Florida Today jumps on bandwagon

Posted August 15, 200321 yr

http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/...storyA9121A.htm

Fame isn't going to Willis' head

By Scott Brown

FLORIDA TODAY

MIAMI -- Dontrelle Willis hasn't exactly capitalized on the fame that has made him an ESPN The Magazine cover boy and the new face of the Florida Marlins (not to mention a badly needed fresh one for baseball).

The most he has treated himself since bursting onto the scene in May -- and evoking memories of Fernando Mania -- is the occasional dinner at a nice restaurant. Willis said he doesn't even have a girlfriend.

"You really can't have a social life," he said, "when you don't leave the house."

This much is clear just six months after the 21-year-old left-hander joined the Marlins: About the only one not going gaga over Dontrelle Willis is Dontrelle Willis.

"The media, that's your job, but I think people are putting more on (his success) than it should be," Willis said. "I'm still going to make mistakes."

He made more than a few Monday night against Los Angeles.

The light-hitting Dodgers tagged him for seven earned runs in a 9-3 victory.

Willis' record still stood at 11-3 (with a 3.10 ERA) after the loss, but he is just 2-2 with a 6.48 ERA since the All-Star break.

"We didn't expect him to go 9-1 in the second half," Florida manager Jack McKeon said. "He's a good kid, he's picked the club up, but you've got to remember this is not a one-man team."

If Willis is concerned about the recent rough stretch, he didn't show it the day after the Dodgers chased him in the third inning.

He remained as approachable to reporters as he is to batboys, and came across as just a big kid -- not one of the next big things in sports, as he has frequently been billed.

If the Marlins ever forget to pay their electric bill -- and don't forget, this is the same organization that not so long ago ran out of hot dogs on Opening Day -- Willis' smile could provide some serious wattage.

It is as noticeable as the black socks he pulls to his knees and probably endears him to his teammates as much as unsolicited acts like supplying treats on road trips.

When asked what "goodies," as starting pitcher Mark Redman calls them, Willis brings them, Redman said, "uh, beer."

And to think if Willis had arrived a year earlier, he wouldn't have been of legal age to buy beer.

But his arrival came just in time as far as the Marlins are concerned.

Since Willis joined the team in early May, Florida has gone from left-for-dead to National League wild-card contender.

"I think it's great what he brings to the ballpark," said Redman, who is 10-6 with a 2.97 ERA, "and how everyone is jumping on Dontrelle, D-Train, whatever they want to call him, for the ride."

Not everyone has hopped on that bandwagon.

"I don't read into it too much," Willis said of his hype. "If I win or I lose, I go out there and play hard. When you play hard and try your best, what can you do?"

If the 6-foot-4, 195-pounder rights himself, he will put himself in line for a number of postseason awards, including National League Rookie of the Year.

But Willis shrugged off such talk.

Politely, of course.

"I don't really care (about awards)," he said. "I'm here for my team."

He has been for quite a while now.

and....

http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/...storyA9144A.htm

McKeon has Florida in the midst of a pennant race

By Scott Brown

FLORIDA TODAY

MIAMI -- The crowd -- 12,025, and that's paid attendance -- is not great for a team in a pennant race. But it's not bad, either, considering it is a Tuesday night and rookie sensation Dontrelle Willis has as much chance of playing as Gary Coleman does of becoming California's next governor.

There are reminders everywhere that Pro Player Stadium belongs to the Dolphins, from the orange and aqua seats inside to the statue of Don Shula outside and even the road that wraps around the stadium, Dan Marino Boulevard.

There is, however, a noticeable energy among the fans that have come to watch the Florida Marlins play another meaningful August game for the first time since 1997. A buzz usually reserved for the beloved Dolphins.

When Dodgers slugger Jeromy Burnitz blasts a second-inning home run, fans start chanting, "Throw it back!" When Ugueth Urbina whiffs Burnitz with two men on base for the final out in the seventh inning of a tie game, the kid wearing the Ricky Williams jersey behind home plate exchanges rapid-fire high-fives with the person sitting next to him.

It is premature to say pennant fever has gripped South Florida. But folks down here aren't just talking about who should start at quarterback for the Dolphins. The Marlins have elbowed their way back into South Florida sporting consciousness the only way possible: winning.

Left for dead after injuries wrecked the starting rotation and the Marlins stumbled to a 16-22 start, Florida has gone 50-33 since Jack McKeon replaced Jeff Torborg as manager in May. The Marlins, not so long ago as attractive a draw at Pro Player as Weird Al Yankovic, have also emerged as one of the front-runners in the National League wild-card race.

"We're actually the first story on the local news," All-Star third baseman Mike Lowell said. "This is a Dolphins town, but hey we're doing some good stuff and they always said if we have a winning team, fans would start coming out."

They aren't coming out in mass just yet.

Average attendance is 14,469 -- less than half of what the Braves draw (31,025) per home game.

The Marlins already have surpassed last year's attendance of 813,111 -- they are right under 900,000 for the season -- and they still have 19 more home games.

The reason management should be optimistic fans will keep coming out after school starts: Florida has shown no signs of fading.

Tuesday, third-string catcher Ramon Castro, who had just 39 at-bats going into the game, hit a walk-off home run in the 13th inning as the Marlins beat the Dodgers 5-4. A night later, an equally unlikely hero emerged when little-used infielder Mike Mordecai beat Los Angeles with an 11th-ininng home run.

The 2-1 win allowed Florida to stay a half-game in front of Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race (the teams were tied after the Marlins' 6-4 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday).

"The way we're playing right now," catcher Ivan 'Pudge' Rodriguez said, "we can play with anybody."

No quit in Marlins

There were a lot of things noteworthy about Tuesday's win.

The Marlins overcame deficits three different times; they snapped a two-game losing streak; they won despite losing Rodriguez in the fifth inning (he was ejected after slamming down his head gear following a missed call at home plate).

Perhaps most telling of the dramatic win it is didn't elicit much more than a shrug from the players the following day.

"It's not like it's the first time it happened," closer Braden Looper said of the come-from-behind victory. "I think it just proves what we're made of, that we never quit."

Indeed, 15 of Florida's 66 wins have come in its final at-bat.

What's more, if the Marlins had any quit in them, they would have laid down in May.

The team lost ace A.J. Burnett (reconstructive elbow surgery) for the season and fellow starters Mark Redman (broken thumb) and Josh Beckett (sprained elbow) followed him to the disabled list.

When McKeon, 72, replaced Torborg in the middle of May, it came across as management getting someone to babysit the kids for the rest of the season.

A funny thing happened.

Willis, who had never pitched above Double-A, replaced Beckett in the rotation and went 9-1 in his first 10 decisions.

The 21-year-old lefthander with the quirky delivery did much more than keep the rotation afloat.

He became a full-blown phenomenon -- Florida has averaged over 25,000 fans in his last five starts -- and actually got people talking about the Marlins.

When Jorge Mayorga goes to games that Willis pitches, he said it takes him two hours to get back to his Royal Palm Beach home. It normally takes about an hour and 20 minutes, he said.

Not that Mayorga, 33, is complaining.

"It's really nice to (see TV news) lead sports with Dontrelle," Mayorga said. "It does feel like a pennant race because everybody's looking at the scoreboard to see what the Phillies are doing."

Upgrading, not unloading

There were no closed-door meetings, players say, no one victory that got the season headed north.

A significant moment did occur on July 11 -- as much for the message it sent to the players as it did the fans.

The Marlins traded three prospects, including former No. 1 overall pick Adrian Gonzalez to the Rangers for closer Ugueth Urbina.

Management was widely criticized for giving up so much for what may well amount to a three-month rental. But it sure beat criticism the organization heard in past years, that it was giving up established players because it did not want to pay them.

"At the All-Star break, it seems like we're the team that is getting rid of guys and we actually upgraded," said Lowell, who has blossomed into one of the National League's top clean-up hitters. "That was a big thing and the positives snowballed."

Going into Thursday, the Marlins were only seventh out of 16 National League teams in both ERA (4.00) and runs scored (560).

But the lineup that is loaded with speed has been solid. There are no easy outs, with No. 8 hitter Alex Gonzalez hitting .273 with 13 home runs and 61 RBI.

Willis has been mortal since the All-Star break (2-2 with a 6.48 ERA), but Redman is among the league leaders in ERA (2.97) and Beckett, Brad Penny and Carl Pavano round out one of the most underrated rotations in the league.

"There's not been one of us that hasn't been pitching well," Redman said.

As a result, the Marlins aren't just playing out the string right now as opposed to past seasons.

"One of the best feelings in the world, coming to the park with meaning at this time of year," said leadoff hitter Juan Pierre, who leads the majors with 56 stolen bases. "It's hot, it's muggy, all that, but you're eager to come to the park every day, knowing that you're right in the hunt of the postseason."

The problem some might see with the Marlins: Aside from Rodriguez and Urbina to a degree, none of the regulars have ever been in this position before.

But if the players are tight, they sure aren't showing it.

A carefree, children-at-play atmosphere permeates the clubhouse, and with good reason.

Playing games that mean something this late in the season is, well, fun.

"None of us have ever played games that meant crap," said Beckett, the former Brevard County Manatee. "We're going to be around for a while. I'm not saying we're too young to play here because we shouldn't be here if we're too young to play here. We are young and we're going to keep getting better."

Will they stay together?

There is a question as to how long these Marlins are going to be together.

All-Star second baseman Luis Castillo and Rodriguez are free agents at the end of the season. Lowell and first baseman Derrek Lee are eligible for arbitration, making them de facto free agents.

Florida will have to pay them or move them.

And that is the great unknown surrounding this team.

A baseball-only stadium does not appear to be on the horizon and owner Jeffrey Loria reportedly is losing big money this season.

Loria approved "special" money for general manager Admin Beinfest to sign Rodriguez to a one-year, $10 million contract and allowed him to add more salary in July with the acquisition of Urbina.

How much he will dole out in the offseason remains to be seen.

Mindful of former owner Wayne Huizienga dismantling the team that won the 1997 World Series, Mayorga smiled and said, "you hope" when asked if management will keep the current team together.

Said Beckett, "Yeah, there's a concern, but you know? That's the business aspect. We've got to deal with now."

And right now the Florida Marlins, too often a punchline, are knee deep in a pennant race.

So forgive Beckett and his teammates if they're too caught up in the moment to ponder the future.

"In the past, we'd be sitting here and already be thinking about next year," Looper said. "Now, it seems like everything is magnified, and you come to the park every day and feel like you can win."

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