The Cubs can have their Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. The Florida Marlins will take their gang of no-names anytime.
After Game 3 starter Mark Redman started Sunday, Game 2 starter Brad Penny relieved and pitched a pivotal perfect inning. Games 1 and 5 starter Josh Beckett came back on 48 hours’ rest and picked up right where he left off Sunday: shutting down the Cubs.
Penny, bypassed in the rotation Tuesday in favor of Carl Pavano, pitched his inning in the fourth to stop the Cubs’ run on Redman, which included a two-run homer by Wood and a two-run shot by Moises Alou.
Then it was Beckett’s turn and the Cubs couldn’t touch him again. Beckett faced 10 batters through the fifth, sixth and seventh, yielding only a solo homer to pinch-hitter Troy O’Leary.
Beckett finished one of the more memorable relief stints in NLCS history, retiring 12 of the 13 batters he faced from the fifth to the eighth inning.
Redman apparently would rather face Barry Bonds than Wood. Redman said during the divisional round against the Giants that Bonds “is just another guy up there with a bat.” He dealt with Bonds and the Marlins won.
Wood, by comparison, got to Redman for a two-out, two-run home run that tied the game. Redman fell behind and had to give Wood a 3-2 fastball, which Wood crushed.
Wood had a sacrifice fly off Redman to drive in one run in Game 3 and later contributed a sacrifice bunt to advance a runner to scoring position.
