Giancarlo Stanton on Marlins: 'The fire is not there'

A frustrated Giancarlo Stanton was critical of the struggling Marlins, saying that they are "not really giving ourselves a chance" to win and that "the fire is not there" following Miami's latest loss.

Stanton homered for the second straight game in Friday's 4-1 loss to the New York Mets but acknowledged that the Marlins need to pick up their intensity and consistency.

"We're not really giving ourselves a chance, it feels like," the All-Star slugger said after the loss. "We've got a positive vibe, but [something] is just not there.

"The fire is not there, it seems like. You always want to have it. But when you're out there and it's game time, it's just nothing there."

Miami enters Saturday's contest against New York with a 3-8 record following an active offseason that included Stanton's record-setting $325 million contract.

Despite a revamped offense that includes newcomers Dee Gordon, Martin Prado and Michael Morse, the Marlins have a .226 team batting average and just six home runs -- the fourth-lowest total in the majors -- over their first 11 games.

"The game is nine innings," Stanton said. "It's not two, three. It doesn't matter if it's the fifth through the seventh, or the seventh through the ninth. It's not two innings -- it's nine. We're not playing nine."

Stanton broke the Marlins' career homer record with his 155th on Thursday. His opposite-field drive on Friday marked the fifth straight game against the Mets that he has homered,matching New York's mark for an opponent shared by Hank Aaron and Ryan Howard.

"Yeah, it's great,'' Stanton said sarcastically. "We are still doing terrible.''

The Marlins will be hard-pressed to break out of their slump over the weekend against the surging Mets, who have won six straight games and send reigning NL Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom and ace Matt Harvey to the mound on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

"There is no campfire to sit around and reminisce on things," Stanton said. "We've got to play every night -- we've got to go. The work is there -- the process, we need to pick up.

"We've got to get it done. There is no, 'Hey, this is going to make us click now. This is going to do it for us now.' We've got to go. There is no time for that."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.