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Mariners lack aggressiveness in Game 1
Updated: Wednesday October 17, 2001 9:37 PM
SEATTLE (AP) -- The Seattle Mariners looked nothing like the team that broke the New York Yankees' AL victory record. They sure didn't convince the 47,644 fans at Safeco Field that they have what it takes to beat the Yankees in the AL Championship Series to reach their first World Series. AL batting champion Ichiro Suzuki and the Mariners failed to generate much offense against Yankees starter Andy Pettitte in their 4-2 loss in Game 1 on Wednesday. Suzuki, who hit .350 average during the regular season and .600 in the first round against Cleveland, was 0-for-3 against Pettitte. Although Suzuki doubled off closer Mariano Rivera and scored on two wild pitches in the ninth inning, the Mariners didn't get much accomplished. They had only four hits. "All of us wanted to win the first game and grab the first victory," a frustrated Suzuki said through an interpreter. "As an individual you want to have a good result." They scored their only run on two hits against Pettitte in the fifth on Edgar Martinez's single and Mike Cameron's double. It was a tough day for the Mariners' batters and their bats. "I broke three bats today and that was pretty unusual," Martinez said. "It was a combination of bad swings and good pitches." Cameron had Seattle's only extra base hit. "We can beat any of the guys they have over there," Cameron said. "We just have to swing the bats, that's all." And the Mariners still have to face Mike Mussina and Roger Clemens of the Yankees. "You're not going to score as many runs in the postseason and you've got to hit good starting pitches," manager Lou Piniella said. "For us to win this series, we're going to have to hit their starting pitching." The Mariners, who won an AL-record 116 games during the regular season, scored the most runs in baseball with an average of 5.7 and led the AL with a .288 batting average. But they couldn't do much against Pettitte, the left-hander they battered in two starts this season. Pettitte was 0-2 with an 8.03 ERA against Seattle. The Mariners had three hits in eight innings against Pettitte. Their lack of offense shouldn't have been surprising. They beat Cleveland despite hitting .247 and scoring 16 runs in five games. Bret Boone had one of Seattle's hits, but he didn't have an RBI for the sixth straight playoff game. He led the AL with 141 RBIs this season. He tried to stay positive. "We've been down 1-0 before," he said. "We couldn't get anything going today, but it's a long series. We're not worried about anything." The Mariners didn't commit an error against the Yankees, but they didn't look good in the field, either. New York took a 1-0 lead in the second. Jorge Posada walked, went to second on Alfonso Soriano's single and scored on Chuck Knoblauch's single off third baseman David Bell's glove. Bell stumbled and fell chasing the ball in foul territory and got off an off-balance throw to the plate. The Yankees scored two more runs in the fourth off Aaron Sele. Posada led off the inning with a double, although Suzuki's throw from right field to shortstop Carlos Guillen arrived before Posada did. But Guillen missed the tag in his first game back for Seattle since being diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis Sept. 28. Piniella came out and argued the call with second base umpire Gary Cederstrom. "He looked out from the dugout," Piniella said. "It was a heck of a throw. He (Cederstrom) said he got his foot in." Paul O'Neill followed with a two-run homer. Batting second, Guillen was 0-for-3, with a strikeout. Mark McLemore will start at shortstop for the Mariners instead of Guillen on Thursday. "I need to play every day because I haven't been playing for the last two weeks," he said. Even Suzuki, expected to win a Gold Glove this season, fell down in the outfield on Soriano's single in the second. New York beat Seattle in six games in the 2000 ALCS.
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