JUPITER, Fla. (AP) – The baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint – unless you’re the Florida Marlins.
With the game’s two most prolific base stealers at the top of the lineup, the Marlins may be the fastest team in the majors, and they’ll try to swipe enough games to keep up with their homer-hitting NL East rivals.
In this era of record-setting sluggers, Florida’s emphasis on speed over power may be misguided. But as the few thousand fans who show up nightly at Pro Player Stadium will discover, the Marlins should be entertaining.
“It’s fun to watch speed,” Florida pitcher Josh Beckett says. “That speed is going to help you win those close games – the 2-1 and 3-2 games. I think that’s how it’s going to be, and I like that.”
The Marlins led the major leagues last season with 177 steals, and they’ll run even more this season with the addition of center fielder Juan Pierre. Second baseman Luis Castillo and Pierre finished 1-2 in stolen bases last year, and now they’ll bat 1-2 for Florida.
They’re hardly the only threats to run. Right fielder Juan Encarnacion (21 steals last year), utility infielder Andy Fox (31) and left fielder Todd Hollandsworth all have the green light from manager Jeff Torborg. Even first baseman Derrek Lee (19 steals) and catcher Pudge Rodriguez run well for their position.
Torborg, a catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers when they won with pitching and speed in the 1960s, wants his Marlins to play the same way. That means not just stealing bases, but running hard when the ball is put in play.
“I’d rather have them be aggressive and make a mistake than going station to station one base at a time,” he says. “We can’t win that way. We’ve got to go – first to third on a single, first to home on a ball in the alley.
“We’ve got to take chances. Just because we get thrown out and look bad sometimes and it takes us out of an inning, we can’t stop. We have to live with that.”
A potent running game couldn’t get the Miami Dolphins into the playoffs last season, and it’s no guarantee of success in baseball. The Marlins had 37 more steals than any other team last season and finished fourth in the NL East. Kansas City led the American League in steals and finished fourth in the AL Central. On the other hand, Seattle led the majors in steals in 2001 and won 116 games.
One reason the Marlins opted for speed is that it’s cheaper than power. Frugal Florida can’t afford many sluggers, not when a player such as Rodriguez – who hit just 19 home runs last year – costs $10 million for one season.
Speed also works in Miami because of Pro Player Stadium, where the vast expanse in right field turns potential homers into flyouts.
But Florida’s fleet feet will make an impact only if the pitching can keep opponents close. The Marlins’ rotation boasts three hard-throwing young right-handers in Beckett, A.J. Burnett and Brad Penny, but all did stints on the disabled list last season.
If they blossom, the Marlins envision a lot of low-scoring games where the pressure they put on opposing defenses can make the difference.
“We want them making quick decisions that hopefully cause them to bobble a ball or mess up mentally,” Pierre says. “We want them to know when they’re playing the Marlins that they have to be on their toes.”
That includes the opposing pitcher.
“It takes a lot of pressure off the hitter when you’ve got a pitcher who is concentrating on baserunners and trying to slow the game down,” Hollandsworth says. “Once that train gets rolling, it’s a dangerous weapon. It’s kind of a forgotten weapon in the game, but it’ll change some games.”
Everything starts with the leadoff man, and the Marlins have one of the best in Castillo – assuming he’s healthy.
Castillo batted .305 last year with a 35-game hitting streak and 48 steals. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right hip in October and didn’t attempt a steal in the first 15 spring training games. He acknowledges that the hip isn’t yet 100 percent, but the Marlins say they expect him to be fine.
Pierre, who tied for the NL base-stealing title in 2001 and finished one steal behind Castillo in 2002, is looking forward to friendly competition with his teammate.
“The good thing about being here is I don’t have to read the paper every morning anymore to see what Luis is doing,” Pierre says. “I can watch him in person. If we end up 1-2 again in the league, that’ll be great for the team.”
Their duel begins opening day March 31, when the Marlins will be off and running.
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