The Cubs can have their Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. The Florida Marlins will take their gang of no-names anytime.
After Game 2 starter Brad Penny relieved starter Mark Redman and threw a pivotal perfect fourth inning Wednesday, Josh Beckett, the starter in Games 1 and 5, came back on 48 hours’ rest and picked up right where he left off Sunday, shutting down the Cubs.
Beckett, who pitched a complete-game 4-0 victory Sunday, faced 10 batters through the fifth, sixth and seventh, yielding only a solo home run to pinch-hitter Troy O’Leary that merely reduced the Florida lead to 9-6. Beckett finished one of the more memorable relief stints in NLCS history with a perfect eighth. He retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced.
“It’s not that miraculous, really,” Beckett said. “It was my bullpen day anyway, my `throw’ day [in between starts], and I probably threw a couple extra pitches [Wednesday], but it worked out all right.”
Penny, bypassed in the rotation Tuesday for Carl Pavano, stopped the Cubs’ run on Redman, who was tagged for a two-run homer by Wood and a two-run shot by Moises Alou while giving up five runs.
But it ultimately was Beckett whom the Cubs could not solve when they needed a rally to stay with the Marlins as Florida fought back from a 5-3 deficit to slowly take command of a game the Cubs thought was theirs.
“Josh was unbelievable,” said NLCS MVP Ivan Rodriguez. “He had command of his pitches and he kept coming at them. He was fantastic.”
