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Yankees erase Mariners

New York routs record-setting Seattle for another return trip to the World Series.

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 23, 2001

NEW YORK -- There will be a time for Yankees players, coaches and manager Joe Torre to sit back and reflect on their amazing accomplishments of this era.

But not yet.

They are having too much fun adding to their legend.

These Yankees will play in another World Series, their fourth in a row and fifth in six years, after dispensing with the Mariners in a 12-3 victory Monday night.

"This one is the best one," manager Joe Torre said. "I say that every year, and I hope I say it again."

The pennant-clincher featured the same precision that has come to define this Yankees team in the past half-dozen years: A solid starting pitching performance from Andy Pettitte, who was named MVP of the series; home runs by Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez; a handful of flashy defensive plays; and closer Mariano Rivera on the mound for the final out.

"They've been to the post so many times in the postseason, they've had so much success that they've got that confidence and they seem to draw from it," Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. "They feel they can win these type of games."

Individually, there are flaws in this Yankees team. Some players who are too old or too slow; some who can't do what they should, or do it as well or as often as they once did.

But this edition is a team that truly is the sum of its parts, and the combination has been a good one.

"You guys wrote that we're too old, we're too this or too that, that we're not going to win for whatever reason," Martinez said. "We never believed that. We don't believe what we read or what's said, we just go out and do our job and stay focused. And win."

The Yankees have been a good team in the regular season, and they won 95 games this year. But they have been a great team in the postseason. Since this run started in 1996, the Yankees have gone 53-18 in postseason games.

In a hole after losing the first two games of the best-of-five division series to Oakland at home, the Yankees responded by reeling off three consecutive wins, spurred by Derek Jeter's straight-to-video defensive gem.

Matched with a Seattle team that won a major-league record 116 regular-season games (21 more than they did), the Yankees barely broke a sweat, winning the series in five games, eliminating the return trip to Seattle that Piniella had guaranteed.

"Whether we're down 0-2 or up 2-0, I think everyone still realizes that we're the world champs," Pettittee said. "And we've shown a lot of heart and determination to try and keep that."

Principal owner George Steinbrenner spoke softly amid the subdued clubhouse celebration, talking repeatedly about the emotional burden on players of representing New York following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"This is as good as anything we've ever won," Steinbrenner said. "No one has performed under pressure the way these guys did."

Now, they'll begin pursuit of another championship Saturday night in Phoenix against the upstart Diamondbacks, a team that features two dominant starting pitchers, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson, but nothing else that should be of major concern.

A fourth consecutive championship would put these Yankees into the elite company of their ancestors, Yankees teams that won four consecutive World Series in 1936-39 and a record five in a row from 1949-53.

The Yankees said they wanted to avoid going back to Seattle for Game 6, and they played like they meant it in capturing their 38th American League pennant.

After managing one walk in the first two innings the Yankees struck for four unearned runs in the third, with the key hit a two-run home run by Williams, who became the first player to homer in three ALCS games in a row.

O'Neill, the 38-year-old veteran who is retiring after the season, homered in the fifth to extend the lead to 5-0. Martinez hit a three-run shot in the eighth.

It was a frustrating night for the Mariners, as they saw line drive after line drive caught by Yankees fielders.

"Our ballclub, we really didn't hit in this series," Piniella said.

The Mariners insisted they had confidence in starter Aaron Sele, but he let them down again. Sele may have more regular-season wins (69) than any other AL pitcher since the start of the 1998 season, but he can't win a playoff game -- especially against the Yankees.

Sele is 0-6 with a 4.46 ERA in seven postseason starts, with five of the losses coming to the Yankees.

Streak of domination

Since their current postseason run began in 1996, the Yankees have played in nine series that were scheduled to go as long as seven games (five ALCS, four World Series). In that time, they still have not been taken to a decisive Game 7:

(Series, Opponent, Result)

'96 ALCS, Orioles, 4-1

'96 WS, Braves, 4-2

'98 ALCS, Indians, 4-2

'98 WS, Padres, 4-0

'99 ALCS, Red Sox, 4-1

'99 WS, Braves, 4-0

'00 ALCS, Mariners, 4-2

'00 WS, Mets, 4-1

'01 ALCS, Mariners, 4-1

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