Florida Marlins manager Jack McKeon was prepared to take all the criticism that would come his way for starting Josh Beckett in Game 6 of the World Series on three days’ rest.

"I am paid to make the decisions," McKeon said. "If it’s good, I am going to be a genius. If it doesn’t work out, they will want my head."

McKeon didn’t need to specify who "they" were. And in the end, it didn’t matter.

Beckett pitched even more brilliantly than McKeon could have imagined.

He fired a five-hit shutout as the Marlins stunned the New York Yankees in a 2-0 victory that gave them their second World Series title in seven years.

It also provided a decent consolation prize to the Cubs, who earned the right to proclaim: "We’re No. 2!"

At least they took the Marlins to seven games in the National League Championship Series.

McKeon started Beckett on Saturday even though pitchers going on short rest were 5-16 with a 6.30 earned-run average in the last five Octobers.

But none of them was named Josh Beckett, who was still throwing in the mid-90s when he retired the Yankees 1-2-3 in the ninth.

Beckett, the brash Texan who turned 23 in May, said beating the Yankees in the ultimate game gave him a sense of relief and surprise.

"I can’t believe we don’t have a game (Sunday)," the Series MVP said. "That’s the weird thing. I can go deer hunting now. I look forward to that."

The Marlins scored their runs by playing small ball.

After Alex Gonzalez stroked a two-out single with two outs in the fifth, Juan Pierre followed with a single to center.

Luis Castillo then lined Andy Pettitte’s 2-2 pitch into right field, where Karim Garcia fielded it on one bounce.

Marlins third-base coach Ozzie Guillen waved Gonzalez around, willing to roll the dice to break a scoreless tie.

Garcia’s throw beat Castillo to the plate, but Gonzalez slid around catcher Jorge Posada, nipping home plate with his left hand.

The Marlins doubled their lead in the sixth after the Yankees turned charitable.

First Derek Jeter bobbled Jeff Conine’s routine ground ball, allowing him to reach on an error. Then Pettitte walked Mike Lowell on four pitches.

Derrek Lee’s sacrifice bunt bounced right to Pettitte, but the left-hander mistakenly threw to second base instead of third.

With one out and runners at the corners, Juan Encarnacion put on a clinic in two-strike hitting. He reached out to send a 1-2 pitch to right-center field, deep enough to score Conine.

Entering the game the Yankees had outhit the Marlins .275 to .237 and had a lower team ERA, 2.35 to 3.83. But the Yankees had been so incompetent (7-for-49) with runners in scoring position, they were on the brink of elimination.

That didn’t change Saturday, when they went 0-for-7.

Yankees manager Joe Torre looked wise by starting the slumping Alfonso Soriano after a one-game benching. Soriano, who entered Game 6 hitting .158 with nine strikeouts in 19 World Series at-bats, singled to lead off the third and eighth innings.

But he was stranded both times by Beckett, who tagged out Posada on a grounder up the first-base line to end the game.