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. Zapatillas Adidas Outlet España . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. Zapatillas Adidas Baratas España . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. http://www.zapatillasadidasbaratas.es/ . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. Adidas España Outlet .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA. Zapatillas Adidas España Baratas .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. The Big Ten has four teams in the top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll during the regular season for the first time since 1960, and No. 24 Western Michigan is ranked for the first time in school history.No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 10 Nebraska joined No. 2 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan in the first 10 of the AP Top 25 released Monday. The poll release was delayed one day because two FBS games were postponed until Sunday due to Hurricane Matthew.Alabama remains No. 1. The Crimson Tide received 56 first-place votes. Ohio State and No. 3 Clemson each received two first-place votes. Michigan had one first-place vote.Washington stays at No. 5, as the top five went unchanged after all had decisive victories last weekend.Western Michigan is 6-0 for the first time since 1941 and is in position to contend for a spot in a New Years Six bowl. The Broncos already have beaten two Big Ten teams (Northwestern and Illinois).This season has continued as a steady rise for the Broncos since coach P.J. Fleck -- who at 35 is the second-youngest head coach in the FBS -- took over in 2013 and went 1-11.dddddddddddd WMU was 8-5 each of the past two seasons, reaching bowl games in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history.Joining Western Michigan as newly ranked teams are No. 23 Auburn, which beat Mississippi State 38-14, and No. 25 Navy, which upset Houston 46-40 on Saturday.?Houston fell seven spots to No. 13.Stanford, which lost 42-16 to Washington State, dropped out of the rankings for the first time since early in the 2015 season. Also falling out were North Carolina, which lost 34-3 at home to Virginia Tech, and Colorado, which lost 21-17 at USC.No. 14 Florida State jumped nine spots after beating Miami. No. 17 Virginia Tech moved up eight spots after beating North Carolina. The Hokies are ranked in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2013.Miami and Arkansas both dropped six spots, falling to No. 16 and No. 22, respectively.The Associated Press contributed to this report. ' ' '