Don't Look Now, But Here Come the Marlins!

Well, I been movin' down to Florida.
And I'm gonna bowl me a perfect game.
Well I'm gonna cut off my leg down in Florida, child.
And I'm gonna dance one-legged off in the rain."
Butthole Surfers, "Moving to Florida


You can call it official now. You can roll out the barrels, the fat is in the fire, jump on the bandwagon and start the party train because with the Florida Marlins concluding a three game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks last night in an outstanding pitcher's duel, the Marlins have now won six straight games to push them 10 games over .500. Since May 23rd, the Marlins are 40-20, the best in baseball, and are perched a mere game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League wildcard spot. So don't look now ladies and gentlemen, but the Florida Marlins have arrived!

They say there was a palatable playoff-like atmosphere stretching itself out as 37,735 fans filled Pro Player Stadium for last night's pitching duel between the 21 year old pitching sensation of the year, Dontrelle Willis and 5-time Cy Young winner, Randy Johnson. Before the biggest crowd in two seasons, Willis, otherwise known as the D Train, outdueled The Big Unit in winning his 10th decision against only two losses this year by giving up only 4 hits over 7 innings while striking out 8.

While this wasn't the Yankees versus Red Sox by any stretch of the imagination, it was a series between two of the hottest teams in the Major Leagues and two of the teams in the thick of the running for the National League wildcard. Going into last night's game, the Marlins were 0-6 in 9 tries against Randy Johnson and while he was almost untouchable for six innings, the rookie who is only three months removed from pitching in AA ball was the one who prevailed in the end, batter by batter, inning by inning.

"It was awesome," said Willis, who has pitched in front of an average crowd of 28,012 over his past four home starts. "If you're not a fan of baseball by watching that game, then you're not going to be a fan. It was a great pitching matchup. It was one of those things where it was just fun to watch, even if you're a spectator or a player."

If you happen to be one of what must only be a handful of Marlins fans, almost every game since Jack McKeon took over the helm has been fun to watch. McKeon is the venerable, in-your-face, occasionally obstreperous old man who took over the Marlins on May 11th, when they were 16-22 and going nowhere fast just two days after they'd called up a kid from the AA Carolina Mudcats named Dontrelle Willis to fill a hole in the Marlins' injury-depleted rotation. Since then, the Marlins are 43-28.

But this sort of reclamation project is McKeon's speciality. He took over a 16-30 Padres team from Larry Bowa in 1988 and went 67-48 the rest of the way. The Reds were 43-56 when he was installed in place of Ray Knight in 1997. Under his direction, Cincinnati closed the season by going 33-30. As recently as 2000, only a year removed from winning Manager of the Year, he led the Reds to an 85-77 record before being fired to make way for the disasterous reign of Bob Boone. He was even Hall of Famer George Brett's first manager, all the way back in 1973.

McKeon, at 72, is the third oldest manager in the history of the Major Leagues behind Casey Stengel, who was 75 when he stopped managing the New York Mets in 1965 and Connie Mack, who was 88 when he finally hung it up in 1950 after managing the Philadelphia A's to a miserable 52-102 record. But McKeon has lost none of his fire.

''I'm not trying to be a bad guy,'' he said. "But I'm going to ride you. I'm going to get on you. Who the [heck] knows how long I'll be here. But I want to leave these guys with something. I'm having a ball, and I want to take this team to the next level.''

The next level might just be a winning record, something the Marlins have achieved only once in their history, in 1997 when they won the World Championship. At their current pace, they are only three games behind the pace of those 1997 Marlins, the last time they rode a hot rookie pitcher (Livan Hernandez) to stardom.

''Somehow, you just knew that was going to happen,'' closer Braden Looper said of this 3-1, series-sweeping victory over Arizona and Randy Johnson. "I don't think I've had a feeling like this since college. Or maybe ever.''

And even backup catcher Mike Redmond seems to have caught Marlins fever, remarking that "We didn't have this attitude three months ago. But we have the feeling now that it's not if we'll win but when will we do it.''

If it does happen to be the Phillies that the Marlins end up chasing, Marlins fans might be able to rest a little easier. They have won 9 of 13 from the Phillies, including the last 8 games in a row, outscoring them during that span by a margin of 51-28. They have six more games against each other in September so there might be something exciting out of the National League East just yet.

*****

Meanwhile, in Mess Land, the Bergen Record, a substandard tabloid out of New Jersey most people wouldn't use to wipe their arses with, was desperately trying to sell its tawdry tripe by reporting wild rumors. First they announced that Mike Piazza, who isn't even playing yet, was so frustrated with the Mets current struggles and his possible to move to first base that he wanted out, citing unnamed sources close to the catcher. Then they reported that Tom Glavine had gone to Mets management and said he didn’t want Piazza to catch for him.

Who knows? Maybe with the Mess tormenting us with their ghastly play, hovering only 3 1/2 games behind the pathetic Padres for the worst record in the National League, a little controversy was necessary to stir up some fan interest. After all, while I like the Mess youth movement, I can hop the subway to Brooklyn and see the first place Cyclones play if I want to watch developing minor league players display their wares. It's only single A ball but hell, they're running along at a .714 clip in that New York-Penn League of theirs and it costs about a third of the price to watch young talent sort itself out at the professional level.

Still, you have to wonder, with Piazza's selfish reluctance to give up catching despite all the signs pointing to his defensive play being a huge detriment to the team, if the Mess wouldn't be better off seeing what his trade value is this off season. It's been nice not to have to listen to the whining and the controversy for the last several months since Piazza's been hurt. It's been a pleasure watching Vance Wilson, a catcher who can actually throw the ball to second base in less than three hops, handle things behind the plate, even if he is currently undergoing a hideous hitting slump that's seen his average drop from .307 in mid-June to .243 while getting only one hit in his last 40 at bats.

As for Glavine, the story of him complaining about Piazza isn't so far fetched, despite the vigorous denials from both him and his houseboy, Fred Wilpon. First of all, with Piazza behind the plate, all baserunners immediately advance to scoring position since even someone like Fat Mo, were he able to waddle on to the field, would be able to steal on Piazza. Secondly, although he hasn't succeeded at anything else all season, Glavine is number one in the league when it comes to whining and making excuses about why he can't pitch anymore. On Opening Day he was already warming up his excuses for failure when he complained that it was "too cold and windy" at Shea that day for him to feel his changeup with his fingers. Then it was a sore elbow, then it was all the fault of Questec and the mean old umpires who wouldn't give him a six lane highway wide strike zone anymore, now its a tender, precious little rib cage muscle. What's next, a low sperm count? The hilarious part of all of this is that Glavine insisted on having at least a guaranteed three year contract, with options for a fourth year, because with 242 career victories, he was only 58 wins away from the coveted 300 mark. The 300 mark? Can you imagine that? This guy will find 300 excuses before he ever finds 300 wins.

*****

Major League Baseball International is targeting March 2005 for the first ever World Cup of Baseball, top-ranking MLB officials said. The first World Cup would probably be played in the United States during a two-week period near the end of Spring Training, and it would include MLB's top players representing their native lands. Eight to 16 countries are projected to be included in the draw. You've really got to wonder about what a Domincan Republic-USA baseball World Cup final would be like. Here's a look at what the lineups might look like considering this year's play:

Domican Republic

1. Alfonso Soriano, 2B .281-24-59
2. Jose Reyes, SS .274-1-23
3. Albert Pujols 1b .372-29-98
4. Manny Ramirez .324-25-79
5. Sammy Sosa RF .300-23-65
6. Jose Guillen DH .337-23-63
7. Vladimir Guerrero CF .314-12-43
8. Tony Batista 3B .253-19-69
9. Miquel Olivo C .234-6-20

Starting Pitcher: Pedro Martinez 7-2 2.29

United States of America

1. Juan Pierre CF .304-0-29
2. Garrett Anderson LF .316-24-87
3. Gary Sheffield RF .325-26-84
4. Barry Bonds DH .328-33-68
5. Todd Helton 1B .350-22-85
6. Nomar Garciaparra SS .325-17-72
7. Scott Rolen 3B .285-22-73
8. Jason Varitek C .293-18-65
9. Michael Young 2B .320-9-53

Starting Pitcher: Jason Schmidt 11-4 2.44