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Boone gets started and so do Mariners
Updated: Saturday October 20, 2001 9:07 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Seattle manager Lou Piniella knew it wouldn't take much to get the Mariners started, just a timely hit here or there. Bret Boone, who had plenty of them this season, supplied those little details. Boone, who led the American League with 141 RBIs during the regular season, had none in the playoffs until Saturday. Then he drove in five runs with three hits in Seattle's 14-3 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the American League championship series. The first RBIs got the Mariners started, and the late ones made sure the Yankees were finished. New York was sitting on a 2-0 lead with two outs in the fifth inning and the way the Mariners were hitting, the margin looked much bigger. With Tom Lampkin on first base, Ichiro Suzuki coaxed a walk out of Yankees starter Orlando Hernandez and then Mark McLemore also walked, loading the bases. It was a perfect situation for the Mariners with Boone coming up. But he had been mostly silent in the postseason, going 4-for-30 in the first seven games. It looked like things weren't going to change when Boone hit a sinking line drive to left field. Chuck Knoblauch got a good jump on the ball and caught it as he dived. But his momentum caused it to roll out of his glove. Boone had the key hit Piniella was looking for, ending Seattle's 0-for-12 stretch with runners in scoring position for Seattle and giving the Mariners the tying runs. They had plenty more an inning later, and this time Boone punctuated the rally with a home run. John Olerud's leadoff home run in the sixth put Seattle in front and McLemore's bases-loaded triple made it 7-2. Then, Boone connected on a 2-0 pitch from reliever Mark Wohlers for his second career postseason homer. In the seventh, he singled home another run to complete his big game. The five RBIs tied the American League single-game playoff record. Those late RBIs were window dressing in a game that had become a blowout. But for Boone, they were an exclamation point on an important awakening -- for himself and the Mariners.
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