Marlins hooked on winning; Back-to-back homers beat Indians in Series opener.

• Position: SPORTS

MIAMI - For openers, the Florida Marlins will always take Orel Hershiser.

The 5-year-old Marlins made child's play of Game 1 in the World Series, getting back-to-back home runs by Moises Alou and Charles Johnson and a nice effort by rookie Livan Hernandez to beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-4, last night.

In doing so, Florida picked on a familiar foe.

It was Hershiser whom the Marlins beat in their very first game as an expansion team, back on April 5, 1993, when he pitched for Los Angeles. And now, in the biggest game in franchise history, they got him again.

"I don't think there's a lot of luck involved," Marlins manager Jim Leyland said. "Most of the time, you get what you deserve."

Robb Nen, the fourth Marlins pitcher, worked out of a first and second jam in the ninth for a save. His fastball was clocked at 102 mph as he struck out Jim Thome and Sandy Alomar Jr. to give Leyland a win in his first Series game.

A Marlins' record crowd of 67,245 dressed in teal at Pro Player Stadium saw Alou's three-run homer and Johnson's upper-deck shot in the fourth inning put Florida ahead, 5-1.

An inning after Alou and Johnson became the 11th set of teammates to hit consecutive homers, Jeff Conine finished the 39-year-old Hershiser with an RBI single. In that 1993 opener, Conine went 4-for-4 in the win over the October ace.

"Even after I let them down, I was proud of the way they came back," Hershiser said. "I wasn't tired at all. I felt great."

FEELING GROOVY

The Marlins, though, felt even better.

"To get the first game is awesome," Alou said. "Now we need to keep playing the same way. We are playing a team that never gave up. They battled and kept coming back."

While Hershiser was tagged for a Series record-tying seven earned runs, the 22-year-old Hernandez stayed in control. He became only the fifth rookie starter to win a Series opener - Philadelphia's Bob Walk did it last in 1980 - and showed the poise that enabled him to strike out 15 in Game 5 against Atlanta in becoming MVP of the NLCS.

"When I was a child, I didn't even think of this because it was not something that was passing through my mind," Hernandez said.

Florida followed its pattern of quick starts this year. The Marlins won their first 11 spring training games, won three in a row to begin the regular season and won four straight to start the NL playoffs.

The Indians, despite home runs by Manny Ramirez and Thome, lost the opener of a postseason series for the sixth straight time...