Pretty damn good article...

 

Marlins gain wild-card ground with 7-6 win over Phillies

By Juan C. Rodriguez

Staff Writer

Posted July 28 2003

 

For perhaps the first time all season, Juan Pierre had nowhere to run.

 

They came at him from every angle Sunday. A wave of teammates spilled from the dugout. A smaller group converged on him after receiving Miguel Cabrera at the plate. Todd Hollandsworth approached from the base paths.

 

When they reached him, the Marlins punctuated their series-sweeping 7-6 win against the Phillies with multiple combinations of pokes, jabs and head pats.

 

"I came out all right," said Pierre, who went 3 for 5 and stole his 50th base. "A couple on the head there, but my head is small anyway. You can always take those beatings after a win like that."

 

The Marlins' 13th last-at-bat win also was their eighth in a row against the Phillies, whom they now trail by two games for the National League wild card. That's as close as the Marlins have been to a postseason berth all season.

 

"None of these games are easy," said manager Jack McKeon, after watching his team devour Phillies pitching for a .402 average throughout the three games. "It's tough to take three in a row from anybody ... We've got no guarantee of anything, but these guys believe they can do it. It's going to take a hell of a something to stop us."

 

The Phillies haven't pinpointed what that something might be. In losing eight in a row to the Marlins, including three at home July 4-6, they've been outscored 51-28. The winning streak matches the longest the Marlins have orchestrated against any one opponent in their history.

 

Extending it took a ninth-inning rally that Cabrera initiated with a double off the left-field wall against newly acquired reliever Mike Williams. With two out, Williams walked Hollandsworth before surrendering Pierre's winning hit.

 

For Williams, the loss was his second of the series.

 

"When Williams came in, it lifted our guys right up," said McKeon, relaying the general sentiment in the dugout. "This guy won't last. We'll get him quick."

 

The Marlins remained in position to get him thanks to a combined five scoreless innings from Michael Tejera and Ugueth Urbina. Each struck out four, and neither walked a batter.

 

Neither starter was around long. A model of efficiency during his complete-game victory over the Expos on Tuesday, Carl Pavano could not duplicate his effort Sunday. He walked a season-high five batters and gave back two leads.

 

Pavano, who left after surrendering six runs on seven hits through four innings, totaled 102 pitches. That's seven fewer than he amassed in beating the Expos in his previous outing.

 

Making his fourth start against the Phillies, Pavano allowed them more runs on Sunday than in his first three outings (182/3 innings) combined.

 

He pitched out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the second, but the Phillies tagged him for three runs in the third and fourth.

 

"For me it's disappointing, but we won, so I'm not going to dwell on it too much," Pavano said. "I threw some bad pitches. I thought some were borderline, but [home-plate umpire Paul Schrieber] was consistent all day. That's all you can ask."

 

Counterpart Kevin Millwood's afternoon wasn't much better. Staked to leads of 3-2 and 6-4, he could not get out of the fourth. Pinch hitter Ramon Castro and Luis Castillo each had RBI-extra base hits to tie the game before Millwood gave way to the bullpen.

 

The Marlins scored at least one run in each of the first four innings, including two in the third on Mike Lowell's 29th homer.

 

Lowell's 440-foot blast to left-center extended his RBI-streak to a franchise-record eight in a row. He shares the mark with Gary Sheffield (1994), Moises Alou (1997) and Pudge Rodriguez, who did it from June 25-July 1.

 

In addition, Lowell can boast an eight-game hitting streak during which he's batting .448 (13 for 29) with two homers and 12 RBI.

 

Sunday's shot tied Lowell with Cardinals teammates Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds for second-most in the National League behind Barry Bonds (33).

 

"If we forget about [the Marlins], they'll come back and get us," Millwood said. "Obviously, we're being chased right now."

 

Good Article...

 

DAVE HYDE

Marlins GM mulls his next trick

Published July 28, 2003

 

 

Gradually, almost incrementally, but certainly with regularity over the last month, baseball fans across South Florida have begun suspecting Marlins General Manager Admin Beinfest actually knows what he's doing.

 

This is no doubt a public transformation as drastic as what, say, Robin Williams underwent in Mrs. Doubtfire. But it's not just because the Marlins are surging, the playoffs are a possibility and the wild-card-leading Phillies were swept over the weekend.

 

It's also Mark Redman for Gary Knotts.

 

And Pudge Rodriguez for that hotly debated $10 million.

 

It's Beinfest pulling 72-year-old Jack McKeon out of managerial mothballs, stabilizing the bullpen by getting Ugueth Urbina and a half-dozen other decisions, big and small, including the mother-of-all-payroll dumps that creatively sent Charles Johnson and Preston Wilson to Colorado over the winter to introduce the Beinfestian term, "payroll flexibility." Which also looks increasingly smarter.

 

Suddenly, the Marlins aren't just in a playoff race. Beinfest faces a classic playoff-race dilemma: Does he trade for a left-field veteran or count on rookie Miguel Cabrera to keep coming through like he did all weekend, right to the end Sunday, when he doubled in the ninth and scored the winning run?

 

Cabrera was hugged by teammates afterward, surrounded by reporters and photographers, and he showed a veteran's poise by not smiling too much about this weekend, when he threw a runner out at the plate for the fourth time and lifted his batting average to .261.

 

This finish touched off telling and dueling scenes on opposite sides of Pro Player Stadium. On one side, Phillies manager Admin Bowa was being asked why the reliever added to bolster his bullpen, Mike Williams, blew his second game this weekend while Urbina notched Sunday's win.

 

"How can I get mad at a guy when he gets the ball hit off the end of the bat?" Bowa asked, referring to Juan Pierre's winning hit.

 

The last thing he wants to do is panic now. It's just late July. But on the Marlins' side of the stadium, the brass was meeting behind closed doors no doubt to discuss a possible trade for a veteran left fielder. Who is available. What it would cost. If it was necessary. That sort of thing.

 

That's how the day ended, too, with the door closed and the question looming like Thursday's trade deadline. And, I don't know about you, but if the candidates are the likes of Rondell White and Reggie Sanders, I hope they stick with the kid, Cabrera.

 

The safe decision is to get a veteran, a known commodity. Get White (.273, 16 HRs) from San Diego or Sanders (.254, 17 HRs) from Pittsburgh. They aren't great. But they're consistent, proven, and they won't be awed by a playoff-punching August and September.

 

Who knows what Cabrera will do in that atmosphere? He just turned 20. He is up one week, down the next. But there's a upside in Cabrera that can't be measured, and he's already showing large glimpses of it.

 

The equal question is whether Beinfest sees something else this team needs beyond just numbers. Do they need a Darren Daulton-type, a leader who cemented the '97 champions? And is such a player available?

 

Urbina, with the fresh view of an outsider, says: "We have everything we need to make the playoffs. I don't see any holes. Everything we need is right here."

 

Of course, they could use a left-handed power bat. And, if these were the Yankees, Beinfest could fill that by trading for Pittsburgh's Brian Giles, monster contract and all. But the Marlins don't have that luxury, and so Beinfest's decision is tougher. He already has shown an ability to mesh a lineup, and a clubhouse, on a limited payroll in a way few expected.

 

No one, for example, could have expected Mike Lowell to have 29 home runs by now or Alex Gonzalez to have had that torrid first half. But Beinfest believed in the offense when few others (raising my hand) did. He thought they'd score enough runs when few others (raising my hand again) thought it could. And, yes, he saw Rodriguez cementing the lineup when others (yes, hand up again) thought the money could be better spent elsewhere.

 

"I thought we had four players who would hit 20 home runs," he said.

 

Look: Lowell (who hit No. 29 Sunday), Derrek Lee (22), Rodriguez (14), Gonzalez (12) and Juan Encarnacion (12) are providing enough pop that this team will shatter the '97 Marlins home-run total. And runs scored. Who would have said that in the spring?

 

Now the question is a left fielder. And the question is whether Cabrera is ready for a playoff haul. But there's one thing the question isn't about, not anymore. It's not about Beinfest.

couldn't just hear Hyde saying under his breath "no mas, no mas" as he surrendered and jumped on the bandwagon. :brigginbounce

Urbina, with the fresh view of an outsider, says: "We have everything we need to make the playoffs. I don't see any holes. Everything we need is right here."

Damn good articles. Good find!

 

I particularly love the Urbina quote. :w00t

I like that second article, the media is believing in Beifest thats a good sign.

I particularly love the Urbina quote. :w00t

I particularly like the McKeon quote:

 

"When Williams came in, it lifted our guys right up," said McKeon, relaying the general sentiment in the dugout. "This guy won't last. We'll get him quick."

 

Wow. He really took a shot at Mike Williams. Isn't it great when he can do that and get away with it, because we're winning? :w00t

Yea it is. what about that Milwood quote: "If we forget about [the Marlins], they'll come back and get us," Millwood said. "Obviously, we're being chased right now."

man, this bandwagon is getting crowded, good thing people like us are driving.......

Great article, especially when he says "raises hand" to not believing the offense produce the way it has. Takes a lot for a journalist in this market to admit wrong.

It's also Mark Redman for Gary Knotts.

(and Nate Robertson)

 

Anyway, that was probably the best trade we made during the offseason. I would have considered the C.J./Wilson trade better, except Wilson made the All-Star team. However, this is likely because he gets to play 81 games in Coors Field.

(and Nate Robertson)

 

Anyway, that was probably the best trade we made during the offseason. I would have considered the C.J./Wilson trade better, except Wilson made the All-Star team. However, this is likely because he gets to play 81 games in Coors Field.

I really do feel so good for Preston...

 

He's finally earning his big contract, and replacinf Admin Walker as the big bat OFer in Colorado...

(and Nate Robertson)

 

Anyway, that was probably the best trade we made during the offseason. I would have considered the C.J./Wilson trade better, except Wilson made the All-Star team. However, this is likely because he gets to play 81 games in Coors Field.

And Rob Henkel.