MIAMI (AP) – With rainy weather, apathetic fans, unsettled ownership and losing records, the Florida Marlins have provided comic relief in recent seasons.

Look who’s laughing now.

The surprising Marlins beat the New York Mets 4-3 Friday night to clinch their first playoff berth since winning the 1997 World Series. They’ll face the NL West champion Giants in a best-of-5 series beginning Tuesday in San Francisco.

The Marlins trailed Philadelphia in the wild-card race last Saturday, but pulled away with five consecutive wins. At 90-70, they’re 20 games above .500 for the first time since ’97.

The victory put 72-year-old manager Jack McKeon in the postseason for the first time. Florida is 74-48 (.607) since he took over May 11.

Leadoff batter Juan Pierre, a catalyst all season, filled that role again in the clinching victory. He stole two bases to set a team record with 64, singled three times to reach a career high with 203 hits and played a part in Florida’s first three runs.

Carl Pavano (12-13), the No. 5 starter on a strong pitching staff, limited New York to six hits and three runs in 7 1-3 innings. He retired 11 in a row during one stretch.

The Marlins’ rapidly expanding bandwagon attracted 33,215 fans, the largest crowd of the week and the fourth-largest of the season in Miami.

There was a roar when Jeff Conine, a regular on the 1997 team, hit his fifth homer since rejoining Florida on Aug. 31. Derrek Lee triggered more cheers by driving in two runs with a double and a single.

Chad Fox struck out Timo Perez with the tying run at second to end the eighth. Ugueth Urbina pitched the ninth for his sixth save in eight chances since Florida acquired him in July.

With the victory, Florida eliminated the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs, still vying for the NL Central title, from wild-card contention.

Few foresaw a playoff berth for the Marlins, whose only other winning season came six years ago.

They won despite a modest payroll of $50 million, far less than the season-opening $117 million payroll of the last-place Mets. The Marlins won despite losing their best pitcher, A.J. Burnett, to an elbow injury in April and their All-Star third baseman, Mike Lowell, to a hand injury during the peak of the playoff race. And they won despite a slow start that prompted a managerial change, with McKeon replacing Jeff Torborg.

Among the Marlins’ attributes is a knack of coming from behind, which they did against Aaron Heilman (2-7).

New York scored in the first, but Florida answered in the bottom of the inning on Lee’s two-out RBI double.

The Marlins went ahead to stay in the third. Pavano led off with a double, took third on Pierre’s infield hit and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ivan Rodriguez.

Pierre walked to start the fifth, advanced on a groundout and scored on Lee’s two-out single for a 3-1 lead. Conine hit his third home run of the week to start the sixth and chase Heilman, who allowed four runs and eight hits in five-plus innings.

The Mets gave Florida a scare in the eighth. Roger Cedeno walked, Joe McEwing singled and Mike Piazza singled home a run to make it 4-2. Fox replaced Pavano, and Tony Clark hit a sacrifice fly that Juan Encarnacion caught near the wall in right-center. Perez then struck out.

New York scored in the first when Piazza singled with two out and came home on Clark’s double.

Notes: With his 63rd stolen base in the first inning, Pierre broke the team record he and Luis Castillo shared. Pierre added another in the sixth. … At 9-4 in Miami, Pavano leads the Marlins in home victories. … Heilman dropped to 1-3 on the road with an ERA of 7.96.

AP-ES-09-26-03 2237EDT