Richard Justice / Houston Chronicle

NEW YORK – Josh Beckett stood on the very mound that has scared some and intimidated some and worried almost all. He stood there and did not blink. He stood there and stared down Babe Ruth’s ghost and George Steinbrenner’s millions and all the other advantages the New York Yankees believed they had.

In a World Series that was supposed to be about the tradition and greatness and wealth of the Yankees, Beckett was the equalizer.

Thrust onto the game’s biggest stage at the tender age of 23, he was brilliant and cool and overpowering. And years from now when the talk turns to great World Series performances, his name will be mentioned alongside Koufax and Gibson and all the others.

The righthander from Spring hoisted the Florida Marlins onto his shoulders Saturday night in Game 6 of the 99th World Series and carried them for nine brilliant innings to a 2-0 victory in front of 55,773 mostly stunned fans at Yankee Stadium.

“He was unbelievably great,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said of Beckett, who was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. “You can appreciate what it takes to win when you watch what Josh Beckett did. When you are that young, you don’t know what fear is.”

Marlins manager Jack McKeon had taken a huge gamble in asking Beckett to pitch on three days of rest – one short of normal – as the Marlins tried to finish their second championship in seven years. He was asking him to pitch in a high-stress situation for the fourth time in 13 days and was betting Beckett’s talent and tenacity would more than overcome his fatigue. McKeon was right. Beckett took the ball and never gave it back.

He needed 107 pitches to go the distance and subdued the Yankees with a blazing fastball and eye-popping curveball in allowing five hits, never seeming close to losing control. The Yanks got runners as far as second base only four times, and Beckett snuffed every challenge.

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