On a windy morning in early March, with zephyrs blowing in off the nearby Atlantic Ocean, Josh Beckett looked more like a kid who could have used another couple hours on a pillow than a World Series.
And why not? Wipe the sleep out of Beckett’s eyes and he still probably has trouble believing what he did last October–rescuing the Florida Marlins from a three games-to-one hole against the Cubs and then wrapping up the Series with maybe the best game ever pitched by a visitor at Yankee Stadium.
Beckett will talk about the amazing postseason run that began with his two-hitter in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. But he swears his focus is on 2004, not reliving old successes.
“We’re just worried about this season now,” said Beckett, a 23-year-old from the Houston suburbs. “We want to see if we can do it again.”
Jack McKeon won’t blame any of the Marlins for savoring the unexpected run they had last season. It was the crowning success of his professional career, which began in 1949, and is never far from his mind.
While McKeon prepares for the upcoming season, he never has a shortage of time to discuss his Cinderella season. He was out of baseball when Florida owner Jeffrey Loria inquired if he had any interest in taking over the Marlins. He leaped at the chance, then won the World Series with a team that was 16-22 upon his arrival.
“I had never given up on managing, but some people might have given up on me,” said McKeon, 73. “This was very important to me. I never felt I was fulfilled. It was a case I wanted one more chance but I didn’t know if I would get it. The way this turned out was unbelievable. You spend 50-some years in the game, dreaming of one day being in the World Series . . . and it all sort of falls in place. It was unbelievable.”
McKeon said he first became aware of the Marlins’ potential in the late 1990s when he was managing the Cincinnati Reds. He was intrigued by what could happen after Florida added catcher Ivan Rodriguez and center fielder Juan Pierre to a mix that included veterans Mike Lowell, Luis Castillo, Derrek Lee and Alex Gonzalez along with several promising pitchers, including Brad Penny, Carl Pavano and Beckett.
“I told ’em the first day I got to the big leagues that I didn’t need the job,” McKeon said. “I told ’em, `I’m here to help you win, here to help you play in October and that there’s enough talent to get there. I’m here to win, not here to be a caretaker, to finish the year out and just baby-sit you.”‘
While McKeon would love a repeat performance, he knows this is a different year. Because the Marlins were not able to increase their $54 million payroll to reward the players who won the Series, they lost Rodriguez and closer Ugueth Urbina to free agency and traded Lee to the Cubs (for fellow first baseman Hee Seop Choi) and 14-game winner Mark Redman to Oakland.
That adherence to the bottom line goes against the trend of World Series winners. Anaheim increased its payroll 38 percent after winning in 2002. Arizona grew its 29 percent after winning in 2001.
Loria appears to have used the $6 million-to-$8 million he received in postseason revenue to cut his losses rather than reinvest it in payroll.
The Marlins barely passed 1.3 million in attendance during the regular season, outdrawing only Tampa Bay and Montreal.
“We’re not the typical World Series champion,” said Lowell, who signed a four-year extension that could pay him $32 million. “I was just hoping we wouldn’t lose too much. You have to respect they want to operate under certain parameters. They’re going to do what they’re going to do.”
Choi and catchers Ramon Castro and Mike Redmond have big shoes to fill.
“I think D-Lee will be the biggest void to fill,” reliever Chad Fox said. “He’s a Gold Glove first baseman. And Pudge [Rodriguez] was incredible down the stretch in the time I played with him. Losing him is huge.”
Beckett refused to get caught up in sentiment. He genuinely is excited about the upcoming season, which McKeon predicted will be his first of many as an All-Star.
“Throwing to Pudge was great, but we have to move on,” said Beckett, whose career record is 17-17. “He’s not coming back. I think we’re going to do fine. We have capable catchers. Who knows what Miguel Cabrera can do? He may make up the difference all by himself.”
Like Beckett and Rodriguez, the 20-year-old Cabrera was a force last October. He started the playoffs replacing the injured Lowell at third base and ended it as the regular right fielder, with some innings at shortstop in between. He hit .265 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 17 playoff games, including three homers against the Cubs in the NLCS.
There would have been no World Series for the Marlins if Beckett had not come of age against the Cubs. After allowing six runs in the NLCS opener, he found himself pitching Game 5 with Florida one game away from extinction. He completely dominated the lineup that had been averaging 5.8 runs in its previous nine games.
Beckett struck out 11 in a two-hitter in which he didn’t allow a runner past first base. He may have turned the tide of the series with a high-and-inside fastball to Sammy Sosa in the fourth inning.
Sosa, who appeared to have trouble seeing the pitch in the late-afternoon sunlight, waggled his bat at Beckett and took a step toward the mound before Rodriguez cooled him down. Beckett walked all the way from the mound to the plate, but only to get a baseball from umpire Larry Poncino.
Beckett, who kept his cool while Sosa lost his, threw a fastball clocked at 100 m.p.h. in the ensuing sequence that ended with Sosa taking a high changeup for strike three.
“That [brushback] was nothing intentional, just a pitch that got away,” McKeon continues to insist. “He didn’t throw at him, but the way [Beckett] responded was good for him, good for us. It sent a message. It might have put a little fear in some of those guys.”
Beckett finished off the Cubs with four innings of shutout relief in Game 7. He retired 12 of 13 hitters he faced, with Troy O’Leary’s pinch-hit homer the lone exception. So much for the Cubs getting back into a game they had trailed only 6-5 when Beckett arrived.
Beckett was a hard-luck loser in Game 3 of the World Series when he allowed only three hits in 7 1/3 innings. McKeon was criticized widely for using Beckett on only three days’ rest to go for the throat with the Marlins leading three games to two, but Beckett wanted the ball. He made the most of the chance, blowing away the Yankees to give Florida a 2-0 victory and the title.
For Beckett, it completed a run of four postseason appearances in which he gave up only three runs in 29 1/3 innings. He had three times as many strikeouts (33) as hits allowed (11).
Beckett got the last out of the World Series by scooping up a grounder inside the first-base line and tagging Jorge Posada’s jersey.
After he was carried around on his teammates shoulders, Beckett put the ball in his glove, where it now rests in a trophy case at the 6,000-square-foot home he built with part of the $7 million he got to sign with the Marlins when he was the second pick in the 1999 draft.
What a souvenir.
“We knew all along we were talented,” Beckett said. “It’s just a matter of putting it all together. There are a lot of little things that can happen. We had some luck last year.”
Given Houston’s addition of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte and the Cubs’ signing of Greg Maddux, there is little talk of another pennant for the Marlins.
Many will pick Philadelphia and Atlanta ahead of them in their division, which they never have won. They went to the playoffs as the NL’s wild card in both 1997 and 2003, winning the World Series both times.
“It doesn’t seem we have a target on our back,” Beckett said. “I don’t think anybody is shooting for us. We’re supposed to finish eighth out of six teams in the East. We just have to go play the game. All I hear is, `No one is picking you guys to win.’ Well, who cares?”
Good question.
