By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service

NEW YORK - Mystique? What mystique? Not even ghosts can hit great pitching.

When the end came Saturday night, the Florida Marlins had finally run out of odds to beat, surprises to pull or statements to make.

With one last remarkable night of pitching by a young lion named Josh Beckett, they had won Game 6, 2-0. They had conquered the New York Yankees in the disbelieving Bronx. They had won the World Series, 4-2.

The team that fired its manager in May. The team that started the season 19-29, and finished 10 games behind in its own division. The team with two key players called directly from Class AA, and a now-famous ace only 23, and a new manager pulled from the autumn of his years. The team with a payroll less than a third of the opponent they just met.

Champions.

"This chemistry that we have this year, I don't think anybody in the game will ever have again," said Jack McKeon, at 72, the oldest championship manager in baseball history.

"Nobody gave us a chance ... You'll believe me now, anything can happen."

On Saturday night, the aura belonged to no one in pinstripes dead or alive, but the fearless Texan who mowed down the Yankees on five hits and steadily squeezed the life from them and their crowd with the mercy of an executioner.

"That's who we wanted," Beckett said of playing the Yankees. "They are who they are."

Beckett, named the series MVP, struck out nine, did not allow a runner past second base, and required only 107 pitches. The Yankees put the leadoff man on four times. But they died waiting for the big hit that never came, going 0-for-12 with runners on base.

Beckett had stripped them of their magic. The debate on what he could do on three days' rest vanished in the night, as did New York's offense.

"God blessed me with one last good game," Beckett said.

"Who's going to be the first one to ask me if Beckett can pitch on three days' rest?" McKeon said. "This guy is special."

It took such dominance to outduel Andy Pettitte. In seven innings, Pettitte gave up one run in the fifth when Alex Gonzalez slid around a tag and an unearned run in the sixth.

But even that was too much against Beckett, who exploded upon the national consciousness in October. In his last 29 1/3 postseason innings over four games, he gave up 11 hits and three runs.

"We didn't lose it, they won it," New York manager Joe Torre said of his team. "Josh Beckett showed he's going to be a great one down the road, if he's not already.

"That's one real tough kid," said Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, watching restlessly from the press box.

The tough kid made the Marlins champions.

The team that had to come back in the first round against 100-game winner San Francisco. And had to come back in the next round while nation and networks went crazy over the Chicago Cubs. And had to come back against the Yankees.

The team that was outscored in this series 21-17. Outhit 54-47. Outhomered 6-2.

"The only thing we have done," McKeon said, "is win more games."

"They do the little things," Torre said. "And they don't know what intimidation is.

"It was a hell of a lesson for us to learn first-hand."

A franchise only 11 years old now has its second title in seven years, though it has never been a division champion, and has only two winning seasons in its history. But it has never lost a postseason series.

And by the end Saturday night, they had showed the baseball world the value of youth, and of age.

Whether it was 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera or 21-year-old Dontrelle Willis, who both started the season as Carolina Mudcats. Or Ivan Rodriguez, eager to prove he was not a catcher on the downhill side. Or 37-year old Jeff Conine, made a Marlin for the second time in his career in August, just in time.

Or the crotchety humor and wisdom of McKeon, who grew up across the Hudson River in New Jersey as a Yankee fan.

"I feel emptiness," Torre said, "and he can't feel better than he feels right now."

When McKeon's team was done Saturday, they celebrated as outsiders on the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium. As they had celebrated 10 days before on the hallowed grounds of Wrigley Field. The wild card underdogs that would never go away.

The Yankees expired with an uncertain future, the roster and coaching staff now at the mercy of their zero-tolerance owner.

The Marlins broke through with a run in the fifth on three two-out singles, the RBI by Luis Castillo as Gonzalez slid around Jorge Posada's tag, brushing the plate with his hand.

It was another example of Marlins' opportunism. Ten of 12 runs they had in winning the last three games were scored with two out.

They made it 2-0 in the sixth on Juan Encarnacion's sacrifice fly scoring Conine, who had reached base when Jeter bobbled his grounder.

But both innings, Pettitte escaped further damage. Florida stranded five runners those two innings. It is dangerous to leave such a door ajar for the Yankees.

"I didn't know if it was going to be enough," McKeon said. "But Beckett took care of that."

Any Yakee threat was quickly squelched.

A Yankee third inning - runners at first and second with one out - ended when Williams grounded into a double play.

With a man on second and one out in the fifth, Alfonso Soriano popped up and Jeter struck out.

Posada's leadoff double in the seventh was wasted, Karim Garcia and Ruben Sierra both striking out.

Soriano's leadoff single in the eighth had Yankee Stadium pleading for a rally. But Nick Johnson hit into a double play.

Soon it was over. "I get to go deer hunting now," Beckett said.

It is rare that 55,773 people could be so quiet, but they had seen the Yankees eliminated for the first time in 22 years. They had seen a different kind of ghost. They had seen the Florida Marlins.