Marlins Need Sweeps to Survive

The Florida Marlins put themselves in a bad situation last week by losing series to the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves during their 2-4 road trip. As a result, the Marlins trailed the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East by eight games, and they trailed the Colorado Rockies by five and a half games in the wild-card race prior to Tuesday's game.

Right now, the Marlins playoff hopes are tenuous at best.

It's hard to believe they will win the division considering the Phillies have been good all season, and the wild-card race is not looking good either with the way the Rockies have been playing lately.

The Marlins still have a shot to win the wild card. The Rockies are taking the lead for now, but if they continue to keep winning, they could be leading the NL West soon.

This would mean the Dodgers would be the team the Marlins and others would compete with in the wild-card race, and it could be a good thing because the Dodgers may have peaked early so there is a good chance they could struggle down the stretch.

The Marlins need to make up for a bad week quickly, and for that to happen, the Marlins have to sweep some teams to finish the month of August.

The Marlins have an opportunity to achieve a sweep this week with the Mets in town. They got the first win of the series by earning a 2-1 victory over the Mets last night at Land Shark Stadium.

With Josh Johnson starting tonight, the Marlins should get their second straight victory.

It's hard to believe Johnson will lose back-to-back games, and even if he did not have his best stuff, it may be enough for him to get by against a team that is displaying hitters that have no business playing in the majors outside of Jeff Francoeur and Gary Sheffield.

The Marlins need this game tomorrow.

Anything short of a sweep against the Mets is unacceptable. The Mets stink and they are counting the days until the 162nd game is over.

Their stars are on the disabled list, and they won't be playing again for this season with the Mets not being good enough to make the playoffs.

Seeing the Mets on a daily basis, it's a miracle they are 57-69 after taking in a game at Citi Field last week when the Mets played the Braves.

They play like they should be 30 games below .500. They can't hit, pitch or defend.

With the way their roster is assembled along with a lousy farm system, it's amazing Mets General Manager Omar Minaya will get a reprieve by being retained next season.

Then again, if the Mets keep rolling over in September, it will be interesting if Mets owner Fred Wilpon changes his mind in retaining Minaya and Jerry Manuel.

There is no reason for the Marlins to lose any more games to the Mets this year.

A team with playoff aspirations finds a way to get sweeps in late August and September, and that's how a team qualifies for the playoffs.

The Rockies did that during their great run in September of 2007, and they may be doing that again this season.

Sweeps are hard to accomplish, but right now, it's about winning each and every game.

From now to Sept. 13, the Marlins will play 15 out of 19 games against the Mets, Padres, and Nationals. Those are the type of games that should give the Marlins an opportunity to sweep them.

If they can't do that, they'll be playing out the season like the Mets in a few weeks.