Teams in the thick of a pennant race have to be on their “A” game at all times, because if you aren’t the window of opportunity could slam shut in your face. Last night’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals was a perfect case in point. St. Louis came into Monday’s game in Miami with their worst pitcher taking the mound, Joel Pineiro. Pineiro has a 5.05 ERA and hasn’t won a game since July 8th, well the Marlins fixed that last night, losing 4-2.

Anibal Sanchez did his part for the Marlins, pitching 7 innings giving up 3 runs and striking out 8. The rest of his team just let him down. Several times the Marlins had opportunities to score and squandered them. In the 6th Wes Helms missed the sign for a hit and run and Dan Uggla was caught stealing, though replays later showed the call to be incorrect. In the 9th Uggla led off with a walk, but was again caught stealing, this time as a result of a lapse in mental focus. Uggla thought he saw the sign to steal, when in fact he hadn’t been given that sign. Even worse, in the 8th inning, trailing 3-2, the Marlins really did themselves in. Hanley Ramirez led off with a single, took 2nd base when OF Rick Ankiel mis-played the ball, and took 3rd when Ankiel’s throw to 2nd was way off. But with Ramirez on 3rd and no outs, Jeremy Hermida grounded out to short, Josh Willingham struck out looking, and Mike Jacobs flew out to left.

The only ray of hope from this game, all its mental errors and poor performances aside, is that things are still as they were on Sunday in the NL East. The New York Mets’ bullpen had a meltdown against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, losing 7-5, and the Philadelphia Phillies comeback attempt fell short as they lost 8-6 to the Los Angeles Dodgers. While the Marlins didn’t lose ground in the NL East, they lost the opportunity to leap frog the Mets and move into second, in addition to falling 6 games off the pace in the NL Wild Card.

Things don’t get easier as the Cardinals send 13 game winner Kyle Lohse to the mound tonight, but the Marlins are talented youngsters who can get the job done. They just need to regain their mental edge and not lose sight of that sweet playoff berth.