PLAYOFFS - GAME RECAPS

October 9th - Cleveland 5 Seattle 0 - Attendance 48,033.

The largest crowd in Safeco Field History was on hand as Seattle began their run to the World Series. Many people thought Seattle would sweep the Indians, but Bartolo Colon, the Tribe's starter had other ideas. 

The game was scoreless through 3 as Seattle hurler Freddy Garcia, the A.L. E.R.A. champ, battled Colon out for out. But in the 4th, Roberto Alomar led off with a double and Juan Gonzalez singled to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. After a walk to Jim Thome, Ellis Burks singled to load the bases. Travis Fryman and Marty Cordova then both singled as the Indians grabbed a 3-0 lead. 

The Mariners simply couldn't get anything started off Colon after that; although Ichiro went 3-4, he was left on twice and caught stealing once. The Tribe added singles in the 6th and 8th to make it 5-0, and Bob Wickman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to end the game. The crowd was loud early, but sensed that their team was going to have trouble scoring after a couple of innings of watching Colon, who ended with 10 strikeouts in 8 innings. Overall, a disappointing game that gets only a 6/10 rating. 

October 17th - New York Yankees 4 Seattle 2 - Attendance 47,644.

Another afternoon start saw Andy Pettite face off against Aaron Sele. Chuck Knoblauch led off the game with a single, but he was stranded when Tino Martinez struck out looking. The Mariners went 3-up, 3-down in their half of the first.

In the second, Jorge Posada led off with a walk, and Alfonso Soriano advanced him to second with a 2-out single. Knoblauch came up and again singled, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The Mariners were unable to get anything started against Pettite, and were hitless after 3.

In the 4th, Posada led off again, this time smacking a double down the left field line. Paul O'Neill followed and took a 2-1 pitch into the right field seats - the fans were very quiet as the Yankees led 3-0.

The Mariners got their first hits in the fifth when Edgar Martinez singled and Mike Cameron doubled him to third. John Olerud hit a grounder which scored Edgar, but then Jay Buhner and Dan Wilson struck out, stranding Cameron on third.

Olerud grounds out

The score remained 3-1 as neither team could get any offense going. In the top of the 9th, Alfonso Soriano singled, stole second, and scored on a David Justice 2-out single to extend the Yankee lead to 4-1. Mariano Rivera came in to pitch the 9th inning and gave up 1-out double to Ichiro, who scored on two wild pitches. With two out, Bret Boone worked a walk and Edgar came up with a chance to tie the game, but he grounded weakly to first and the Yankees took game 1 by a score of 4-2. This game was not interesting because Pettitte was so good. Only 4 Mariner hits all game kept the crowd quiet and gets the game a 7/10 rating.

Soriano steals second in the 9th

October 18th - New York Yankees 3 Seattle 2 - Attendance 47,791.

Mike Mussina was starting for the Yankees and the fans knew this would be a tough game as the Moose has been unhittable for about 2 months now. Freddy Garcia started for the Mariners and gave up another lead-off single to Knoblauch, but managed to get out of the inning unscathed. Ichiro led off the 1st for Seattle and singled. After Mark McLemore lined out, Bret Boone singled and the Mariners were threatening. But Edgar swung on a 2-0 pitch and grounded into a double play to end the inning. 

Mussina pitches

In the second, Garcia was off, giving up a single to Tino Martinez and walking Jorge Posada. After Paul O'Neill flew out, Scott Brosius hit the first pitch down the line for a 2-run double. Soriano flew out but then Chuck Knoblauch singled to center - Mike Cameron dove to catch it but it bounced - Cameron pretended to catch it, thus allowing Brosius to score uncontested and the Yankees were up 3-0.

In the 4th, Cameron was hit by a Mussina pitch, and then Stan Javier hit a 1-0 pitch 416 feet away over the center field fence, sending the crowd into a frenzy. The Mariners were within 1 and Mussina was already up to 81 pitches after 4 innings. But he buckled down in the 5th and 6th, giving up no baserunners before being replaced by Ramiro Mendoza in the 7th. 

Edgar is brushed back

The Yankee offense was also struggling and after 8 innings, the score was still 3-2. In the ninth, Jeff Nelson gave up a 1-out double to Shane Spencer, but was able to get the next two batters out. In the bottom half, Mariano Rivera was on the hill and struck out Javier, got pinch-hitter Al Martin to ground out to the catcher, and then struck out David Bell to earn his second save in as many days. This was a good game, but the Mariner's couldn't produce with men in scoring position. Overall, more interesting than game 1, so it gets an 8/10.