Florida Marlins

This weekend's series between the Dodgers and the Miami Marlins matches last-place teams that took wildly divergent routes to the cellar. New Dodgers ownership splurged for a star-studded roster and the highest payroll in baseball - a $230-million collection of talent that has produced the worst record in the National League West. And yet the Dodgers, despite a 13-20 record before Friday, lead the major leagues in attendance. Meanwhile, after loading up on high-priced free agents to attract fans to his team's new ballpark in 2012, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria gutted his roster by season's end. The starless Marlins arrived at Dodger Stadium with a 10-25 record, the worst in the National League.

This weekend's series between the Dodgers and the Miami Marlins matches last-place teams that took wildly divergent routes to the cellar. New Dodgers ownership splurged for a star-studded roster and the highest payroll in baseball - a $230-million collection of talent that has produced the worst record in the National League West. And yet the Dodgers, despite a 13-20 record before Friday, lead the major leagues in attendance. Meanwhile, after loading up on high-priced free agents to attract fans to his team's new ballpark in 2012, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria gutted his roster by season's end. The starless Marlins arrived at Dodger Stadium with a 10-25 record, the worst in the National League.

He has more wrinkles than most big league managers, is a little more hunched over, walks with a shuffle and, like many 80-year-olds, he's a little hard of hearing. When it comes to wit, though, Jack McKeon is still as quick and sharp as a top comic. McKeon was introduced Monday as interim manager of the reeling Florida Marlins, making him the second-oldest man to manage in the major leagues since Connie Mack, then 87, closed his career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1950.

PHOENIX - The money, all his parents had, was more than Alfredo Amezaga had ever seen. So when Alberto and Maria del Carmen Amezaga called their youngest child in their room and showed him the pile of pesos they had gathered on their bed - money to send him from Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, to the U.S. to learn English and make something of himself - he wasn't sure how to react. Eighteen years later, he shakes his head at the memory. "I can't imagine that," says Amezaga, a 35-year-old veteran trying to win a roster spot with the Dodgers.

The Florida Marlins are the youngest team in the league, and on Sunday they showed their age on defense. Matt Clement gave up two runs in 6 1/3 innings and the San Diego Padres scored two runs on bunts in the fifth inning to defeat the Marlins, 5-2. "This was a miserable game for us," Marlin Manager John Boles said. "If you get beat, fine, but it hurts more when you beat yourself. We were lousy. We went back to baby steps."

Monday through Wednesday: vs. Florida Marlins Thursday through Sunday: vs. Chicago Cubs No sooner had the Baltimore Orioles talked to Bobby Valentine about their managerial vacancy than the Florida Marlins fired their manager, Fredi Gonzalez . Valentine told the Orioles to move on without him, and he reportedly told friends he expected to sign a four-year deal with the Marlins. It never happened, and Valentine told ESPN last week the process was "very disturbing, confusing and … insulting at times."

Matt Kemp was ready to leave. So were his teammates, who quickly dressed and quietly made their way out of the clubhouse to board the team bus. "I'm ready to go home," Kemp said. "See my fans." The Dodgers' six-game trip to open the season almost felt like an extension of spring training, as Manager Joe Torre described it as a fact-finding mission and his players made the kind of mistakes that betrayed their reputations. What was dismissed at the start of the two-city trip as early-season rust turned into frustration by the end of the weeklong journey, which ended with a 6-5 defeat to the Florida Marlins on Sunday at a mostly empty Sun Life Stadium.

He left town under a cloud large enough to cover Roseanne. He was a victory for affirmative action in major league baseball one minute, and a casualty the next. His employers ushered him in on a red carpet and then unceremoniously pulled the rug from under him. But Octavio (Cookie) Rojas, the former Angel manager, has bounced back. Rojas, 53, is now with the Florida Marlins as an assistant to General Manager David Dombrowski.

The Florida Marlins have hired former major leaguers Cookie Rojas and Vada Pinson as coaches, the Miami Herald reported.

Mike Piazza would never exist today. He would have to be created by the Hollywood machine that once embraced him. He was taken in the 62nd round of the 1988 baseball draft. There are no longer 62 rounds in the draft. He was given a private tryout at a locked Dodger Stadium as a favor to his family friend and quasi uncle, Tom Lasorda. There are few managers remaining with the longevity and power to make such arrangements. After two minor league seasons, he was no better than an average Class-A catcher, yet he was promoted to a higher Class A the following spring.

Reporting from Dallas — Seated at a table in a corner of the media workroom at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, Miami Marlins Manager Ozzie Guillen was informed his team had reached an agreement with free-agent pitcher Mark Buehrle on a four-year, $58-million contract. "Now, how about three more?" Guillen said. Three more, as in three more players. The few dozen reporters around him laughed. Long known for a form frugality that made Frank McCourt's Dodgers look like free spenders, the Marlins turned the baseball world upside down at the winter meetings this week by committing almost $200 million to three players — Buehrle, National League batting champion Jose Reyes and All-Star closer Heath Bell.

Chicago White Sox General Manager Ken Williams said Tuesday he's offered to step aside or take another job in the organization after some of his moves failed to pan out and the team foundered. Williams made his comments in the dugout the day after manager Ozzie Guillen was released from his contract with one year remaining. Guillen tweeted Tuesday that he was in town "ready to go" with the Florida Marlins. Williams said he made the offer to White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and would have understood if the White Sox wanted to put someone else in his seat.

On deck in the Dodgers' bankruptcy case: the Florida Marlins? Could be, if Frank McCourt gets his way. As the bankruptcy proceedings increasingly resemble a grudge match cloaked in legal briefs, with Bud Selig threatening to banish the Dodgers from the league in order to rid it of McCourt, the Dodgers' owner might respond by trying to take down the commissioner. The Marlins could be in the collateral damage. In July, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross wrote of what he called "the underlying feud between the Commissioner and … Frank McCourt" and added: "It appears that their dispute will shortly be before the Court.

Hank Conger had a double and a single Tuesday night, but that did nothing to console the rookie catcher after the Angels' 5-2 loss to the Florida Marlins. Two more throws to second base on stolen-base attempts sailed high and away from their target — one on a pitchout — and one of those Marlins runners eventually scored in the sixth inning. Opponents have been successful on 35 of 42 stolen-base attempts against Conger. "I don't want to say the hits were useless tonight," Conger said, "but as a catcher, your four at-bats really aren't going to affect the game as much as you can behind the plate calling pitches, blocking balls in the dirt and throwing the ball well to second.

He has more wrinkles than most big league managers, is a little more hunched over, walks with a shuffle and, like many 80-year-olds, he's a little hard of hearing. When it comes to wit, though, Jack McKeon is still as quick and sharp as a top comic. McKeon was introduced Monday as interim manager of the reeling Florida Marlins, making him the second-oldest man to manage in the major leagues since Connie Mack, then 87, closed his career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1950.

I watched the Florida Marlins' opening game. It is exciting that Florida finally got a major league baseball team. I wonder when we are going to get one. DARRYL O. DICKEY Reseda

Dioner Navarro said he knew that he couldn't evade Matt Kemp's grasp. "He's faster than me," Navarro said. "I couldn't go anywhere. I tried to deke him, but you saw what happened. " What happened was that Kemp lifted Navarro and speared him into the ground, setting off a rare on-field celebration for the Dodgers. Navarro singled past the Florida Marlins' five-man infield in his ninth-inning pitch-hit at-bat on Friday, lifting the Dodgers to only their fourth win in 13 games, a 3-2 walk-off victory at Dodger Stadium.

Reporting from Miami Andre Ethier was smiling and laughing. It was easy for him to be pleasant. Ethier hit a 10th-inning home run Wednesday to lead the Dodgers past the Florida Marlins, 5-4, at Sun Life Stadium. His hitting streak reached 24 games. He would soon be on his way back to Los Angeles, where he would get a day to spend with his family before his team opened a three-game series against the San Diego Padres. Told that Marlins right-hander Brian Sanches hadn't given up a run in 132/3 innings leading to Ethier's home run, the outfielder laughed and said, "I'm glad I didn't know that before.