ESPN

August 9, 200322 yr

Just thought i let you know Mike Lowell is in the Front of Baseball part of Espn.com....

[Tim Kurkjian]No steal here: Marlins right in thick of wild-card race

By Tim Kurkjian

ESPN The Magazine

From the back of the room, men had to stifle the urge to laugh, which is hard to do when you're around Marlins manager Jack McKeon, who is hilarious. Only this time, he was serious.

It was late May, the Marlins were stumbling along, several games under .500, when McKeon said, "Let's see what happens when we get 10 games over. And we'll get there.''

[Mike Lowell]

In this his fifth full year in the majors, Mike Lowell is having his best season ever.

At the time, it seemed ridiculous. They were too young, their best pitcher (A.J. Burnett) was out for the season, their best player (Mike Lowell ) appeared destined to be traded, and their offense was built around a bunch of guys trying to steal bases, which simply doesn't work in today's game.

But on the morning of Aug. 8, the Marlins are 62-52, pulling them into the National League wild-card race. After a 43-23 stretch, no one is laughing at the Marlins anymore.

There are many reasons for the turnaround, led, of course, by the recall of Dontrelle Willis, who not only is 11-2, but has pushed Josh Beckett and Brad Penny to pitch better. Then there was the Marlins' announcement that Lowell would not be traded, brightening the spirits of everyone around the club. Then there was the trade for reliever Ugueth Urbina.

Finally, instead of unloading players in July, the Marlins were acquiring them.

"The first meeting I had with the players, I told them they could make the playoffs,'' McKeon said. "I saw this team two years ago, I knew there was a lot of talent here. I just told them to dig down deeper, to bear down, to not be greedy and to play unselfish baseball.''

And that meant not trying to steal so much. When McKeon took over on May 11, the Marlins were 16-22. They were averaging 1.95 stolen-base attempts per game, by far the highest total in the major leagues. A bunch of Marlins, including first baseman Derrek Lee, who is 6-foot-5, were running on their own. And they ran themselves out of a game or two.

"We were trying to steal a pennant, like Charlie Finley did in the '70s,'' said McKeon, who with the Marlins is in his fifth stint as a big-league manager. "We were trying to steal third when we were three runs down. I said, 'Whoa.' We're not the Red Sox. We don't have six or seven guys who can hit a three-run homer. We need to take advantage of our big guns. We can't run into outs. We run now when it is important.''

Center fielder Juan Pierre, who leads the majors with 53 steals, is the only Marlins player who has a green light. Second baseman Luis Castillo, who has 16 steals, can run, but he rarely risks stopping a rally with a caught stealing with Pudge Rodriguez and Lowell hitting behind him.

? This is the most enjoyable team that I've taken over. These kids are dying for information. They're dying to get better. We've got some great veterans, and the kids are starting to turn the corner. I've never been around a group of guys with a better attitude than these guys. It's really fun. I feel 20 years younger being around these guys. ?

? Jack McKeon, Marlins manager

That strategy is sound in today's game. The stolen base is no longer the weapon it used to be. Baseball in 2003 is a power game, not a speed game.

Every pitcher today uses a slide step to quicken his delivery; 20 years ago, virtually no one used a slide step. First-base coaches carry stopwatches to time a pitcher's delivery to the plate, and a catcher's throw to second. If they're quick, they don't even think about sending the runner.

The risk of making an out is far greater than the reward of advancing 90 feet. The Marlins have figured this out. At one point this year, they were on pace to join the 1949 Dodgers, the '58 White Sox and the '62 Dodgers as the only teams in history to finish with twice as many steals as any other team in the league. Now it appears they will just lead the league by a healthy margin.

That's partly because they kept Lowell, who has 30 homers and 92 RBI.

"The day we announced that,'' McKeon said of the club's decision to keep Lowell, "it energized us. It lifted us.''

So did the acquisition of Urbina from the Rangers.

"We knew the team wasn't going to be torn apart,'' McKeon said. "The players knew then that management believed in them. The fans of South Florida appreciated that, too.''

The Marlins have become a fun team to watch, and not just on the nights that Willis pitches. They play with great enthusiasm. Attendance is growing, as is belief by the players.

"This is the most enjoyable team that I've taken over,'' the 73-year-old McKeon said. "These kids are dying for information. They're dying to get better. We've got some great veterans, and the kids are starting to turn the corner.

"I've never been around a group of guys with a better attitude than these guys. It's really fun. I feel 20 years younger being around these guys.''

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