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ALCS Notebook Bell's error opens floodgates, sets tone for Game 5
Updated: Tuesday October 23, 2001 4:03 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Mariners might have won more games in the regular season than any team in American League history. The Yankees still have the recipe for winning when it counts. The Yankees took advantage of third baseman David Bell's error on Scott Brosius' grounder leading off the third inning to score four unearned runs, then went on to eliminate the Mariners with a 12-3 win in Game 5 of the ALCS with solid pitching and a few good plays of their own. "It gave us a crack and we took advantage," Brosius said of Bell's error. The Yankees have won three straight World Series championships with good pitching and timely fielding. Andy Pettitte, the championship series' MVP, pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed eight hits but just three runs with help from his fielders. "You have to make plays behind them (pitchers)," Derek Jeter said. It started with Chuck Knoblauch's shoestring catch in the first that prevented a run and ended with a sliding catch by Shane Spencer in the ninth. Brosius made two fine plays at third base, a diving grab of a line drive by Edgar Martinez in the fifth and a leaping stab on a hit by Jay Buhner in the eighth. While the Yankees made the plays and got the pitching, the Mariners didn't look like a team that won 116 games in the regular season. "We took advantage of some of their mistakes and scored some runs," Jeter said.
Return flightIt's been a long trip for Mariners manager Lou Piniella since he guaranteed the ALCS would go back to Seattle for Game 6. After the Mariners drubbed the New York Yankees 14-3 in Game 3 to close within 2-1, Piniella's bold statement didn't seem so far fetched. "Well, last night we were over Detroit on our way to Minneapolis," he said kiddingly Monday. The Mariners, however, lost Game 4 in demoralizing fashion: ahead 1-0 going into the bottom of the eighth, Bernie Williams homered to tie it and Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run walk-off homer to give the Yankees a 3-1 win. "Right now, we are back at LaGuardia," Piniella said. He couldn't be more right. The Mariners lost 12-3 Monday night and were eliminated.
Not by a footPaul O'Neill kicked the dirt behind second base, grimacing in pain. He just reaggravated his injured right foot stepping hard into second base in the third inning of Game 4 of the ALCS. "It was stupid base running," he said before Game 5. "I should've just slid and made it easy." O'Neill missed 15 games late in the season because of the stress fracture and it has been bothering him throughout the playoffs. He is 4-for-20 in the postseason, including a two-run homer in New York's 4-2 win over the Seattle Mariners in Game 1. But the 38-year-old right fielder, who will most likely retire after the season, will only be kept out of the Yankees' lineup when Torre says so. "It hurts if I stutter step, but I'm fine," O'Neill said. O'Neill homered and singled in three at-bats, and made a nice running catch in the Yankees' 12-3 clinching win Monday night. "I'm feeling better. It's getting back out in the field that helped so much."
Future presentAfter being criticized by Torre for not running out his long fly ball in Game 1, Soriano sought out the advice of a veteran teammate. He didn't go to Derek Jeter or Bernie Williams. He went to Luis Sojo. "I told him, 'Tomorrow, no matter where you hit the ball, even if you hit the ball 500 feet, you have to run out the ball hard." "I played for 16 years now and paid my dues. Sori came to me because we speak the same language -- he wants to learn the game so much," Sojo said. Sojo is one of the most popular players in the Yankees' clubhouse and a favorite of Torre's, so much so that after being released by New York after the 1999 season the Yankees made a trade with Pittsburgh to reacquire him in 2000. The move paid off: Sojo drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning of the clinching game of last year's Subway Series and wants to retire as a Yankee. Sojo, who has an 11-year old daughter and an 8-year-old son, would like to coach winter ball and spend time with his family, but he has aspirations to coach with the Yankees, too. "I'd be happy to keep working for this team," he said.
Around the hornSeattle's Ichiro Suzuki was playing left field for the first time in his major league career. Jay Buhner started in right. ... Spike Lee, who made a short film about the Yankees for a benefit concert in New York last Saturday night, was back with his camera filming batting practice. ... As one of the Mariners coaches has done all season, there were two tongue depressors taped parallel to each other on the Seattle bench. Written on the tape was "Ichiro 51." Shortstop Mark McLemore said it's been a running joke all year: It's Ichiro's bat rack.
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