Florida Marlins Baseball Team

To an L.A. kid playing high school ball on a dirt infield, Dodger Stadium is hallowed ground. Look up from the infield at Chatsworth High, and you see a fence, and a street with passing cars. Look up at Dodger Stadium, and you see levels of seats stacked toward the sky, one color after another. Larry Beinfest was determined to look up from that infield. He knew he might never get that chance again. This was almost three decades ago.

To an L.A. kid playing high school ball on a dirt infield, Dodger Stadium is hallowed ground. Look up from the infield at Chatsworth High, and you see a fence, and a street with passing cars. Look up at Dodger Stadium, and you see levels of seats stacked toward the sky, one color after another. Larry Beinfest was determined to look up from that infield. He knew he might never get that chance again. This was almost three decades ago.

Fred Claire has handled scores of deals during his tenure in charge of Dodger player personnel. The longtime executive vice president has made trades big and small--good and bad. But during the past decade, Claire's stamp has been on every deal the Dodgers have done. Until the biggest in franchise history. Claire acknowledged Friday night that he wasn't the point man on the seven-player deal that sent all-star catcher Mike Piazza to the Florida Marlins.

Robert Ramos bumps when he should grind. If he's supposed to walk like an Egyptian, he gets down in a low swagger. With Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" blaring, Ramos isn't sure which way that is. Even when telling a joke about his lack of dancing prowess, his timing is off. "My girlfriend says that if it wasn't for no rhythm, I wouldn't have any rhythm at all," he says, furrowing his brow when that doesn't sound right.

It wasn't about a billy goat. It was about a stubborn manager who refused to pull his pitcher when he was braying with exhaustion. It wasn't about a hex. It was about a vexing decision to allow a shortstop to swing a bat with the pitcher on deck. The Chicago Cubs did not lose because they were cursed. They lost because they were worse.

After the murders of his father-in-law and brother-in-law in a 1995 armed robbery at their Brooklyn family store, Moises Alou missed six Montreal Expo baseball games to attend their funerals. A little more than a month later, Alou's wife, Austria, gave birth to a son. They named him Percio, after her slain father. Another baby Alou was born 10 days ago.

Chicago Cub Manager Dusty Baker, on hand for Sunday's Game 2, said Cub fans must not blame fan Steve Bartman for the team's failure to reach the World Series for the first time since 1945. The Cubs led Game 6 of the National League championship series, 3-0, and were five outs away from a trip to the World Series when Bartman tried to catch and ultimately deflected a foul ball that appeared destined for the glove of left fielder Moises Alou.

Major league baseball owners on Wednesday approved the sale of the Florida Marlins to Boca Raton commodities trader John Henry, who is investing $150 million in an industry with economic problems so severe that Commissioner Bud Selig has appointed a committee to help find a solution.

Cliff Floyd's day begins with a wince. His legs ache and joints creak as he forces himself out of bed and hobbles to the shower. "It's horrible," he says. "Some days I wake up and say, 'There's no way I'm going to be able to play today.' You have to really push yourself and get through it." But feeling lousy actually makes Floyd feel great. His body protests each morning because he has played nearly 100 games, with two months of the season still to go.

Florida Marlins General Manager Larry Beinfest strongly denied Angels owner Arte Moreno's claims that the teams had a deal for slugger Miguel Cabrera in place twice in November, only to have the trades fall apart because the Marlins increased their demands at the last minute.

The Florida Marlins are creating an all-male plus-size cheerleading squad to be dubbed the Manatees. Tryouts are scheduled today. The team hopes to recruit seven to 10 tubby-yet-graceful men to dance, cheer and jiggle during Friday and Saturday home games this season. Men selected for the Manatees won't be paid. They will get tickets to games they perform at -- and the honor of dancing.

Florida Marlins General Manager Larry Beinfest strongly denied Angels owner Arte Moreno's claims that the teams had a deal for slugger Miguel Cabrera in place twice in November, only to have the trades fall apart because the Marlins increased their demands at the last minute.

NASHVILLE -- The Florida Marlins dangled Miguel Cabrera before Southern California for weeks, confident the Angels or Dodgers would deliver four of their best young players for one of the best hitters in baseball. The Angels and Dodgers said no, and the Marlins dramatically shifted course Tuesday. The Marlins agreed to trade Cabrera and pitcher Dontrelle Willis to Detroit for six young players, including the Tigers' top two prospects, pitcher Andrew Miller and outfielder Cameron Maybin.

In the eyes of the Florida Marlins, the Angels and the Dodgers are the teams most likely to acquire star third baseman Miguel Cabrera, a baseball source said Tuesday. The Marlins made that assessment after surveying interested teams at last week's general managers meetings in Florida. It is uncertain whether the Angels and Dodgers are pursuing Cabrera the hardest or whether the Marlins simply rank the Angels and Dodgers as having the best young talent among potential trade partners.

The Florida Marlins want the Angels to include second baseman Howie Kendrick in any trade package for third baseman Miguel Cabrera, raising the possibility that the Angels might respond by asking for permission to negotiate with Cabrera and making their best trade offer contingent on reaching a contract extension with him. The Angels and Dodgers are among several clubs interested in Cabrera, 24, a four-time All-Star who would dramatically upgrade the cleanup spot on either local team.

The Dodgers and Angels are in pursuit of an All-Star third baseman, one who could fill a long-standing vacancy for an elite power hitter. Not Alex Rodriguez. That could come later. Miguel Cabrera could come sooner, forcing the Dodgers and Angels to consider whether to trade three top youngsters for Cabrera or keep prospects for the chance to spend perhaps 10 times as much on Rodriguez. The Florida Marlins jolted this week's meeting of general managers in Orlando, Fla.

In a season of 91 losses, the Florida Marlins take their highlights where and when they can get them, which is why Brian Edmondson was talking about David slaying Goliath and Kirt Ojala was trying to explain his mastery of a hitter named Mark McGwire. The Marlins lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3, Monday night, but Ojala, Edmondson and Vic Darensbourg prevented McGwire, looking to tie the National League record with his 56th home run, from hitting the ball out of the infield.

In the spring clubhouse of the Florida Marlins, with all of the unfamiliar names above the lockers generating the impression of having wandered into the minor league complex by mistake, there is at least the surviving presence of Lenny Harris for veteran perspective, dismayed as he is. "Like everybody else," said Harris, who holds baseball's career record for pinch hits, "I was shocked by what happened in the off-season.

The Dodgers have jumped in on the fire sale that apparently will become the Florida Marlins, though apparently too late to acquire starter Josh Beckett, who on Monday night was rumored to be headed to the Boston Red Sox with Mike Lowell for a handful of prospects. Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti spoke Monday with Marlin General Manager Larry Beinfest, who he said was "thinking about moving a few different players ... and he knows what our interest is."