the two wild-card berths, Collins is already weighing potential pitching decision

MIAMI -- On Friday night, San Diego Padres right-hander Jarred Cosart will get a chance to stick it to the Miami Marlins, the team that traded him on July 31.Cosart, who will step on the Marlins Park mound for the first time since July 25, will face Miami right-hander David Phelps (7-6, 2.28 ERA). Cosart is 0-1 with a 4.54 ERA.Im just trying to prepare like its another major league start, Cosart said. I get nervous before every major league start. Im sure I will have that same nervous excitement.Cosart said he is trying to build off what Ive been doing the past three starts, when he posted a 3.78 ERA and walked just four batters in 16 2/3 innings.Its been a battle for Cosart since his breakthrough year of 2014. He split his time that year between the Houston Astros and the Marlins, going 13-11 with a 3.69 ERA. However, he is just 2-6 since then.Phelps, meanwhile, has been outstanding all year, first as a set-up reliever and more recently as a starter after Miami suffered rotation injuries to Wei-Yin Chen, Colin Rea and Adam Conley. Rea, who was part of the seven-player trade that brought Cosart to San Diego, was returned to the Padres after he got hurt in his first start.With all that adversity, Phelps has come through, posting a 1.31 ERA in his first four starts. He has allowed hitters just a .192 batting average and a .550 OPS.The Marlins (66-61) need to win this series against a Padres team that is not in playoff contention with a lowly 53-74 record.Miami may look to start newly acquired outfielder Jeff Francoeur this weekend.Francoeur, who was acquired in a trade with the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, arrived in Miami on Thursday and got an infield single as a pinch-hitter in his Marlins debut.Among his new teammates is Martin Prado, who played with him when they were with the Atlanta Braves.Ive played against the Marlins forever, Francoeur said. I do know some familiar faces. I have respect for a lot of these guys and (manager Don) Mattingly and his staff.Im excited. (The trade to a playoff contender) was something I needed. It was a tough year in Atlanta with all the rebuilding. Im excited to come here and get at-bats that mean something.In other story lines:--Both the Padres and Marlins were named on Thursday as two of the hosts of the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Marlins Park will get first-round games March 9-13. San Diegos Petco Park will get second-round games March 14-19.--San Diego center fielder and leadoff man Travis Jankowski has reached base in 23 consecutive games. Hitting .257, Jankowski had two hits and scored one run in his most recent game, a 6-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.--Marlins right fielder Ichiro Suzuki went 0-for-4 on Thursday and needs one more hit to tie Wade Boggs (3,010 hits) for 27th place on the MLB career hit list.Cheap Lakers Jerseys . There was no hesitation from the 40th-ranked Pospisil, from Vernon, B.C., who admitted that he cut back on his training sessions over the last few days to conserve energy as the long ATP season finishes next week at the Paris Masters. Cheap Custom Lakers Jersey . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. http://www.customlakersjersey.com/ . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. Custom Derek Fisher Jersey . Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey last Sunday. The fine is the fourth this season for Goldson. He was fined $30,000 for a hit on the New York Jets Jeff Cumberland in Week 1. Custom Lakers Jersey China . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2.MIAMI -- The Marlins walked half a block alongside a hearse carrying their ace away from Marlins Park at the start of a funeral motorcade Wednesday, and then peeled away with watery eyes to go back inside and play a game.Drained by four days of grieving Jose Fernandezs death, they didnt have much left for the New York Mets.Jay Bruce hit his 32nd home run, James Loney also homered and the Mets helped their NL wild-card chances by beating Miami 5-2.It was tough to have a ton of emotion out there, Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. I think our guys did the best they possibly could. Its just hard to make up emotion. It was just a rough game to play, to be honest.New York opened a 1 1/2-game lead over San Francisco for the NLs top wild card, with St. Louis one game behind the Giants. The Mets conclude the regular season with three games at Philadelphia starting Friday.The Marlins loss in their home finale eliminated them from playoff contention. Despite high hopes this year, they still havent been to the postseason since 2003.That was the last thing on their minds five hours before first pitch. They wore T-shirts reading RIP while clustering around the limousine carrying Fernandezs casket to church for a viewing. Spectators, including Mets players and manager Terry Collins, lined the start of the route.It was terrible, Miami pitcher Tom Koehler said. I never thought Id have to be part of that. You have a 24-year-old who is on top of the world, and were walking behind his hearse. Were watching Miamis hero drive down the street.Added reliever Mike Dunn: You felt like you were pushing off your brother.Sympathetic as they are, the Mets are also in a tight wild-card race. Loney hit a two-run homer in the second, and Bruce added a two-run homer in the fifth off Jose Urena (4-9). Curtis Granderson went 4 for 4, and Jose Reyes doubled home a run.The Mets won the final two games of the series after losing an emotion-filled opener Monday.We made as much a tribute to Jose as we could without getting overboard with it, Collins said. We had games to play that are very meaningful to us. I thought the guys after Monday night realized that we had to go out and play. We had some great at-bats the last couple of nights.ddddddddddddeth Lugo (5-2) went 5 1/3 innings and allowed two runs, both on Martin Prados eighth homer.Four relievers completed a seven-hitter, and Jeurys Familia pitched a perfect ninth for his 50th save -- with Fernandez on his mind.His passing left us in a state of shock, Familia said in Spanish. It was very painful playing this series, but at the same time, we wanted to dedicate these games to him.When the series finale ended, several Marlins kneeled at the mound, honoring Fernandez one last time before leaving the field. His private funeral is Thursday.Everybody was exhausted, thinking of all the stuff we went through in the last three or four days, Prado said. But the beautiful thing about this is weve been together all these days.RECORDSThe Mets finished 12-7 against Miami. The Marlins finished 40-40 at home.GOOD SEATS STILL AVAILABLEThe announced crowd was 24,335. The Marlins finished last in the NL in attendance for the 11th time in the past 12 years, averaging 21,405 per game.PITCHING PLANSAs the Mets chase one of the two wild-card berths, Collins is already weighing potential pitching decisions on the final day of the regular season Sunday, when Noah Syndergaard is scheduled to start.If you wake up Sunday morning and say, `OK, were in, but we dont necessarily have home-field advantage, do we use Syndergaard? Collins asked. Or do we say, `Hes going to pitch the first playoff game, no matter where its at?If the Mets have clinched home-field advantage, they might start Syndergaard on Sunday and have him throw about 25 pitches to ensure hes sharp for the wild-card playoff game on Wednesday.Otherwise he goes eight days without pitching, Collins said.UP NEXTRHP Bartolo Colon (14-8, 3.42) might start Friday on short rest when the Mets open their final regular season series at Philadelphia. RHP Robert Gsellman (3-2, 2.56) is also an option, but Colon threw only 47 pitches when he took the loss Monday against Miami.Marlins RHP Andrew Cashner (5-11, 5.13) will make his final start Friday at Washington. ' ' '