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M's in command; Yanks get even

The Mariners continue to frustrate the White Sox's big sluggers in a 5-2 win, giving them a 2-0 lead heading to Seattle.

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 5, 2000

CHICAGO -- They worked and sweated and battled for six long months to establish themselves as the best team in the American League. In a little more than 24 hours, the White Sox just about threw it all away.

The White Sox lost to the Mariners 5-2 Wednesday afternoon at Comiskey Park, putting them two games down in the best-of-five division series and one loss from a stunning end to what had been a storybook season.

"Obviously," Paul Konerko said, "it's very tough to think all the work we did for six months could be going down the drain."

It's bad enough for the White Sox that they are losing. But, they said, it's worse because they're losing for the wrong reasons.

Their starting pitching, which was so beaten up they were holding auditions among relievers late last week, hasn't been a problem. But their league-leading offense, specifically the sluggers in the middle of their high-octane order, haven't done a thing.

MVP candidate Frank Thomas is 0-for-7 (all flyouts) and has left nine men on base. Magglio Ordonez is 1-for-7. Carlos Lee is 1-for-8. Konerko is 0-for-8. A quartet that hit .311 and averaged 30 homers and 115 RBI has two hits in 30 at-bats.

"I think you can sense they are pressing somewhat," Sox manager Jerry Manuel said. "Obviously, what they need is a bloop hit and not a home run. With all the fly balls and popups, it kind of seems like we're going about it the wrong way. We should probably be hitting a few more ground balls and line drives."

It has been especially frustrating for Thomas, whose impressive comeback season could be tarnished by his post-season struggles.

"This is sad," he said. "I'm setting the tone by pressing, and it's making everyone else uncomfortable. I'm taking responsibility because I set the tone all year."

The White Sox's problems were evident early Wednesday. Back-to-back doubles by Ray Durham and Jose Valentin gave them a 1-0 lead four pitches into the first, and Valentin promptly stole third.

But Thomas flied out. Ordonez walked. Lee popped out. And Konerko tapped back to the mound.

"All year when we had a chance to bury somebody, we buried them," Herbert Perry said. "We just haven't been doing that this series."

Seattle manager Lou Piniella didn't say much about the Mariners' strategy in shutting down the big hitters, except that it's working.

"We have a specific game plan; that's about it," he said. "If our pitchers execute it, we're fortunate."

Riding the emotion of the 13-5 finish that won them the wild-card spot and benefiting from their edge in experience, the Mariners haven't had much trouble doing things right.

Down 1-0 right away, they came back with two in the second, taking advantage of an error by Valentin and a hit batter to score on a single by David Bell and a sacrifice fly by Dan Wilson.

Tied at 2 in the fourth, they went ahead for good on Jay Buhner's home run. Then they manufactured an important run in the fifth when Rickey Henderson walked, was bunted to second, stole third and scored on Alex Rodriguez's bouncer, with third baseman Perry making what appeared to be a bad decision by throwing to first instead of home.

With Seattle challenging in the seventh, second baseman Mark McLemore made a spectacular play, diving behind the base to snare a ball deflected by pitcher Jose Mesa, then flipping to Rodriguez for a close, if not controversial, out.

Add 52/3 surprisingly effective innings by journeyman starter Paul Abbott and 31/3 innings of hitless relief, and you can see why the Mariners went home happy. Their only regret may be that they have to wait until Friday for Game 3.

"We've gotten ourselves in a very good position, obviously," Piniella said. "Now our job is to finish it off."

Naturally, the Sox say they are not going to let them, even though no team in the five-year history of the division series has lost the first two games at home and recovered to advance.

There was plenty of talk of having their backs to the wall, about how nobody has respected them all year, about how they're not ready to give up, about how they'll battle to the end.

Thomas said, "The focus now has to be on Game 3. It's definitely do or die." Ten feet away, Perry said, "It's not do or die. You've got to go out and have fun. It's still baseball."

Valentin, however, may have been most accurate.

"We don't have any more chances," he said. "We have to do something."

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