Leyland Turning Over Rotations in His Head

Decisions, decisions.

Florida Manager Jim Leyland has many options in choosing his pitching rotation for the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves, beginning Tuesday at Atlanta.

“We have some things we have to look at and think about,” Leyland said Friday after the Marlins’ division series-clinching victory over the San Francisco Giants.

“We’ve already talked about certain things. I’ll just leave it at that.”

Barring injury, Marlin right-handers Kevin Brown and Alex Fernandez will be in either a three- or four-man rotation. Left-handed rookie Tony Saunders figures to join them after going 3-0 with a 1.65 earned-run average in four starts against Atlanta during the regular season, including two victories against the Braves in a week.

The big question seems to be whether veteran left-hander Al Leiter will retain his starting spot if Leyland uses a four-man rotation. Leiter had a poor outing in Game 2 of the division series, giving up four earned runs in four innings in Florida’s 7-6 victory.

If Leiter is bumped to the bullpen, right-handed rookie Livan Hernandez likely would rejoin the rotation. Hernandez relieved Leiter in Game 2, giving up one run in four strong innings.

Leiter won’t be surprised if Leyland makes a change.

“Let’s face it,” Leiter said, “when the postseason starts it all comes down to wins and losses. You have to go with the people who perform best.”

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Roberto Hernandez’s nightmare is over.

Everything that could go wrong did for the Giant relief pitcher in the division series. The Marlins scored the winning run in the ninth inning of Games 1 and 2 against Hernandez, and Hernandez gave up two hits and was charged with two earned runs while pitching only two-thirds of an inning in Game 3.

His ERA for the series? 20.25.

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Marlin owner Wayne Huizenga spent $89 million in the off-season to give South Florida a championship-caliber baseball team.

Although $89 million doesn’t go nearly as far as it used to, Huizenga said it was money well spent.

“Is this fun or what?” Huizenga said.

“This is why we did what we did. You just can’t beat this feeling.”