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Notebook O'Neill finally breaks through for Yankees
Updated: Saturday October 14, 2000 3:05 AM
SEATTLE (AP) -- Paul O'Neill was 0-for-10 in the AL championship series after popping out to third and hitting a weak grounder to second in his first two at-bats Friday night. In his next at-bat, O'Neill had what may have been the key hit of the New York Yankees' 8-2 victory over Seattle. In the sixth inning, with two outs, Bernie Williams on third and Tino Martinez on first, O'Neill hit a sharp single to left that scored Williams and put the Yankees up 4-2. "The last couple of games, I've hit the ball hard, but obviously they're not all going to fall," O'Neill said. "Pitchers today are really able to hit that outer half, that inner half. If you're looking for that pitch down the middle, you're not going to get it."
Subway SeriesJoe Torre says the Yankees have to take care of business in Seattle before they can even consider a Subway Series against the New York Mets.Still, the Yankee manager admits it would be a sight to see. "If it ever happened, it would be wild," Torre said Friday. "It would be absolutely crazy in New York." Torre grew up in New York and remembers the period from 1949-56, when the Yankees played the Brooklyn Dodgers five times and the New York Giants once. The Mets took a 2-0 lead over St. Louis in the NLCS with a 6-5 victory on Thursday. "It was very close to happening last year," Torre said.
Pitching FeastBoth teams' hitters feasted during the regular season on Game 3 starters Andy Pettitte and Aaron Sele. Sele came into the game a lifetime 4-8 with a 4.34 ERA in 18 games started against the Yankees. He was 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA in two starts against New York this season, and 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA in postseason play against the Yankees. Pettitte was 1-2 with a 6.52 ERA in three starts against the Mariners this season, and Seattle hit a combined .313 against him. True to form, both Sele and Pettitte gave up nine hits in the first six innings, with two of Sele's going as homers. Sele gave up four runs, all earned; Pettitte just two.
Liven it upSoggy skies kept the roof closed at Seattle's Safeco Field for the start of Game 3, a promising sight for hitters in a park normally known for being pitcher-friendly, with its large dimensions and "dead" air. "The ball carries better with the roof closed, and it's darker, so you have a better hitting background," Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. "It cuts out some of the wind," Seattle first baseman John Olerud said. "There is some truth to that." Back-to-back solo homers by the Yankees' Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez in the top of the second seemed to add support to the theory. Safeco is 326 and 331 at the corners, 388 in left-center, 405 to dead center and 385 to right-center. Yankee Stadium, by contrast, is 411 at Death Valley in left-center, its deepest but a cozier 312 and 310 feet at the left- and right-field corners, respectively.
SwappingThe Yankees have nearly as many players from Seattle's last ALCS team as the Mariners do. Tino Martinez, Luis Sojo and Jeff Nelson all were key contributors on the 1995 Seattle squad that beat the Yankees in five games in the division series and lost to Cleveland in the ALCS. Seattle, meanwhile, has only four players remaining from the 1995 team: Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, Dan Wilson and Alex Rodriguez, who was Sojo's backup at the time. "It's kind of strange there aren't more guys around from that club, but that's baseball," said Martinez, who still gets mostly warm greetings from Seattle fans. Nelson, meanwhile, has kept his home in the Seattle area and says he'd consider signing with Seattle if he doesn't return to the Yankees in 2001 -- but only if the Yankees win the ALCS.
Around the basesOlympic gold medal swimmer Megan Quann of Puyallup, Wash., threw out the first pitch in Game 3. ... The Mariners were 7-3 in games that started with the roof closed this season; 3-0 in games where the roof was closed during a game. ... Pettitte picked Edgar Martinez off first base in the third inning. Left-hander Pettitte picked off four runners during the regular season and has 54 pickoffs for his career. ... Seattle's Rickey Henderson broke his bat his first two times up, with the jagged head of the bat flying into the infield both times. ... The Yankees have lost the first game in three of their nine ALCS appearances. In 1977 they came back to win in five games against Kansas City, and in 1980, they were swept by the Royals in three games of the then-five-game series. ... Fieldin Culbreth replaced Randy Marsh in the umpiring crew. Marsh injured his left elbow in the regular season and aggravated it in this series.
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