Marlins score six in bottom of 8th

CHICAGO (AP) -- The Florida Marlins did their best to create a

homey atmosphere -- their mascot danced on the field, their P.A.

announcer did the lineups, they even wore white pants.

Chased out of Florida by Hurricane Ivan, the Marlins staged an

eighth-inning rally Monday to beat the Montreal Expos in a strange

setting at U.S. Cellular Field.

"Yeah, you got to feel like we're at home, even when we're in a

different city. We still want to get back home to our houses and

hopefully Ivan won't cause any more havoc," catcher Paul Lo Duca

said after the Marlins scored six runs in the eighth and beat the

Expos 6-3.

"It was a little weird early but once you get on the field,

everything is fine, you just go back to playing baseball," Lo Duca

added.

"You miss your crowd and you miss going home right now. Now we

go back to the hotel an hour away. That's a little difficult."

Florida, two games behind wild-card leading San Francisco, will

play the Expos at U.S. Cellular again on Tuesday.

The Marlins announced after Monday's game that the teams will

play a doubleheader in Miami at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday, and a single

game Thursday night.

Before Monday, the last NL game in an AL ballpark was in 1946,

when the Boston Braves played several games at Fenway Park because

a paint job on the seats at Braves Field had not dried, according

to the Elias Sports Bureau.

A small but spirited crowd announced at 4,003 transformed the

home park of the Chicago White Sox into a foul-ball chaser's

paradise. With the upper deck closed, most of the fans who spent

$15 for a ticket -- $5 going to hurricane relief -- sat behind the

dugouts and close to the field. There was a loud pro-Expos

contingent, some dressed in Chicago Cubs attire.

"We were surprised to see the large number of Marlins fans,

whooping and hollering," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said.

"And I see we brought a few Cubs fans here. They might have

felt threatened by us (in the standings). They wanted to see us go

down the tubes real fast."

The Expos, who know something about moving around after playing

a portion of their home schedule in Puerto Rico the last two years,

got two runs in the first off Josh Beckett on Tony Batista's RBI

grounder and a triple by Terrmel Sledge.

"It's unusual. Of course it's unusual," Expos manager Frank

Robinson said. "You always want to play your home games at home in

front of your fans."

Sun-Wood Kim blanked the Marlins for seven innings before

Florida broke through against the bullpen, scoring five unearned

runs.

AP

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"We're trying to win games, it doesn't matter how. Unearned

runs or earned runs," Beckett said, adding the site isn't

important, either.

"If you got to play in Comiskey (U.S. Cellular) or if we got to

play in Alaska, it doesn't matter. We'll try to win those games."

Florida rallied in the eighth with help from errors by reliever

Gary Majewski (0-1), Batista at third, Juan Rivera in right and

Endy Chavez in center.

Batista made an error on a ball hit by Miguel Cabrera as the

first run scored, Mike Lowell's sacrifice fly tied the score, and

Florida took a 4-2 lead when Rivera couldn't catch Alex Gonzalez's

shallow fly. Pinch-hitter Lenny Harris, who earlier had been hit by

a flying bat that slipped out of Gonzalez's hand, followed with a

two-run single.

Batista homered in the ninth. Matt Perisho (5-2) was the winner

in relief.

It was supposed to be a short trip across town for the Marlins,

who played four games over the weekend at Wrigley Field.

But they had to leave their downtown Chicago hotel Sunday and

move to one 25 miles away in suburban Arlington Heights, making

their trip to Chicago's south side an hour by bus. But that's a

small inconvenience for a team playing three doubleheaders in a

span of 11 days as it tries to return to the playoffs.

A large plant with a sign on it greeted Florida's players as

they walked into the clubhouse: "Welcome To Your Second Home,

Marlins."

McKeon took over the office of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen,

who last year was the Marlins' third-base coach. Most of Guillen's

memorabilia lining his office walls and shelves is from his own

career, but there was one big picture of the Marlins celebrating.

"I'll see if I can't smoke this up good," McKeon said, puffing

on a cigar.

McKeon insisted the travel hassles were no big deal.

"It's an unusual situation. We couldn't control the hurricane

or the will of God or what he wanted to toss our way," he said.

"We have to accept it, go on and think nothing about it. A regular

day."

The Marlins were as loose as ever as they did their pre-game

stretching, joking and clowning.

"This team has learned to roll with different scenarios, not to

let it affect it," general manager Larry Beinfest said. "It's a

little bit weird. It feels like we're in a totally different place

because we switched hotels, switched leagues and switched

stadiums."Game notes
Beckett's single in the fifth was the first hit ever by a

pitcher at U.S. Cellular Field, which opened in 1991. ... Montreal

had beat the Florida five straight times before Monday. The season

series is 6-6.