Montreal dropped its seconds series in a row when the Marlins stole five bases and took a 6-3 win Sunday.

It left the Expos 5-4 in their nine-game, 10-day stretch at home. They hit the road for two weeks beginning Monday night at Shea Stadium for a series against the Mets.

Tony Armas Jr. and catcher Randy Knorr couldn't get on the same page Sunday against Florida.

Knorr was ineffective for his part allowing the stolen bases. But the backup catcher hit home runs leading off the sixth and eighth innings. The first bounced off the top off the wall, off the scoreboard and back into play. Knorr was initially awarded a double but was given the home run after a short conference.

Following that one, the Expos loaded the bases with no outs but Fernando Tatis hit into a double play. One run scored but the next batter, Vladimir Guerrero tapped back to the mound to end the threat.

"We had our chances to get back into the game," said manager Felipe Alou. "Tatis hit a bad pitch for a double play and that was a turning point. They won early against Armas. In order to win ball games we'll have to do some pitching. We had our chances today, but we felt short. "

Armas' slow delivery contributed to the circus on the basepaths.

"If pitchers are 1.3 seconds or less to the plate then you need to be careful," said Florida manager John Bowles. "Above that you can run. Armas was above that today. We had no opportunities to run against Philly. If pitchers refuse to give it to you, you're foolish to take it. Today we took advantage of it." Apb>April 13, 2001

Last home series

Following an off-day Thursday, the Expos wrap up their nine-game homestand with a weekend series against the Florida Marlins. The Fish were off to a 2-6 start and came north at the wrong end of a two-game losing streak.

Left fielder Cliff Floyd has been sensational, hitting .393 with four homers, 10 RBI and 11 runs scored through Thursday.

Probable pitching matchups: On Friday, LH Chris Peters (1-0, 1.80) matches up against Florida ace RH Ryan Dempster (1-0, 2.45); Saturday, RH Javier Vasquez (1-0, 3.00) takes on new Marlins RH Matt Clement (1-0, 2.77); Sunday, RH Britt Reames (1-0, 2.45) goes vs. RH Brad Penny (0-0, 4.50).

Clement, acquired in the March 28 deal along with RF Eric Owens in the deal that sent RF Mark Kotsay to San Diego, baffled the Braves last Sunday. The 26-year-old righty allowed four hits and one walk while striking out eight over eight innings in a 6-1 Florida win.

Owens, who replaced Kotsay in Florida's outfield configuration, was hitting .273 with 2 homers and 2 RBI through Thursday.

Fans not filling the park

The great metaphysical conundrum en Montreal: If les Expos forged their way into a race for the National League playoffs, would anyone notice?

Well, you might wonder. With the Expos chasing an early-season sweep of the New York Mets, the 2000 National League champs, a rousing crowd of 11,321 showed up at La Stade Olympique on Sunday, 3,996 fewer than the number who enjoyed Saturday's 10-0 bashing of the New Yorkers. Then, on Monday, when the hometown heroes stretched their winning streak to four with a 7-5 defeat of the Chicago Cubs, an intimate gathering of 5,776 were in attendance.

For the record, Montreal did in fact complete the sweep the Mets and win Monday to improve to 6-1, the franchise's best start since 1981. It also was the Expos first sweep of the Mets in nearly 18 years.

There is, incidentally, one Expo graybeard who played on the '81 team, the only Montreal aggregation to enjoy any kind of postseason action. That would, of course, be 41-year-old Tim Raines.

"That was 20 years ago, it's hard to remember it," Raines, who stole 71 bases in 88 games as a rookie that year, told the Canadian Press.

So the nostalgia is stirring, but nobody's uncorking the champagne just yet.

"You don't make the playoffs in the first six games," Raines told the Montreal Gazette. "But playing the Mets, who went to the World Series last year, and playing them tough and sweeping them, that builds a lot of confidence on a young team."

Manager Felipe Alou, who had promised -- contingent upon good health -- that the Expos would be much better this year, said the lightning start's an important first step.

"We're going to be seeing a lot of the East, (this series) is a message not to the Mets, but to the (National League) East, that we've improved a lot," Alou told the Montreal Gazette.

SWEET RELIEF: The Expos' bullpen was magnificent in week one, conspiring to surrender just two runs on 13 hits over 18 innings for a 1.00 ERA. Closer Ugueth Urbina saved four of the six wins, allowing no runs and one hit in his first five appearances.

Right-hander Scott Strickland set the stage for Urbina's save Sunday when he got Mets slugger Mike Piazza to foul out in the eighth with the sacks jammed, two out and Montreal leading 5-2. Scott Stewart, Graeme Lloyd (2-0), Strickland and Urbina combined for 16 scoreless innings through April 9.

LINE OF THE WEEK: Prior to notching the win against Chicago on Monday, Lloyd was 1-0 after six games with no innings pitched, three batters faced and one walk.

VLAD THE CHICKEN: The weekend's big fireworks came courtesy of Mets' reliever Turk Wendell, who got his revenge upon Vladimir Guerrero with a fastball in the back. Wendell, upset because Guerrero had swung at a 3-0 pitch on Saturday with the Expos ahead 10-0, nailed the Montreal superstar in the seventh inning of Sunday's contest.

After the game, Wendell, who had called Guerrero "a freakin' baby" on Saturday, really let the Montreal outfielder have it with both barrels, saying the native Dominican lacked the courage to charge the mound.

"He's too chickens--t" Wendell told the New York Post. "You can quote me on that. I said, 'Let's go.' He's a tough guy. He wants to play tough guy, you throw any ball near him, he wants to intimidate you, stare at you. Well, if you are that tough come out let's see it."

Guerrero, by the way, is 0-for-8 in his career against Wendell.

"One of the ways to get him out is pitching inside and if he can't handle being pitched inside, he should go frickin' back to the Dominican and find another line of work," Wendell told the Post. "Because people are going to bust him inside and he is going to get hurt." Wendell denied he was throwing at the 25-year-old Guerrero.

"I'd rather strike him out, than stare at him and pimp and do the (garbage) that he does when he hits a home run or the way he was staring at the ball he hit last night," Wendell said.

On Saturday, Guerrero was hitting 3-0 after glowering at Wendell, who had thrown an inside fastball on the 2-0 pitch.

"What is he staring at? If he wants to stare at something, I'll give him something to stare at," Wendell told the Post.

Sunday, he hit him in the shoulder and there are 16 more meetings between the two teams.

After Saturday's incident, Alou offered an apology for Guerrero, who doesn't speak with the press. After Sunday, he said he preferred to think the incident was over.

"Our guy committed a sin, he wasn't happy about being pitched inside, he swung at a 3-0 pitch in a 10-0 game, he knows it was wrong," Alou told the Gazette. "Baseball has already removed half the retribution, if they take the whole thing away that would be a sin, too. I hope it's over, but it's up to the players to decide ... nobody got hurt."