By MIKE LOPRESTI
Gannett News Service

Marlins pinch-hitter Mike Lowell celebrates his game-winning homer in the 11th inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

CHICAGO - Whatever it was the Florida Marlins had against San Francisco - magic or the mystique of the underdog - they brought with them to Chicago.

Nothing fazes these fish at the moment. Not a 4-0 Cubs lead in the first inning Tuesday night, not a dramatic Sammy Sosa home run in the ninth inning that forced extra innings, not the hostile thunder of Wrigley Field or the pressure of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. The Marlins, with an 11th-inning, pinch-hit homer by Mike Lowell and five RBI by Ivan Rodriguez, swept it all aside to outbash Chicago 9-8, in a slugfest that set an NLCS record with 17 extra base hits.

"You do it once," said Lowell, "you know you can do it again."

"Let's just forget about this," said Chicago pitcher Carlos Zambrano. "This is a seven-game series. What has happened is in the past."

With Lowell's solo shot off Mark Guthrie in the 11th - his first real noise since coming off the disabled list - the Marlins had brought their plucky act to another city, and promptly taken the series lead and home-field advantage.

"This is a resilient club," said manager Jack McKeon. "These guys don't quit."

"At this stage, everybody is resilient" said Chicago manager Dusty Baker, "No lead is safe. No lead is big enough.

"That was a hell of a game. It's sad we came out on the short end. Very disheartening, actually."

The Cubs were left with the comfort of knowing their next two starting pitchers are named Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

"You hate to lose at home," Baker said. "But we'll come back with our horses the next two games."

"There's no pressure on us," McKeon said. "We weren't supposed to be here. We're playing loosey-goosey."

They had to Tuesday, especially after the ninth inning, when they led 8-6 with only one out to get, and Sosa suddenly yanked away the game with a two-run blast to left.

Sosa was 3-for-20 in the postseason when he came to bat with Kenny Lofton at second, a slumping man as the Cubs' last chance. Florida closer Ugueth Urbina worked the count to 1-1, and then the ball was suddenly headed toward left field, as so many have before. And the Wrigley Field masses that had restlessly grumbled at all his previous at-bats were back to chanting "Sammy! Sammy!"

"I think it was just a pause," McKeon said of the Florida dugout as its lead sailed out of sight. "Like, 'Hold them right there and we'll get them later.' "

It was the kind of moment that might overwhelm a team. But the Marlins recovered, and waited for another big hit from someone. It turned out to be Lowell, who is trying to work his way back into the lineup from a broken left hand.

"He's the guy you want in that situation," McKeon said. "It couldn't happen to a greater guy."

Until the bottom of the ninth, the night was owned by Rodriguez, who tormented the Giants so last week, and is back at it against the Cubs, making up for all the Octobers he missed at Texas.

His three-run homer in the third ate up most of the Cubs' early 4-0 lead. His two-run single in the top of the ninth, slapped the opposite way with the bases loaded, broke a 6-6 tie.

"He's really shown what he's all about in the playoffs," pitcher Brad Penny said.

In the beginning, it looked like batting practice. The Cubs with four runs in the first off Josh Beckett, the Marlins with five runs in the third off Zambrano.

Not until the fourth inning was there a single, on the game's 11th hit. By then, there had already been four triples (an NLCS record) and four home runs (three in one inning by Florida, another record). Balls were going at the ivy, into the ivy, over the ivy.

"It just kept going back and forth," Lowell said. "It was weird."

Beckett was left pounding a bench in the dugout, frustrated at the way he had started.

"Sometimes," he said later, "less is more. I was trying to do too much, and elevated some balls. They did what big league hitters are supposed to do with elevated balls. They hit them."

But Beckett suddenly found himself. Not another ball left the infield until the fifth inning.

The Chicago lead didn't last long. Rodriguez' three-run shot in the third started the rally. A moment later, Miguel Cabrera and Juan Encarnacion homered back to back, and the Marlins led 5-4. "I wasn't very good today," said Zambrano, who allowed only nine homers in 214 innings this season, but Tuesday gave up three in four hitters.

Florida led 6-4 in the sixth when Chicago's Alex Gonzalez tied it with a two-run homer. Later came Sosa, and then Lowell. And so it went in a torrid opener of what might be a steamy series.

"This," Zambrano said, "is the beginning."

Marlins 9, Cubs 8, 11 innings

Florida	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Pierre cf	5	2	1	0	1	0	.200
LCastillo 2b	5	1	3	0	1	0	.600
IRodriguez c	5	1	2	5	1	1	.400
DeLee 1b	5	0	0	0	1	3	.000
Cabrera 3b	6	2	2	1	0	1	.333
Looper p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JEncarnacion rf	5	1	2	1	0	1	.400
Conine lf	4	0	1	1	0	0	.250
AGonzalez ss	5	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Beckett p	3	0	1	0	0	1	.333
CFox p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
b-Hollandsworth ph	1	1	1	0	0	0	1.000
Urbina p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
c-Lowell ph-3b	1	1	1	1	0	0	1.000
Totals	45	9	14	9	4	7

Chicago	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Lofton cf	4	2	1	0	1	0	.250
Grudzielanek 2b	5	1	2	1	0	0	.400
SSosa rf	5	1	1	2	0	1	.200
Alou lf	4	1	1	2	1	0	.250
ARamirez 3b	5	1	1	0	0	0	.200
Simon 1b	5	1	1	0	0	2	.200
ASGonzalez ss	5	1	3	3	0	1	.600
Guthrie p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Alfonseca p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Bako c	3	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Farnsworth p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
a-Goodwin ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Borowski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
REMartinez ss	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Zambrano p	2	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Remlinger p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
DMiller c	3	0	1	0	0	1	.333
Totals	43	8	11	8	2	9

Florida	005	001	002	01	-9	14	1
Chicago	400	002	002	00	-8	11	1

a-struck out for Farnsworth in the 8th. b-doubled for C.Fox in the 9th. c-homered for Urbina in the 11th.

E-AGonzalez (1), Grudzielanek (1). LOB-Florida 8, Chicago 5. 2B-LCastillo (1), Hollandsworth (1), Lofton (1), Simon (1), ASGonzalez (1), DMiller (1). 3B-Pierre (1), Conine (1), Grudzielanek (1), ARamirez (1). HR-Lowell (1), off Guthrie; SSosa (1), off Urbina; ASGonzalez (1), off Beckett; JEncarnacion (1), off Zambrano; Cabrera (1), off Zambrano; IRodriguez (1), off Zambrano; Alou (1), off Beckett. RBIs-IRodriguez 5 (5), Cabrera (1), JEncarnacion (1), Conine (1), Lowell (1), Grudzielanek (1), SSosa 2 (2), Alou 2 (2), ASGonzalez 3 (3). SB-LCastillo 2 (2). CS-Pierre (1). S-Lofton. SF-Conine. GIDP-Alou.

Runners left in scoring position-Florida 5 (DeLee 2, Cabrera, AGonzalez, Beckett); Chicago 3 (SSosa, Bako, Goodwin).

DP-Florida 1 (AGonzalez, LCastillo and DeLee); Chicago 1 (REMartinez and Grudzielanek).

Florida	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Beckett	6 1/3	8	6	6	1	5	82	8.53
CFox	1 2/3	1	0	0	1	1	33	0.00
Urbina W, 1-0 BS, 1	2	2	2	2	0	2	28	9.00
Looper S, 1	1	0	0	0	0	1	10	0.00

Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Zambrano	6	9	6	5	1	3	102	7.50
Remlinger	1/3	1	0	0	0	0	8	0.00
Farnsworth	1 2/3	0	0	0	0	3	22	0.00
Borowski	2	2	2	1	1	1	36	4.50
Guthrie L, 0-1	1/3	1	1	1	0	0	10	27.00
Alfonseca	2/3	1	0	0	2	0	18	0.00

Inherited runners-scored-CFox 1-0, Farnsworth 1-0.

IBB-off Alfonseca (IRodriguez) 1. PB-Bako.

Umpires-Home, Jerry Crawford; First, Chuck Meriwether; Second, Fieldin Culbreth; Third, Mike Everitt; Left, Larry Poncino; Right, Mike Reilly.

T-3:44. A-39,567 (39,241).