Fans show zeal for rookie's start

COMMENTARY / JEFF MILLER

jamiller@herald.com

 

 

Jeff Miller

 

 

 

 

The six guys in the right-field bleachers wearing the overalls and conductor caps and holding up the giant cardboard train were something.

 

So were the growing number of people in ''Willis'' jerseys and the folks walking around with their caps slid slightly sideways, Dontrelle-style.

 

But the best measure of ''D-Train'' delirium, of the mushrooming interest in a baseball team that a month ago still was drawing gatherings more than crowds, was the man sitting to the first-base side of home plate, 15 rows up.

 

Yeah, the blind guy.

 

It's true. The Marlins, who have struggled for years to lure fans who can actually see them, on Sunday attracted a man barely able to distinguish a baseball from a Buick.

 

''From this close, I can tell there's a batter and a catcher down there,'' Beau Broten said. ``I can see when the guys run, too, but I can't see the ball. If they start moving too fast, I can't see anything.''

 

This was Broten's first game at Pro Player Stadium. He took Tri-Rail from his West Palm Beach home and a $12 cab ride to his seat in the middle of what was supposed to be another fuzzy chapter of Willis' fairy tale.

 

But then it started pouring and there was thunder and lightning, and the Cubs had not even unleashed their unnatural disaster yet. A bunch of Chicago left turns later, Michael Tejera was pitching and the day's highlight was that 10,000 fans got to take home a bobblehead of one of the Baltimore Orioles.

 

OK, so maybe Jeff Conine once was Mr. Marlin, but the franchise favorite today is Willis, who only has performed the impossible by making this team meaningful again. Why else would a man like Broten have bothered?

 

''It wouldn't have mattered to me if this was a complete washout,'' said the 28-year-old, who since birth has been blind in his left eye and has blurry tunnel vision in his right. ``I'm absolutely enjoying this.''

 

Willis also was the reason those wacky Marcello boys stayed up until 3 a.m. Sunday painting their cardboard steam engine. No, this was not a small project, as evidenced by that extra trip to Home Depot. Their cutout ended up being so large it needed its own van to be transported to the park.

 

The four brothers from Royal Palm Beach and their two buddies also dressed like genuine engineers, albeit engineers from a train at a petting zoo.

 

''We bought the hats at a hobby shop and went to Kmart for the overalls,'' Matt Marcello, 22, said. ``We figured if we were going to do this we were going to go all out. We wanted to show everyone there are real fans here.''

 

Willis noticed his love train, as did most everyone else, especially when it choo-chooed down the aisle after he struck out Eric Karros to end the first inning. ''Pretty cool'' was how Willis described the homemade show of allegiance.

 

Pretty stunning also would have worked, seeing how barely two months ago Dontrelle Willis was as anonymous as most of the Carolina Mudcats. Now he has to check into hotels under an assumed name to dodge the attention.

 

''I'm not sure what to make of it,'' Willis said. ``It's good the fans are coming out, train or no train. I just wish we had played a better game for them.''

 

A total of 25,574 showed up, and, unlike most previous visits by the Cubs, the majority seemed to be honestly pulling for the Marlins. It wasn't until late, sometime between Sammy Sosa's attempt to dent Hialeah with a 484-foot cannon ball and Kevin Butler's missed extra point, that the mood turned as Chicago as deep dish.

 

Baseball games aren't often lost by scores like 16-2 and, in fact, the Marlins never had been beaten this badly at home. But these exploding cigars can happen, particularly when a rookie is the one who has been pulling the pranks.

 

The unfortunate thing for the Marlins wasn't that Willis finally melted down; it was that there were so many people here to witness it.

 

''We didn't give 'em a good game,'' manager Jack McKeon said. 'Just one of those days. It's gonna happen to everyone. Doesn't matter if you're Cy Young. You're going to get hit around. But sometimes this is good. He can rebound now and be the old `D-Train' again.''

 

That's what the Marlins are counting on today. Based on how Willis has handled everything so far, why wouldn't he deal with this situation just as expertly? Anyone can see how that could happen.

 

Even a blind man.

 

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sport...all/6348107.htm

Nice piece. Good to see the fans really getting into the games, too.