NLCS Marlins force a return to Wrigley

Josh Beckett threw the first postseason shutout against the Cubs since Babe Ruth in 1918.
MIAMI (AP) -- Before Josh Beckett buzzed Sammy Sosa, Chris Lane set the tone for the Florida Marlins.
Chris Lane?
He's the team chaplain who conducted the Sunday morning service at Pro Player Stadium prior to Game 5 of the NL championship series against the Chicago Cubs.
"It was a little more motivational than usual," Lane said, "and we had a lot more people there."
Hours later, Beckett pitched the game of his young life and Florida put history on hold, beating the Cubs 4-0 and preventing them from wrapping up their first World Series trip in 58 years.
Beckett threw a two-hitter and struck out 11, sending the series back to Wrigley Field with Chicago's lead cut to 3-2. He became the first pitcher to throw a postseason shutout against the Cubs since Babe Ruth did it for Boston in the 1918 World Series.
Manager's reaction
"I had an idea we were going to go back home," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "Now we're going back to our fans and our people, and it's going to be exciting and electric."
Beckett's signature moment came in the fourth inning when he threw up-and-in to Sosa. The tension wasn't nearly as high as it was between the Yankees and Red Sox at Fenway Park in the ALCS a day earlier, but it had the ballpark buzzing.
"He overreacted a lot. I don't know if he was trying to pull a Boston Red Sox-Yankee thing," Beckett said. "It was pretty ignorant. I'm not trying to hit him."
Beaned twice this season, Sosa admitted he might have gotten too riled up.
"He probably wasn't throwing at me," he said. "But because of what happened before, maybe that was my reaction."
Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Lowell and Jeff Conine homered and the Marlins played the role of ultimate spoiler.
Only three times in LCS history and five times in World Series play have teams come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-7 matchup.
The Marlins began their comeback behind Beckett, who pitched the first complete game of his 51 starts in the majors. He also tied the NLCS record for fewest hits allowed in a complete game.
Florida fastball
At 23, Beckett featured a fastball that reached 100 mph in allowing only two singles and a walk. He shut down a Cubs team that had totaled 33 runs in the first four games of the series.
Chicago had outscored Florida 11-0 in the first inning of the NLCS, but Beckett breezed through Kenny Lofton, Mark Grudzielanek and Sosa.
Lowell hit a two-run homer in the fifth off the excitable Carlos Zambrano in the fifth, and Rodriguez and Conine later connected.
Lowell's hit was just his third of the postseason. Injured for most of the final month, he came back to hit an 11th-inning homer that won Game 1.
When he batted in the eighth, Beckett drew a standing ovation from towel-waving Marlins fans in the crowd of 65,279.
Beckett allowed only one ball beyond the infield before the Cubs got their first hit, a soft single by Alex Gonzalez with two outs in the fifth. Moises Alou also singled in the seventh as hitters on both sides struggled in the twilight start.
A half-inning after Marlins rookie Miguel Cabrera was drilled in the left elbow by Zambrano, Beckett almost nailed Sosa.
Beckett's first pitch in the fourth was a head-high heater to Sosa -- tailing in toward him, too -- that caused the slugger to duck and stumble backward. Sosa immediately sprang to his feet and took a couple of steps toward the mound, shouting and pointing his bat at Beckett.
Words returned
"I was so surprised I had to shoot something else back at him. It was kind of baffling to me, really," Beckett said.
Plate umpire Larry Poncino and Rodriguez, the Marlins catcher, quickly sealed off Sosa to prevent big trouble as a few Cubs rushed to the top step of the dugout.
Rodriguez patted Sosa on the back, trying to calm down his fellow All-Star while they stood several feet up the third-base line. While Rodriguez, Sosa and Poncino were sorting it out, Beckett calmly walked in from the mound and got the ball.
When play resumed, Beckett threw a pair of 98 mph fastballs and another one at 100 mph before striking out Sosa with a changeup.
CHICAGOFLORIDA
abrhbiabrhbi
Lofton cf4000Pierre cf4010
Grdzln 2b4000LCstillo 2b4010
SSosa rf4000IRdrgz c3111
Alou lf3010Cbrera rf2110
ARmrz 3b2000DeLee 1b4000
Simon 1b3000Lowell 3b4122
ASGzlz ss3010Conine lf3111
Bako c3000AGnzlz ss4000
Zmbrno p1000Beckett p3010
Godwin ph1000
Veres p0000
Alfnsca p0000
O'Lery ph1000
Rmlngr p0000
Totals29020Totals31484
Chicago000000000--0
Florida00002011x--4
DP--Chicago 1. LOB--Chicago 3, Florida 9. HR--IRodriguez (2), Lowell (2), Conine (1).
IPHRERBBSO
Chicago
Zambrano L,0-1552245
Veres1 1-321100
Alfonseca2-300000
Remlinger111110
Florida
Beckett W,1-09200111
HBP--by Zambrano (Cabrera). WP--Zambrano. Umpires--Home, Larry Poncino; First, Mike Reilly; Second, Jerry Crawford; Third, Chuck Meriwether; Left, Fieldin Culbreth; Right, Mike Everitt. T--2:42. A--65,279.