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.Seth 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. Cheap Sneakers Australia . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round. Buy Cheap Sneakers Australia . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. http://www.cheapsneakersaustralia.com/ . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. Cheap Sneakers Australia Online . Any real chance at payback wont come until the playoff. Still, Pittsburgh knows its taut 3-2 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night is a pretty good place to start laying the groundwork. "They are a very good defensive team," Penguins forward Brandon Sutter said. Sneakers Australia Sale . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. As unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev prepared for his defense against Isaac Chilemba, he said he did not allow himself to think about the next fight against Andre Ward, and he certainly did not want to talk about him when asked repeatedly by the media.Indeed, Kovalev went into the ring with Chilemba knowing Kovalev and Ward, the undefeated former super middleweight champion, have a signed contract for an HBO PPV fight on Nov. 19 at the T-Mobile Arena.But once Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) dispatched Chilemba (24-4-2, 10 KOs) by unanimous decision in a tougher-than-expected fashion Monday in front of a sold-out crowd of about 5,000 at the DIVS Sports Palace in Ekaterinburg, Russia, about 120 miles from Kovalevs hometown of Chelyabinsk, he allowed himself to think about the Ward fight.My promoter (Kathy Duva of Main Events) and manager (Egis Klimas) chose a fighter that is similar to Andre Wards style, so that I will be prepared for the fight with Ward, Kovalev said during his post-fight news conference. When they told me that my opponent would be Chilemba because his style is similar to Andre Wards style, I was thinking to myself whats so similar to his style? Their height is different, so at first I didnt see much.But after the fight I realize that, in fact, he does have similar style to Andre Wards -- waiting out and counterattacks. He is not going in much. He waits in defense and waits for the right moment.Although Kovalev, who retained his 175-pound title for the eighth time, had some problems with Chilembas style, he did knock him down with a mean right hand late in the seventh round and won his Russian homecoming fight via scores of 118-109, 117-110 and 116-111.But this was as shaky as Kovalev has looked in his career. Perhaps he was distracted by the overwhelming outpouring of support for his first fight in Russia as a world titleholder or the fact that the fight was taking place at the same arena where his opponent, Roman Simakov, died from head injuries suffered in their 2011 fight.Whatever it was, Kovalev is going to have to be a lot better to deal with the skills Ward possesses.Andre Wards got different timing. Hes faster with his legs, Kovalev said. Hes not only good in defense but also he can attack. He has some defensive tricks. His defense iss more modernized.dddddddddddd He can feel his competitor better. Hes got better reaction. He also has good experience. After all, he is an Olympic champion -- the last American (male) champion at the Olympics (in 2004).Moreover, he is undefeated. This adds a kind of psychological pressure. He is the best in all the categories. But talking of power he is not a crusher. We have two different styles. So that is the difference between (Ward and Chilemba). They are counterpunchers.Most expected Kovalev to knock out Chilemba, but other than the knockdown, which was right at the end of the round, he was never in any real trouble.If it wasnt the end of the round I would have pursued to actively attack him, Kovalev said. But because the bell rang, we rested and he managed to pull himself together and I didnt want to waste my energy. He is very experienced and had as many fights as myself and with boxers of the highest level. There was no aim to knock him out, but the main aim was to gain experience from this fight for the next fight in November in Las Vegas.While Kovalev is safely through to the November fight, Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) is not there yet. He first will fight at Oracle Arena in his hometown of Oakland, California, on Aug. 6 (HBO) when he meets little-known Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs), of Colombia. Kovalev plans to be ringside.Ward is used to fighting in Oakland, so he has dealt with the pressures of hometown events many times. Duva said she was a little concerned about Kovalev going into the Chilemba bout because he had not done so yet in a title fight; he has been based in the United States as a pro. But she was certainly relieved he dealt with it even though it was not his best performance.The toughest fight is always the one right before the big one and for a road warrior like Sergey the toughest fight is the one at home, Duva said. Sergey had both.On top of that Isaac Chilemba fought the fight of his career. Isaac deserves all the credit in the world for going 12 rounds with the Krusher. This is the type of tough fight Sergey needed to prepare for Andre Ward. Like the great champion he is, Sergey overcame all these obstacles and won. ' ' '