sorry if this was posted somewhere, but on the ESPN Baseball home page its all about the Marlins, including Gammons backpeddling on his criticism

 

LINK

heres the article, not bad.

 

Marlins: Wild card within reach

 

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By Peter Gammons

Special to ESPN.com

 

 

July 6

 

 

When Mike Lowell this week found himself surrounded by Jeffrey Loria, David Samson, Admin Beinfest and Mike Hill -- in full view of the media -- and was promised that he would not be traded, cynics believed it to be not only a PR move but a maneuver to put Lowell into a position that if he were to decline a long-term contract offer, he would make himself the mercenary bad guy. That's a rook-to-queen's-three move known in Philadelphia as a 'Rolen.'

 

 

Slugger Mike Lowell was highly coveted before the Marlins took him off the trade market.

 

 

But Loria insists that this isn't so. Yes, he did tell Felipe Alou that he would manage ad infinitum, then soon thereafter fired him. No, Loria says he never told Cliff Floyd he wouldn't be traded. As for Lowell, Loria says, "we are in this for the long haul and he is a major piece of our future."

 

Look, should the Marlins fall out of the race between now and July 31 -- or even Aug. 31, given waivers -- there is a chance that they would trade Luis Castillo and fifth-year arbitration case Derrek Lee. "However," said Loria, "we fully believe we're in this thing. We believe we can get to the playoffs. We're not far back in the wild card."

 

Lowell is a midseason MVP candidate, and what is falling in place with Jack McKeon is a number of confluences: the impact of Dontrelle Willis, the arrival of Monster Miguel Cabrera, the return to health of Mark Redman and Josh Beckettand the increasing electricity of Juan Pierre. Early on, the loss of A.J. Burnett, Redman and Beckett weakened what appeared to be Florida's strength, but Willis came out of Double-A and not only give the Marlins a hot starter, he give the franchise an identity. The local Fox TV ratings for Willis' start Wednesday night were 5.4, best since the clincher in '97. "We're starting to feel a surge in interest," said Loria. "We know there are problems here in terms of the ballpark and past history, but we're making progress.

 

"Our attendance is up 30 percent. Our corporate participation numbers are growing [more] than anyone could [have] imagined. We had a long way to go to undo what was done before us, but we are working at it."

 

Not only that, but Loria insists that he will get a new ballpark built. "We are getting there, and we're keeping it under the radar screen because we have to. But I am so encouraged. I really believe that in this market -- the gateway to South America -- that we not going to be a small-market team forever."

 

When the Marlins went into Boston the last weekend of June, they began a 34-game stretch against teams over .500. If they make it through that stretch and get into August in sight of the wild card, then Loria will have a chance to do something precisely the opposite of a fire sale. "If we have a chance to make the playoffs," he said, "we'll try to go get what we need to win."

I posted this article already...

DT...2 people already posted the same article. :lol

Sounds promising. Loria said all the right things, at least.

yeah, DT but my post is better, um just because it is and everyone likes me and uh, yeah. :lol

 

then again yours does have many more responses :thumbup

Yes, all of a sudden, people outside of Miami realized that there's a team still playing down here, thanks to Willis and Lowell.

yeah, DT but my post is better, um just because it is and everyone likes me and uh, yeah. :lol

 

then again yours does have many more responses :thumbup

of course, (Chef type voice) my posts tend to be more sensual, and women can't resist it. :cool

 

 

 

:shifty