By Scott Brown
Florida Today

CHICAGO - The Florida Marlins left Pro Player Stadium on Sunday night feeling good about themselves.

They had quieted Chicago's bats - not to mention the visiting fans who at times made South Florida seem like South Wrigleyville - and for the first time in the postseason, they did not have to play catch-up.

But the Marlins, who beat the Cubs 4-0 Sunday on Josh Beckett's two-hit gem, have no illusions about what they are up against when the National League championship series returns to Chicago.

"We've got our hands full the next two days," said third baseman Mike Lowell, whose two homers this series have provided the difference in Florida victories. "We're going to scratch and claw and see if we can score a few more runs than they do."

That may be easier said than done.

Mark Prior, an 18-game winner during the regular season, will try to close out the Marlins today when the teams meet at Wrigley Field for an 8:18 p.m. game. If Florida finds a way to beat Prior, it gets no bargain in the seventh game as Kerry Wood is Chicago's scheduled starter.

Wood has been overpowering in the postseason, though the Marlins scored three runs off the right-hander in 6 2/3 innings last Friday, so they know he is not invincible.

"We're going to need two more quality starts," Lowell says.

The Marlins will try to get them from Carl Pavano and then Mark Redman if a seventh game, scheduled for 8:18 p.m. Wednesday, is necessary.

The right-handed Pavano, who was Florida's fifth starter during the regular season, leads the Marlins with two postseason victories. Pavano has also yet to give up a run in October and opponents are batting .125 against him.

Of course, Pavano has only pitched 4 2/3 innings.

"He's a guy who's surprisingly throwing harder in the second half than he did when he started," Lowell says. "He's going to have some zip on his fastball. I think his role is to keep hitters off-balance and he's going to work on changing speeds."

Pavano will need to keep the Cubs off-balance if the Marlins are to have a chance.

Chicago scored in the first inning in the first four NLCS games and twice posted a four-spot in the opening frame.

On the importance of having an early lead, Prior says, "It gives you a little wiggle (room) to make a mistake. We don't have to make perfect pitches and cut corners."

Kenny Lofton, who is batting .417 in the NLCS, is largely the reason why Cubs' pitchers have had that luxury in four of the five games.

The Marlins kept Chicago's leadoff hitter off base Sunday for the first time this series. Not coincidentally, they kept the Cubs off the scoreboard.

Yet even the victory that averted an ignominious sweep at home didn't diminish what the Cubs had done: win two of three in the stadium where the Marlins had been 27-7 in their previous 34 games.

"I had an idea we were going back home," Cubs manager Dusty Baker says. "They're a good team, period, but they're especially tough in South Florida. We wanted all three, but I'd have been satisfied with two out of three."

Baker got that and now gets a favorable pitching matchup on his team's own turf. Prior is especially effective when he has more than four days of rest between starts.

If the Marlins do win tonight, they could really put pressure on the Cubs.

The reason: history.

The Cubs hadn't won a playoff series in 95 years before beating the Braves in the National League division series.

If they let the NLCS go the distance, they'll no doubt face a barrage of questions and inspire reams of stories about Chicago not winning a World Series since 1908 and the infamous collapse of 1969.

And they will surely hear plenty about the supposed curse of the Cubs.

"Being a Cubs fan has, I guess, been tough throughout the years," Prior says. "Hopefully, we can get past this hurdle and move on."