THIS could be one of the ONLY columns I EVER read from Israel Guiterrez:
Florida Marlins relish the chance to close Shea Stadium
Florida Marlins out to spoil Mets' season again
BY ISRAEL GUTIERREZ
igutierrez@MiamiHerald.com
What's this, another chance for the Marlins to knock the New York Mets out of playoffs in the final series of the season? This time potentially hurling the Mets into an emergency rebuilding stage?
This time getting to close Shea Stadium forever as a historic bonus?
That's just too good. It's marvelously mischievous.
It's wonderfully mean-spirited.
It's kick-you-in-the-groin fantastic.
Who needs the playoffs when the Marlins have this opportunity in front of them?
Think Yankee Stadium was quiet when Josh Beckett closed out the World Series in 2003?
Should the Marlins knock the Mets out of playoff contention for the second season in a row, Shea will be stunned so silent you might be able to hear the tears dripping off a 9-year-old's cheek.
Cruel? Depends on your definition. For a spoiler team like the Marlins, cruel and fun are virtually synonymous.
Is it fun kicking a team when it's almost down, completing a beating so thorough that this version of the Mets could wind up buried for good?
DELICIOUS IRONY
Is it fulfilling to turn a celebratory gathering of franchise favorites, as Sunday's finale at Shea will feature, into a funeral?
Is it satisfying to torment a legion of fans in America's best baseball city so that a group of part-time Milwaukee fans get to experience the playoffs?
Yes.
Yes.
Oh, my God, yes!
And you just know it's going to happen, too.
It simply sets up too perfectly.
The Mets began the process Wednesday night, squandering a four-run lead to the Cubs, then leaving nine on base in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, including four on third base, before losing and falling into a wild-card tie with the Brewers.
RISE AND FALL
Even though the Mets were in fourth place on June 13, 7 ½ games behind the Phillies in the National League East and 6 ½ back in the wild-card race, failing in this dramatic a fashion, this late in the season, in that city, would qualify as another collapse.
It will continue Friday and Saturday, with Chris Volstad and Ricky Nolasco starting for the Marlins. Volstad, 22, and Nolasco, 25, could be providing a preview of what the Mets can expect next season, and potentially for several seasons to come. Next season, the Marlins should feature the deepest collection of starters in the division -- and possibly in all of the National League -- with Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez and Andrew Miller likely figuring into that mix.
And who better to close out the series, the Mets and Shea Stadium than Scott Olsen? Unofficially, Olsen still leads the NL in rebellion. Nobody on the Marlins would revel more in shocking the Mets than the player who was infamously stunned by police last season.
And who would the Marlins have to beat to get Olsen that final victory? Johan Santana, the Mets' prize offseason acquisition, who was supposed to make the playoffs a certainty and turn last season's historic collapse into a distant footnote.
Santana, of course, is on a streak of 16 starts without a loss, going 8-0 in that stretch with a 2.26 ERA. The Marlins have struggled all season against left-handed starters. They would be more frightened if it were the Phillies' Jamie Moyer on the mound, but Santana provides a significant fear factor himself.
So what better time for a season's worth of statistical support to be rendered meaningless? Last season, the Marlins ended the Mets with a seven-run first inning against another ace lefty, Tom Glavine.
Then there is the element of front-office contrast, further magnified by a curiously timed decision by Mets brass. New York just offered its general manager, Omar Minaya, a four-year extension for almost getting the Mets to the playoffs with a $137 million payroll (the largest in the National League). Marlins GM Larry Beinfest, meanwhile, keeps plugging along with a team nearly as good at one-sixth the price. In Mets measures, that would be worth a 24-year extension.
Last year, eliminating the Mets gave the Marlins meaning for at least one weekend of a trying 91-loss season.
This year, a repeat offering will be the icing on a season that already felt like six months of dessert. Despite a horrendous August, these Marlins, the ones who were publicly dismissed from playoff consideration the day pitchers and catchers reported, went until the final week of the season before officially being eliminated from playoff contention.
Bringing the Mets, and all of Shea Stadium, down with them will be a different kind of sweet.
Darker. Something in the devil's-food family.
Deliciously cruel
Florida Marlins relish the chance to close Shea Stadium
