 in mid-September. What happened after that? The Marlins were pretty much out of the playoffs at that point. You know, really didn't have much to play for at that point. The pressure was off, didn't seem like a playoff team at that point. And they turned it on. They finished the season 13 and 4 to go 79 and 83 on the season. Didn't get back to 500, but a really strong ending to that season. I've mentioned it before in some previous episodes. But also last year at the end there, they won two out of their three final games. That final series of the season last year against the New York Metz.

16:40The Metz had a chance to get into the playoffs. There were some tie-breakers going on. All they needed to do was win. And they got in the playoffs over the Cincinnati Reds. The Marlins denied them the chance to get into the playoffs. Winning two out of those three at the end of the season last year, including that final game of the season. The Reds were waiting in the wings, hoping the Marlins came through for them. And they did. And we saw a little bit of a reverse of that yesterday. The Marlins absolutely needing to win this series. Stack up some wins here. And the Metz delivered the gut punch to the Marlins. But that's not the point I'm getting at here. The point I am getting at is I think the Marlins can do something similar this season as they did last year. Last year, they turned it on late. They played spoiler against the Metz. They had a really good end of the season. They went into the offseason feeling good about themselves, feeling like they had something to build upon. And I think they can do that here as well. All five of their remaining series after these Metz games wrap up are against teams

17:46that are either in a playoff spot or desperately fighting for a playoff spot. That Diamondbacks Padre series, one of them is going to be on the outside looking in. And I think you have an opportunity here to shake some things up and play a little bit of spoiler and be a team that nobody wants to see down the stretch. Now, the playoffs are a long shot. I don't think you're getting in there. But teams like the Dodgers that are fighting for home field advantage, they're fighting to be the top spot in the NL. They have a similar record to the Braves. You play the Braves at the end of the season. You can shake some things up there. Same thing with the NL Wildcars. The Cubs want that first spot over the Phillies. Because that first spot, you get a home playoff series. So I'm sure the Cubs are going to want to win that series as well. All these teams you're playing down the stretch here are teams that are fighting for a playoffs, but are already in the playoffs, fighting for home field advantage. So if anything, use it as a motivator.

18:46Use it as something to get yourself up to try and play a little bit of spoiler and shake some things up in the National League. And who knows, if you get hot enough, you could blank and find yourself right back in the mix for the playoffs. I mean, it's not looking good. I'm beating a dead horse here at this point. But the Marlins are five games out and they haven't looked like a playoff team since June. So when you put that together, it doesn't look like this team's going to be a playoff team. I continue to say they didn't do enough at the deadline. They made some calculated moves at the deadline, but Aliyahm Hicks could really help this baseball team right now. A Lakebocker probably wouldn't hurt this baseball team right now. Conor Norby has had some flashes of goodness with Colorado so far. He may have helped this team as well, but he was really, that's another story. But the Marlins are in a situation where they have nothing to lose.

19:47It doesn't look like they're going to be a playoff team. And I'll wrap this thing up. They have an opportunity to play some spoiler here, but I'll wrap this thing up by saying they exceeded expectations this season. I know you don't want to hear that as a fan when you've had a bad August and a struggle in September and you're not and you had an opportunity to make the playoffs and you kind of blew it. When you say that, it doesn't look good. But when you take a look at the big picture of this season, the Marlins absolutely exceeded expectations. And I look at Vegas because Vegas is unbiased. Vegas doesn't have a horse in the race. They strictly are calling it the way it is and do that because they want your money. They want people to gamble on what they think is a fair line. And that's the way they set it and they have algorithms and all kinds of stuff and experts and whatever to come up with these numbers. And these experts were usually pretty good and pretty spot on. Said the Marlins over under for wins this season at 72 and a half.

20:52The Marlins right now are 72 and 73. So one more win and they have hit their over on the season overall, which is something to be said. You know, it's not like they won the World Series or anything. But Vegas thought they were going to be a team that lost 90 games. That's not the case. This is a 500 team. So they significantly exceeded expectations. And I think there's one more goal on the table for this Marlins team. And they kind of go hand in hand. There's two in my head here. One is you got to finish better than you did last year. Last season you won 79 games. Very doable. The Marlins right now are 72 and 73. They have about 20 games left. Finishing with 80 wins or more. Very doable. If you have 80, you might as well go for 81 and finish 500 or better. So that's what I'm asking the Marlins with. That's the Marlins homework assignment, the rest of the way.

21:53Find a way to compete with these very good teams, these teams that are going to the playoffs, try to shake things up a little bit, try to play some spoiler and make your goal to finish 500 or better, improve on what you did last year and the season's strong and go into next year with more improvement. You had a million losses three years ago. Last year you go 79 and 83. This year you're finishing 500 or better. That's a pattern. That's improvement every season. That's what we need to see. If the Marlins aren't able to do that this season, I'm willing to go as far to say this year was a failure. You take out June and you're not able to finish 500 or better. I think that's a failure overall by the Miami Marlins. You didn't do enough at the deadline. Bendix is going to get more heat from that if they're not able to finish strong this year. Time will tell to see if any of these guys that the Marlins did get at the deadline, the Jonathan Longs of the world,

22:54some of those other guys you got in the deal, the guy you got for the Bacchard deal, you got a couple of prospects there. Time will tell if these guys will make their impact on the Marlins or not. But as of right now, it's tough to look back at the deadline and say, we did things to help the Marlins baseball team. I know it goes deeper and Bendix has a plan long term. And in reality, they didn't really sell the farm. But you take a look right now at some other teams that made some moves at the deadline, some teams that have surpassed you in the standings. And you're right back where you were with the same group. It's a tough pill to swallow. So overall, I want to see the Marlins finish above 500. And I think they have the horses to do that. It's going to start in these couple of games against the Metz. Looking to salvage things, Sandiak Contra looks to stop the bleeding once again for this Marlins team. I'll preview the Metz series as well as give you a look at the road ahead

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26:00It's about having everyone working toward the same goal, and that's true in sports, just like it is in business. The Marlins always seem to be playing their best when everyone is pulling in the same direction. Like the other day, when the Marlins rattled off five straight runs in the fifth inning, they were getting contributions from everyone, a coordinated effort, and everyone pulling in the same direction, it led the Marlins to attend the three win over the Cubs. Great organizations win because operations matter, and that's why you should get ODO. Try for free today at odo.com slash locked on. That's odo.com slash locked on. The fish have two more against the mets before they welcome the Dodgers into town. So a couple more against the mets here, and that will be it for their season series against the New York Mets. And there's something on the line for the mets and the Marlins. The season series is on the line.

27:00If the Marlins win just one out of their next two, they will win the season series against the New York Mets. But if they get swept here in Miami, the Mets will win the season series. The Marlins currently six and five against the Mets this season dropped to six and five after yesterday's loss. But I got a good feeling about today's ballgame, Sandiaw Contra, always seems. I keep saying this. Stop the bleeding. Stop the bleeding, Sandiaw. He's been the guy that somehow has been able to continually do that for this Marlins team this season. It seems every time they go on this road of really struggling and get really down on themselves. Sandi puts together a good performance and bounces them right back. So Sandi gets the start for the fish. He'll face off again. Sean Manaya for the Mets. Sandiaw had a pretty good season so far. 13 to 9, a 354 ERA, almost 200 innings.

28:01If he goes five innings in today's ballgame, really all he needs is four and a third. And he will reach the 200 inning mark on the season. He is currently seventh in the NL and ERA. And he is throwing the most innings in baseball this season. So they call him El Caballo. I think that means the horse. I'm no Spanish expert, but he is a big horse out there to quote my good buddy Joe Rose. He means it as a compliment. As do I, big horse. Sandiaw Contra gets the start for the fish today. On the other side, it'll be Sean Manaya for the Mets. He's been okay this year. 4 and 7 with a 4 7 0 ERA. But he's really struggled lately. In his last two starts, he's given up 11 earned runs. His ERA almost 9, 8, 7, 4 over his last two starts, given up 19 hits in 11 and 1, 3rd inning. So hopefully the Marlins can get their offense going today. A good start from Sandi,

29:06a home game. And hopefully you can kind of bounce back, get back to 500 and move forward for the rest of this season. The Marlins Met series will wrap up on Wednesday. And one of my favorite pitchers gets the ball for the fish. Janssen Junk. He's been really solid recently. And now that the Marlins are kind of really on the outside looking in and really looking for, I don't want to say a miracle. But you need some things to really shake your way the rest of the way. If you're going to get in the playoffs here, I want to see Janssen Junk get more of an opportunity out there. Let him go deep in a ball game if he's rolling. In his last five games, he's given you a 2-1 ERA, but only in 20.1 innings pitched. You got to let him go a little bit deeper, see what he can do. Give him the chance to fail late in these ball games. He'll get the start on Wednesday, going up against Robert Stock for the Metz. Stock has struggled this season for the Metz, but he's been really inconsistent in his last five games. He has an ERA of 4.004 right on the

30:13dot, but he gave up zero earned runs in his last game, zero earned runs in the start before that, seven in the start before that, one in the start before that, and zero in the start before that. So very inconsistent, but capable of a blow up game for sure. So hopefully the Marlins can get after him early and often in tomorrow's ball game. Then the Dodgers come to town this weekend, always a good crowd when the Dodgers are in town. I'll leave you with this. The Marlins doesn't look like they're going to make the playoffs. That's been the theme of today's episode, but they do have an opportunity to play some spoiler and finish above 500. As far as the spoiler thing goes, it reminds me, I'll take you back to a football example, and that's how I'll end today's show. When Tom Brady was near the end of his run in the NFL or near the end of his run with New England Patriots, his final season with the Patriots. The Patriots and dolphins had a

31:18meaningless week 18 game. It was meaningless for the dolphins. Their season was over, but the Patriots had an opportunity to win the division and get home field advantage in the playoffs. The dolphins won that game. For no reason at all, it was meaningless for the dolphins. It did absolutely nothing for the Finns, except give them a worse draft pick in April's draft. But the dolphins won that game, and they denied home field advantage to Tom Brady and Patriots. Then the Patriots made the playoffs, and they got knocked out by Ryan Tanahill and the Tennessee Titans. It was a lot of giving the ball to Derek Henry, another big horse. A lot of giving the ball to Derek Henry, a lot of Ryan Tanahill. That ended Tom Brady's run with the New England Patriots. I just give that example today because the Marlins have an opportunity to do something similar. Probably not to the same magnitude as Tom Brady and his Patriots run coming to an end, legendary dynasty, all that stuff. But you never know what kind of butterfly effect

32:23these kind of wins will have. Thank you for tuning in to today's Lockdown Marlins. We'll be back with you tomorrow. Make sure you subscribe and follow us on all platforms. I'd want to thank you all for making Lockdown your first listen every day. For your second listen, go check out the all-night MLB game night. Every game every night until a World Series champion is crowned. You can get local analysis on a national scale. Find MLB game night unlocked on MLB YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. That's going to do it for me today, everybody. As always, have a good day and go Marlins. Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go. Ask your prescriber about We Govi, some

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