What, Yankees' fans worry?

MIAMI-- Ladies and gentlemen, start your worrying.
Pace the bedroom tonight. You know George Steinbrenner will.

Put your finger on the panic button. It's OK to give in to your fear.

Not only will the Marlins not go away, they're one victory from making Steinbrenner take a machete to his Damn Yankees, because the team David Wells suggested should be contracted is this close to aborting the Yankees' season.

Marlins 6, Yankees 4, it ended, and when the World Series has been tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 has won 66 percent of the time. The odds are against these Yanks.

Be afraid. Really.

"We haven't been down this road many times," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "We've been fortunate that when we won these World Series, I think (winning in) six (games) was the longest for us."

To win this Series will require two straight wins by the Yankees in the face of defeat.

It will require beating a resilient team that has a one-game cushion for error. And the Marlins pitch well and make few errors.

w, sometimes it seems these Yankees create obstacles just so they can dramatically hurdle them at the end. They play like champions; so when a game is at its bleakest, they shine brightest. Just as they rallied from a two-run deficit in the ninth inning of Game 4 to force extra innings, they were at it again Thursday night. Down by five and given up for dead at the start of the ninth, they sprang to life. They scored three runs, including a pinch-hit solo homer by Jason Giambi; and with one out, Enrique Wilson on second, Bernie Williams drove a Ugueth Urbina pitch deep to right.

Like the Yankees' night, it was too short and too late.

And really, the Yankees were doomed in Game 5 from its start. First, Giambi re-aggravated his balky knee and was scratched from the lineup one hour before the game, then Wells' back spasms forced him out after his 1-2-3 first inning.

In the second, Jose Contreras put five straight men on base with two outs, the Marlins scored three. Did you think the Yankees' bullpen would keep things even this close? the World Series began we had this silly notion that the Marlins would be intimidated by playing the greatest dynasty since Ming's. So petrified these Marlins were on the team bus barreling toward Yankee Stadium for Game 1 that players yelled out the windows "Here come the Fish!" and "Here we come to ruin New York's day!"

We failed to see that these Marlins are too young to understand how the postseason caldron can scald, and too talented to care.

At first, these Marlins were novel. A fun foil for the Yankees after their steel-cage, loser-leaves-the-postseason grudge match against the Red Sox.

But as Brad Penny blew fastballs by the Yankees, many words popped to mind. "Fun" wasn't among them.

So now we got worry.

"Their backs are against the wall," general manager Brian Cashman said. "We've got to get the job done or watch somebody else celebrate on our field."

Yes, we got Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina, too.

"It's not over yet," Penny said. "We got to go out and take care of business."

Oh, yeah?

We got Giambi returning to the starting lineup, and the law of percentages, which states the Yankees should score more -- and worry.

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Few believed it possible. Hardly anyone imagined it conceivable -- not in the kookiest of dreams. Jumbo-sized Las Vegas odds indicated they were among baseball's long shots before the first pitch was thrown in March.

Yet the Marlins are not just in October anymore, one of two teams standing. They're on the cusp of the wildly improbable, a World Series title at their fingertips.

With their 6-4 victory against the New York Yankees on Thursday at Pro Player Stadium, the Marlins gained the upper hand in the World Series, grabbing a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series and putting them one victory from the title with two games to get it accomplished.

''It's not over yet,'' said Marlins pitcher Brad Penny, who pocketed his second win of the Series by holding the Yankees in check for seven innings. ``We are one game away. We're real excited, but we've got to go out there and take care of business.''

The crowd no longer will be on their side like it was in Game 5, when 65,975 had their fill of fun and cheers. The Series heads back to Yankee Stadium for Game 6 on Saturday and, if the Marlins lose, a deciding Game 7 on Sunday.

''I think we're looking at it as one game out of one,'' Marlins third baseman Mike Lowell said. ``I think we're just going to look at Game 6. I don't think we're really wrapped up in all we have to do is go 1 and 1.''

Said Marlins outfielder Jeff Conine: ``Obviously, we'd like to close it out on Saturday and not have to worry about a Game 7 on Sunday.''

The Yankees are old hats at October baseball. They have won the Series 26 times. But a 27th became a lot tougher when they dropped their second straight to the Marlins.

''We haven't been down this road many times,'' manager Joe Torre said. ``Certainly, I'd rather be up three games to two, but I feel good about who we have pitching.''

That would be Andy Pettitte in Game 6 and Mike Mussina in Game 7. Manager Jack McKeon hasn't announced who he would start in Game 6, but hinted it could be Josh Beckett. Mark Redman and Rick Helling are the other possibilities.

'We talked about it [starting on three days' rest],'' Beckett said. ``But they haven't said anything is set yet. I'd like to be the guy out there pitching.''

That's all details to be decided later, though.

On Thursday, the Marlins played their final home game and did their part to make the send-off special.

They capitalized on an injury-weakened Yankees lineup to build a comfortable early lead, then held their collective breath as the bullpen barely survived another nail-biting ninth.

''Yeah, it was a little scary there,'' McKeon said.

Torre took a blender to his starting lineup, replacing Alfonso Soriano with Enrique Wilson, installing Derek Jeter in the leadoff spot, and moving Hideki Matsui to the cleanup position.

The payoff was immediate.

The Yankees went on top in the first after Jeter singled and Wilson laid down a bunt the Marlins had trouble fielding. Derrek Lee came up with the ball after it glanced off Brad Penny's glove, but threw it past Luis Castillo at first for an error. Bernie Williams -- who entered with a .471 Series average and four RBI -- drove home Jeter with a sacrifice fly.

But what personnel moves Torre didn't make himself, injuries took care of the rest. Jason Giambi was scratched from the lineup because of a sore left knee, and starter David Wells came out after the first inning because of acute lower back spasms.

Wells needed only eight pitches to get through the first, but he was wincing noticeably during his brief stay on the mound.

Jose Contreras took over on short notice and was in trouble immediately. With two out, he walked Lowell and Lee. Alex Gonzalez -- the Marlins' Game 4 hero with his winning home run in the 12th -- blasted a double that bounced over the wall in deep right-center to score Lowell. Penny lined the first pitch he saw for a two-run single to make it 3-1.

The Marlins increased their lead in the fourth when Juan Pierre doubled, scoring Lee from second.

The Yankees self-destructed in the fifth that left owner George Steinbrenner seething.

With ex-Marlin Chris Hammond pitching, Ivan Rodriguez singled up the middle and advanced to second when he tagged on Miguel Cabrera's warning-track shot to right.

But the Yankees blew the rundown when Rodriguez got hung up on Conine's ground ball to third, and Wilson threw away the ball. His error left runners at second and third. Lowell drove them in with a bloop single to center.

The 6-1 deficit was too much for the Yankees to overcome -- barely.

Penny, who won Game 1, was more impressive Thursday than he was at Yankee Stadium. His curveball was working as well as his hard heat, and the impatient Yankees helped the right-hander by refusing to take many pitches. And Penny was making them hit the ball to the infielders. Eleven of the first 18 outs were ground balls.

Penny was coming hard in the seventh, nearly working his way out of a jam when Nick Johnson and Garcia led off with hits. Penny retired Aaron Boone on a shallow fly and struck out pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra on a 98-mph fastball. But he threw an 0-2 pitch down the middle, and Jeter laced up the middle for an RBI single.

That was it, though. The inning ended when Williams flied to right.

Dontrelle Willis worked a scoreless eighth, but Braden Looper could not claim the same. He was a savior in Wednesday's Game 4 win, but he caused a scare Thursday.

Giambi came off the bench to homer, making it 6-3. The Yankees closed to 6-4 when Wilson doubled to right, driving in Jeter, and knocking Looper out of the game.

Ugueth Urbina, who gave up two ninth-inning runs in Game 4 to force extra innings, gave up a long fly ball by Williams that drove Juan Encarnacion to the warning track before he hauled it in.

And Matsui scorched a one-hopper to first that Lee caught cleanly and stepped on the bag to end it.

This is a fun series and will be great for baseball.

-DP-