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ALCS Notebook

By MARC TOPKIN and Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 20, 2001

Mariners turn to vet for Game 3

NEW YORK -- The Mariners today will put the ball -- and their hopes to salvage the series and their season -- in the left hand of a soon-to-be 39-year-old who throws most of his pitches less than 80 mph and has been released four times and traded twice.

And they couldn't be more confident. Jamie Moyer, simply put, is the right man for the job, they believe. Moyer won 20 games this season, including two at Yankee Stadium. And he won both of his playoff starts, including the decisive fifth game of the division series against Cleveland on Monday.

"Since the All-Star break, he's been pretty close to automatic," manager Lou Piniella said.

Moyer, who missed last year's ALCS against the Yankees with a kneecap broken during an off-day workout, said he is looking forward to the opportunity.

And he won't be intimidated by pitching in Yankee Stadium, where he is 6-4 with a 3.70 ERA and his style of keeping the ball away and keeping hitters off-balance is aided by the spacious dimensions.

"I enjoy pitching here," he said.

Yankees manager Joe Torre said he knows what Moyer is capable of.

"I admire the hell out of what he has done," said Torre, who had Moyer in his St. Louis rotation in 1991 but sent him to Triple A in May. "You always think in terms of power. But he has taken a page from (Greg) Maddux's book, and he went soft and softer. It certainly messes a team up." LOU'S WORD: Both teams had predictable reactions to Lou Piniella's Thursday night guarantee that the series would be extended to at least a sixth game. Said Seattle's Mark McLemore: "It fired me up. I wanted to go out and play right there again."

Said New York's Tino Martinez: "I don't care what Lou or anyone else says. Our job is to win Game 3."

History is strongly against the Mariners. Only two teams have recovered from an 0-2 deficit since the LCS went to a best-of-seven format in 1985. And both the 1985 Royals and 1985 Cardinals lost the first two on the road.

MORE ON LOU'S WORD: Piniella said what he said for a reason: "Last night when I talked, I talked out of my heart. I talked out of pride and passion; but at the same time of a little frustration. We need to get to this next level, and this year here, we've got a chance. Let's go for it, and whatever happens, happens."

CALLING MISSING PERSONS: Words aside, the key for the Mariners is figuring out the Yankees' pitching, which has limited them to four runs and 10 hits.

"There's nobody pointing fingers," McLemore said. "There's nothing that needs to be said. We have a veteran ballclub, and everybody knows what they need to do. We just have to go out and do it."

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