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EVENTS
CENTERS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
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Aiming for the Mariners Do the powerful Indians have enough to upset Seattle?
Updated: Tuesday October 09, 2001 3:04 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com Anyone, anywhere, is going to be an underdog against the Mariners this postseason. The Indians, at least, are an underdog with some bite. The Tribe won only two games in seven tries against the M's this season, yet one of them was the corker of the year: After being down by 12 runs in the seventh inning on Aug. 5, the Indians came back on the Mariners to win a 15-14 stunner. If nothing else, that victory proved to the Indians that they could stay with the Mariners. Think that was weird? Weirdness jumped to a new level in the Indians' other win, on Aug. 25. Omar Vizquel called the fashion police on Seattle reliever Arthur Rhodes in that one -- the glare off those earrings that the umpires made Rhodes' remove must've been absolutely distracting -- in a 4-3 Tribe win. Despite Seattle's 5-2 advantage in the season series, things were much closer than anyone would have thought. Seattle won two games by a run, one by two runs and the other two by three. Add it up: 12 runs were the difference in the seven games.
The Indians' strong suit is not their subtlety. Pounding the ball and scoring runs is what they're all about. In the American League, only Seattle scored more runs. Mariners pitchers, who led the AL in ERA, struggled with a 4.48 ERA against the Indians. The exception was Jamie Moyer, who went 2-0 with an 0.64 ERA against the Tribe. Cleveland's Marty Cordova and Kenny Lofton blistered the M's at a .357 clip, while Vizquel hit .344. But two of the Tribe's bigger hitters went icy vs. the Mariners. Jim Thome hit only .160 (though he had three homers and seven RBIs). Juan Gonzalez hit only .231 and is still looking for his first RBI. The biggest problem for the Indians is their pitching. Young C. C. Sabathia hasn't faced the M's at all and Bartolo Colon, 0-2 with a 3.31 ERA against Seattle, probably wishes he hadn't. Seattle leadoff man Ichiro Suzuki is ruining the Indians with a .407 average and a team-high seven RBIs. Bret Boone is hitting just .214, but he has three homers. If history means anything, this series won't be a wipeout. In their only other postseason meeting, the Indians won the pennant by beating the Mariners in six games in the 1995 ALCS. Making a pick: Bad blood, bad accessorizing … this one has all the makings of a monstrously hard-fought series. The facts are, though, that the Mariners have better all-around pitching -- starting and relief -- and if they can't slam the ball as much as the Indians, they can at least score runs, courtesy of the most dangerous leadoff man in baseball, Ichiro. The Mariners should be able to take this in three games, but we'll say Mariners in four.
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