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Seattle strikes early, then settles in behind dominant pitching. Mike Cameron, Jamie Moyer lead the way.
By MARC TOPKIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 12, 2001
SEATTLE -- Angst had gripped this already overly caffeinated baseball town for much of two days, a gnawing fear that a season of tremendous accomplishment suddenly could be lost.
But the Mariners insisted they were not worried, that the concern had not permeated their clubhouse or doused their confidence.
Thursday, they acted quickly to assert themselves, and to reassert themselves as the top-seeded team in the AL, beating the Indians 5-1 and evening the best-of-five series at one game.
"We went into the dugout today before the game," second baseman Bret Boone said, "and I saw the same guys I'd seen all year, without a worry in the world and expecting to go out and win today. And we did."
Jamie Moyer, the deep-thinking and soft-tossing left-hander who won 20 times this season, led the way, using 10 pitches to set the Indians down in order in a tone-setting opening inning.
With a record Safeco Field crowd of 48,052 in full roar, his teammates responded immediately. After leadoff man Ichiro Suzuki drew a walk from an admittedly "overamped" Chuck Finley, Mike Cameron delivered a home run to leftfield. Boone lashed a single up the middle, and Edgar Martinez followed with another home run.
The game wasn't 15 minutes old, but it was over.
Moyer pitched into the seventh, and the dominating Seattle bullpen allowed two baserunners the rest of the way. Jeff Nelson got the biggest outs, a double-play grounder with the bases loaded in the seventh.
"Today was big," Nelson said. "We had to win today, even tough it wasn't an elimination game. It was one of those games were we got back to playing the way we've been playing all year -- hitting, running pitching, defense. We showed that today.
"Tuesday was one of those games you forget. It seemed like this was Game 1 for us, and we played our own game."
As much as the game unfolded as the Mariners hoped, it was precisely what the Indians feared.
"What happened was just what we didn't want to happen," manager Charlie Manuel said.
Finley hadn't been in the postseason since his 1986 rookie season, but essentially was beaten after just 14 pitches.
"I was a little overamped the first inning," Finley said. "I had a chance to do some good things, and I waited a long time to do it."
Moyer had been waiting for this chance as well. He had to leave his first playoff start in 1997 with a sore arm, and the Mariners soon were eliminated. Last year, Moyer's left kneecap was broken during an off-day workout as the Mariners were sweeping Chicago in the first round and he didn't get to pitch at all.
"I think things happen for a reason," Moyer said, "but I still don't have that reason, and probably never will. But I think we all strive to reach the playoffs and perform well in the playoffs, and today was an opportunity where that all came true for me."
Moyer beat the Indians for the third time this season doing what he normally does, throwing different pitches to different places at different speeds in different situations, and not throwing any of them very hard. He averaged 77 mph, and was clocked as slow as 72 and only one time as fast as 86.
"Vintage Jamie is right," Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. "He works on hitters' timing, and that's what makes him successful. He's not a power pitcher, obviously, but there's different ways to skin a cat. And he does it the sly way."
The Indians insisted they were happy to go home with a split. "The way I look at it," Manuel said, "it goes down to the best two of three and we're going home for two games."
But the Mariners, who won an AL record 59 road games, are feeling confident too.
"We're back to our old ways," Nelson said.