Marlins Continue To Drown

The Florida Marlins set a record by winning the World Series in only their fifth season. They're still setting records in their sixth season but not the kind any franchise would want.

Jose Guillen and Lou Collier tripled in a three-run Pittsburgh second inning as the talent-depleted Marlins fell to 1-9 the worst start ever for a World Series champion by losing to the Pirates 4-1 Friday night.

The worst start by a defending champion had been 1-8, an ignominious mark shared by the 1947 Cardinals, 1964 Dodgers and 1984 Orioles. The nine consecutive losses also are a Marlins' franchise record.

"It's tough to lose ballgames period," said Marlins manager Jim Leyland, whose World Series champions were dismantled after owner Wayne Huizenga reportedly lost $30 million in 1997. "You just have to be patient and ride it out."

The Marlins have not won since beating the Cubs on opening day March 31 and are 0-9 in April. Their 1-9 record is a near-reversal of their 8-1 start of last season.

Of course, that 1997 team had $50 million-plus worth of talent such as Moises Alou, a healthy Bobby Bonilla, Kevin Brown, Alex Fernandez and Robb Nen. By contrast, the Marlins starters Friday included Ryan Jackson, Mark Kotsay, Dave Berg and Brian Meadows, and they have four position players who never have homered in the majors.

"You kind of walk a thin line," Leyland said. "You don't want them to think it's OK to lose but, at the same time, you don't want to get young players too nervous, especially young pitchers. You don't want them always looking over their shoulder. You don't panic. That's the wrong thing to do."

The right-handed Meadows (0-2) didn't pitch badly in his second major league start, allowing only one hit in his final 5 2-3 innings. But he was outpitched by Jose Silva (1-1), who allowed one run over seven innings.

Meadows never recovered from the three-run second that started with third baseman Berg's error on Turner Ward's hard-hit grounder

the Marlins' league-leading 14th error.

"We make a mistake and it comes back to hurt you. It was a play that should or should not have been made, but it resulted in a couple of runs," Leyland said. "We really haven't been playing well. We cost ourselves a couple of games with the mistakes we made."

Guillen then tripled down the right-field line, and Freddy Garcia singled for the second of three consecutive Pirates hits. Collier made it 3-0 with his triple, also to right, but Meadows escaped further damage when center fielder Kotsay threw out Collier at the plate on Tony Womack's mid-range fly ball.

Meadows, who had pitched only 3 2-3 innings in the majors prior to Friday, settled down to retire 13 consecutive hitters before Kevin Young singled in the ixth.

But Silva (1-1) pitched even better in his second start of the season, throwing six scoreless innings until Gary Sheffield doubled and scored on Charles Johnson's one-out sacrifice fly in the seventh.

It was much better than Silva's first outing, when he was bothered by the stomach flu in losing 7-0 to the Mets on April 5.

"I felt better. I felt strong. I felt good," Silva said. "Jason (Kendall, the catcher) really helped me. He kept saying, `Keep the ball down, keep the ball down.' I got some ground balls and they made good plays for me."

Chris Peters replaced Silva to start the eighth and immediately got into trouble on singles by pinch-hitter John Cangelosi and Cliff Floyd. But Marc Wilkins, who is unscored upon in five appearances, got Edgar Renteria to bounce into a double play after Renteria couldn't put down a bunt, and Jackson lined out to right.

Al Martin, who ended an 0-for-13 slide with two hits, had a run-scoring single in the eighth off Antonio Alfonseca.

"It was really getting me down," Martin said. "That's why I always lose 15 pounds during the season; I worry so much. This was probably as bad as it's been since I've been in Pittsburgh, so this felt good."

Rich Loiselle finished up in the ninth for his fourth save. Charles Johnson grounded into a double play after Gary Sheffield reached on shortstop Collier's error and Kotsay singled.

Notes: The Marlins have been outscored 66-34 during their losing streak. ... Florida right-hander Eric Ludwick went on the 15-day disabled list with a stress fracture in his lower back and will be replaced by rookie right-hander Andy Larkin, who will start Monday. ... The Marlins were 4-1 in Pittsburgh last season. ... Pirates left-hander Ricardo Rincon (hamstring) is expected to come off the 15-day disabled list next weekend.

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