Larry Stone / Baseball reporter
Against the odds, it's Beckett in Game 6 for the Marlins

	DAVID J. PHILLIP / AP Marlins starter Josh Beckett says he's ready to go on three days' rest today in Game 6 of the World Series. The Marlins can take the title with a win over the Yankees in New York.
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NEW YORK — Josh Beckett already has the bearing of a major star. He has been the breakout persona of the postseason. It's pretty clear he thinks rather highly of himself. For good reason, too.

This might surprise you: His career record is just .500, at 17-17. And this: He actually has a losing record in this postseason, 1-2 in four starts.

Irrelevant. Jack McKeon knows who the Florida Marlins want to close out the World Series tonight, so much so that he's willing to defy a litany of statistics that argue against using a pitcher on three days' rest in October.

Beckett will take the mound tonight against the New York Yankees in Game 6, and he'll do it with a strut. This is a guy who thinks his resin bag doesn't stink, and he practically begged McKeon for the start.

"You always want to be the guy, take the ball in that last game or whatever," he said. "I'm looking forward to it. I think, actually, having a day less rest is easier to stay sharp than having that extra day, the sixth day."

History disagrees. History shows that over the past four seasons, postseason teams using starters on three days' rest are 4-15. Over the last seven years, they are 6-17 with a 5.47 earned-run average in 35 starts.

But history also shows that Andy Pettitte started Game 3 of this World Series on three days' rest and beat Beckett with a strong performance. McKeon isn't looking back any further than that. And one gets the feeling he'd have done it even if Pettitte had bombed.

"You've got to look at the individual," he said. "If I had Bob Gibson out there on three days' rest, would anyone be asking me why I pitched Bob Gibson? Nobody. That's how I feel about Beckett."

It's a huge gamble, because it means that if the Marlins lose tonight, McKeon will have to come back tomorrow with Carl Pavano on three days' rest, too.

But Beckett is a huge talent who believes he was born for precisely this moment. He's the latest in a long line of Texas-bred fireballers, following Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood, in whose company he feels, at age 23, quite comfortable being mentioned.

"He's come into his own in the postseason," McKeon said. "Right now, we feel that's our best shot. We're going to take our chances, put our best out there, and hope for the best."

When the Marlins made Beckett the second overall pick in the 1999 draft out of Spring High School, outside of Houston, and signed him to a $7 million bonus, he said at a news conference that day he'd be on the All-Star team within two years.

Made it, too — the Florida State League All-Star team in 2001, pitching for Brevard County.

His career has progressed in fits and starts, mainly because of a blister problem that landed him on the disabled list three times last year. He finally solved that with something called Stan's Blister Ointment, but landed back on the DL this year for nearly two months with a sprained elbow.

But now, finally healthy, he is showing why scouts lump him with Mark Prior as the Great Pitching Hopes of the new generation.

He showed it in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, when he absolutely tamed the Cubs with a two-hit shutout, making Florida's comeback from a 3-1 series deficit attainable.

He showed something else that day, standing up to Sammy Sosa when Sosa complained about a high-and-tight pitch. And he showed even more in Game 7, when on just two days' rest he pitched in relief, blanking the Cubs on one hit over the final four innings to give Florida the pennant.

"The Cubs," McKeon said yesterday, "wanted no part of him."

He lost his previous World Series start to Pettitte, but the only three hits he allowed over 7-1/3 innings were to Derek Jeter, and the score was tied at 1 when he left the game. Beckett doesn't want to hear about the Yankees' so-called "aura of intimidation," because he's not buying into it.

"We're not worried about that," Beckett earlier this week. "We're going to play baseball. It doesn't matter who we're playing against — I don't feel any added pressure. I guess that was the answer you were looking for."

Beckett can be a handful in interview situations, muttering under his breath after questions he doesn't like, periodically challenging his inquisitors. He comes off as arrogant and cocky, but his teammates say that's just Josh.

"He's young, a young kid," McKeon said. "He likes to talk. We kind of agitate each other once in a while. But one thing about him, he may talk a lot, but he walks the walk as well. That's what I'm so happy about."

He'll be walking and talking tonight at Yankee Stadium. Right where he wants to be.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com

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