One thing that separates baseball from the other sports is the amount of interest that is generated once the season comes to a close.

In many ways, the baseball offseason is more interesting on a day to day basis than either the NHL, NFL or NBA are in their full seasons.

With that in mind some things that may be percolating.

The Yankees may not be as panicked about redoing their club as we have been led to believe.

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With Grady Little out of the picture in Boston, the braintrust is looking for the perfect manager to work with stat geek Bill James while still knowing how to run a baseball game on the highest level and then supervise a clubhouse full of multimillionaires for good measure.

The names kicked around to succeed Little are interesting to say the least.

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Josh Beckett did what Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Greg Maddux, Andy Pettitte, Pedro Martinez, Barry Zito, and Tim Hudson couldn’t.

Beckett threw a complete game shut out, dominating the opposition in his team’s biggest game of the year.

Oh, by the way, he did it in NY, in the world series, pitching on three days rest and never missed a pitch.

Young power pitchers in October, they are worth their weight in gold. Beckett is special and he delivered, leading his team to the championship. I can’t say enough about the 96 MPH fastballs he threw right past the best October hitters in the world or the 78 MPH curves that froze Bernie Williams all night. Give the Yankees an opening and they will take it. Beckett put a stop to the Yankee mystique in the House that Ruth Built.

The Yankees didn’t help themselves on defense. Pettitte inexplicably threw to second base with an easy out at third waiting on Derek Lee’s poorly placed sacrifice bunt attempt with the game still hanging in the balance.

Karim Garcia missed on a throw from medium rightfield allowing Alex Gonzalez to make one of the greatest slides I have ever seen avoiding Jorge Posada’s sweeping tag (Ah, Jeremy, I hope you were watching) giving the Marlins the only run they needed in this game.

No one faster in the game on the pivot or getting rid of the ball, than Luis Castillo and Alex Gonzalez, Miami’s middle defense.

The Marlins won two games in the Stadium as I predicted last Saturday when this series started. It wasn’t easy, but Brad Penny and Josh Beckett carried this team to the world series title.

Penny should get more play because he set the tone in game one with a dominating performance for 5 2/3 innings and then repeated it in game five Thursday night in Miami. The Marlins don’t win without Penny’s pitching either.

In my book, Penny and Beckett are co-mvp’s just like Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson were in 2001.

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It took a few days for the story of the 2003 World Series to take shape. The Marlins, a decisive 2-1 underdog, can finish off the mighty Yankees in the stadium if things go right for them tonight.

The story of 2003? I say Jack McKeon and his cool attitude on the biggest baseball stage of his career.

McKeon has kept his sense of humor when others in his position would have been tighter than a drum (Check St. Louis for instance).

His decision to start Josh Beckett on three days rest is a good one.

Beckett is a power pitcher and power pitchers in October are special. Beckett’s fastball can carry him even if his slider or curve are not available. He only threw 108 pitches in his last start. He has impeccable control and doesn’t waste pitches.

Perhaps the biggest factor is he insists on being the pitcher tonight.

Will it be easy? No way.

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Andy Pettitte came within one out of his first world series shutout, as the Yankees evened the series 1-1 heading into game three Tuesday night.

Game three is always a key in any playoff series and 2003 is no exception. With Mike Mussina going against Josh Beckett, it could be a preview to a game seven matchup as well if the teams keep trading wins.

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I’m sure the Yankees woke up this morning quoting the famous line from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” about the posse that chased them all over the Southwest. Looking back and asking who those guys are who keep following us?

The Marlins are a fine baseball team that very rarely beats itself and has a legitimate leader who is having an enormous postseason, Pudge Rodriguez.

Combine all that with some little seen speed these days at the top of the order and some clutch relief pitching (you tell me, will Ugueth Urbina last for three more games) and you’ve got a team that now has the Yankees attention.

My feeling yesterday was that the Marlins needed a split in NY this weekend to have a chance at winning this thing and guess what, if they win tonight the Yanks might be in bigger trouble than anyone in NY will admit.

David Wells pitched a terrific game in the opener, the Yanks let him down with some sloppy play on the bases and in the field.

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After watching three champagne celebrations starting with the end of the regular season, moving on to the division series, and finally the league championship series, I’m not sure I want to see another inane clubhouse party coupled with more senseless interviews.

But, I AM ready to see more baseball in what should be an excellent world series.

I have felt throughout this season that the Yankee pitching is older than normal for them, and waiting to be exposed in the playoffs.

The Twins didn’t have the hitting to do it, falling in four games 3-1. The Red Sox had the power, but not the discipline to truly hit the Yankees all over the lot, but they did hit them enough to win, and other than Grady Little’s refusal to go to his all of a sudden powerful bullpen to seal the deal, they would be in the series today.

The Marlins are young and fresh and they swing the bat. They have survived the gauntlet of the four Cub righthanded starters. The Marlins hit lefties very well. Remember the angst the Giants went through deciding if Kirk Reuter should pitch in Miami or San Francisco.

The Marlins will see David Wells and Andy Pettitte three, maybe four times, if the series goes seven games. This is the best news for the Marlins who were 27-11 against lefties during 2003.

The Marlins can hit the Yankees. The Marlins can do to the NY staff what the Angels did to it in five games last fall.

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I feel badly for every Boston Red Sox fan today.

Pedro Martinez gave them the game they had been waiting for seven innings in the most significant start of his career in Yankee Stadium, no less. He held the Yankees down and looked like a hero, wiping away any memory of Saturday’s fiasco in Fenway.

I’ve watched baseball for a long time. We all have become baseball managers watching the playoffs this year. We all know about pitch counts. The announcers are forever lecturing the listeners about the matchups.

But we have two eyes and can see plainly when the pitcher has lost his stuff at the critical part of the game and must be replaced.

That is all of us except Grady Little. I wrote it yesterday that Little has been slow on his pitching decisions during the postseason, almost costing his team game six when he let John Burkett get pounded in a game he couldn’t afford to lose.

To the chagrin of the Red Sox nation he continued that horrid trend Thursday night, robbing the Sox of their chance to go to the world series.

Pedro was cooked before Bernie Williams ripped his hit in the eighth. Alan Embree was ready and willing, throwing 95 plus in every appearance in the series. Mike Timlin had been perfect before allowing one hit yesterday. Scott Williamson had been lights out too. What a menu to choose from.

Little didn’t see it that way. Unbelievably he let Pedro talk him out of removing him from the game. Frankly, watching Pedro when Little came to the mound, the righty didn’t seem to say much, I think he knew he was done, but was just being a warrior, saying he could continue.

Matsui doubled, pulling the ball like a power hitter, which he isn’t. You just sensed bigger trouble ahead.

Posada’s flair was the last straw, tying the game and for all intents and purposes this game was over at that juncture because Mariano Rivera was coming in.

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When this postseason started I wrote that it would be the most exciting we had seen since this three tiered fromat started.

Guess what? It has been the best.

Every team had an arguable chance to make it to the world series. Every team had flaws which could sink it at any time.

The Cubs flaw was its bullpen. Dusty Baker crafted a pitching staff led by top of the rotation starters who threw in the mid to high 90’s. The plan was simple. Let the big boys take the ball into the eighth inning, then and only then trust Kyle Farnsworth and Mike Remlinger to get the ball to season hero Joe Borowski to close the game.

Everything was peachy until game six on Tuesday night. Mark Prior limped through the seventh giving up three hard outs. It was clear in the eighth that he didn’t have the stuff to end the game against the Marlins, a good hitting team. Prior gave up the lead, the bullpen added fuel to the fire. Marlins come back to win game six, a tough loss for the Cubs.

Marlins even the series 3-3 and they look very relaxed heading into game seven.

Kerry Wood tried to go as far as he could Wednesday night in the deciding game. When a big pitcher loses his stuff, the game can get ugly. This one did as it turned nasty after the Cubs took the lead 5-3. The Marlins were on Wood quickly like white on rice.

Wood couldn’t muster the strength to hold the lead. Dusty left him in, as he did Prior, hoping that somehow the Marlins would hit the ball at one of his fielders for the needed outs. They didn’t and routed Wood and his bullpen mates, taking control of the game and the pennant.

When the Marlins starter, Mark Redman, faltered, McKeon went to his starters for relief. Brad Penny and Josh Beckett (the Marlins played 66 innings in the playoffs, Beckett pitched 19.6 of them), held the Cubs totally in check while their bats added more insurance.

Baker wouldn’t go to Carlos Zambrano or Matt Clement for some reason when Wood faltered, McKeon rolled the dice with his frontliners and that, my friends, is why the Marlins won the NL pennant and the Cubs didn’t.

The Cubs big pitchers weren’t used in game seven after Wood gave up the lead, the Marlins were and they held the line turning the game in their favor.

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The Cubs lost game six last night and now play for the National League pennant tonight against the Florida Marlins in game seven. Whoever wins tonight’s game will be the unlikely winner of the 2003 NL flag. Who did you think would be going to the World Series when spring training started in March?

Did Dusty leave Mark Prior in too long last night? The question for any manager is will the next pitcher give me a better chance to win, then the one I currently have out there.

Prior was clearly not the same pitcher as the inning unfolded. Still his stuff was good, not great, but better than what Kyle Farnsworth could bring on his best day.

Mike Mordecai finished the evening for Chicago with his ringing bases clearing double off Farnsworth, giving the Fish a 7-3 lead.

Tonight, the Marlins throw Mark Redman, a lefty, against Kerry Wood. The Cubs can hit lefties up and down the lineup. You remember games three and four? Can Kerry Wood slow the Marlins down? Certainly, if he has his control, but this is game seven and one mistake can cost you the game. Some of the best pitchers in the game have never faced the pressure of a game seven, and trust me, this game is different tonight.

The Gibsons, Morrises, Koufaxs, and Burdettes have been there and succeeded, cementing their place in baseball history, tonight is Kerry Wood’s chance to put his name with the greats of the game.

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