MIAMI – In a way, Pro Player Stadium looks like a fish tank, with teal everywhere. There is no teal in baseball, but this is southern Florida, and it’s all about The Look. Jack McKeon was asked if Pro Player had anything that compares to Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park.
“Well, maybe the hot tubs in right field,” he said.
There you have it. One ballpark has monuments, the other has hot tubs, just north of the Marlin bullpen. We all know what happened the last time the Yankees faced a team with a hot tub in its park in the World Series. The Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in seven games in the 2001 Series.
Whether this one has the chance to go seven games depended upon last night’s outcome in Game 3 at Pro Player with Mike Mussina facing Josh Beckett.
After playing in the freezing cold in New York, the Series shifted to the warmth of south Florida with the two teams tied 1-1. The Marlins were taking their best shot against the Yankees with young stud Beckett, who is being touted as the next Roger Clemens.
For most of the year hardly anyone went to Marlin games, but this has suddenly become the hottest ticket in town as tickets were going as high as $5,000.
The area doesn’t totally have Marlin Fever, however. Stopping in one store, a men’s clothing shop yesterday, there was a storewide 20 percent sale. Asked if that was because of the World Series, the owner, a New York transplant, of course, said no. “The boat show is coming next week. That’s the biggest thing in town.”
The Marlins rely on their speed, and they are even a faster team here, because of the fast-playing surface. Think of this grass as artificial turf because it’s really not grass. It’s more like a putting green. Walking on the field several hours before the game, you got the feeling you were walking on a pool table. That’s how fast the surface is. Yankee fielders will be tested, and so will be the pitchers.
Marlin fans came to the park in a good mood. Since the Marlins took care of the Cubs and aces Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, they believe anything is possible for their team. One fan joked about the jinx of the Billy Goat, saying, “We curried that goat.”
But you can’t make too much of a playing surface – especially if a team has trouble hitting the ball against the Yankee pitchers. The Twins supposedly had the advantage in the Metrodome, and the Yankees won the two games there in the Division Series.
The Marlin pitching simply doesn’t stack up against the Yankees. After Mussina last night, there is Clemens today while the Marlins counter with Carl Pavano. That’s not a fair fight.
And there is always Mariano Rivera in the Yankee bullpen. The Marlins may have hot tubs in the bullpen area, but the Yankees have the hottest arm in their bullpen.
McKeon knew he had to get a huge game out of Beckett last night, although he was taking the politically correct approach while talking about his rotation and would he go to Game 2 loser Mark Redman again.
“We’ve got to worry about getting to the sixth game first, if it goes that far,” he said. “Hopefully, we can be successful not to go six games. We’re not opposed to making some changes in our rotation.”
The Yankees could find themselves in a huge hole if Beckett were to beat them last night. They would be trailing 2-1 with two more to play here, and if they have to face Beckett again in a Game 7, even if it were back in New York in front of the monuments, it would not be an easy task.
The best thing about this World Series is that, for a change, the fans in Florida are thinking about baseball in October and not the Dolphins or college football. Teal baseball, but baseball just the same.