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Piniella's pledge Nothing's ever truly guaranteed in New York City
Updated: Friday October 19, 2001 5:41 PM
SEATTLE -- When it comes to New York City, guarantees are funny things. Back in 1969, Joe Willie Namath guaranteed he would quarterback the underdog Jets to a Super Bowl triumph over Baltimore. Swwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiing and a hit. For, oh, 12,471 years, Patrick Ewing guaranteed the world that his New York Knicks would win an NBA title. Swwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiing and a miss. Last season, in the midst of mediocrity, Jim Fassel guaranteed the world that his New York Giants would reach the NFL playoffs. (Not mentioned by Big Jimbo: They would do so by beating up on the Cardinals and Redskins and Delaware Blue Hens of the world). Swwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiing and a hit. In 1991, upon signing with the Mets, Bobby Bonilla guaranteed that the New York media would never, ever, ever remove the smile from his face. Swwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiing and 1,000 frowns, pouts, shouts. It's simple: In the world of Big Apple guarantees, the only guarantee that's guaranteed is that a guaranteed guarantee is less guaranteed than a guarantee that is guaranteed should be. Uhhh. In other words: What's up with Seattle manager Lou Piniella ? Immediately following Thursday's action-packed, tension-soaked 3-2 Yankees win in Game 2 of the ALCS, Piniella -- strolling toward the Safeco Field interview for his postgame news conference -- stopped to address a conga line of reporters waiting to enter the Mariners' clubhouse. Piniella's face was Elmo- red. His eyes were ablaze. With Zorro gusto, he turned toward the gathered mass. "WE'RE GONNA BE BACK HERE TO PLAY GAME 6!! AND I WANT YOU TO PRINT IT!!!" No prob, Sweet Lou.
Two minutes later, sitting in front of a couple dozen reporters, TV cameras and idiots (Writer's Note: I am referring to the reporter who, after Game 1, asked Bret Boone, "Are you guys ready to play Mariner Baseball!?" Boone's well-stated answer: "Uhm, what's that?"), Piniella reiterated his claim. "We're going to be back here to play Game 6, OK. I told the people outside the same thing. We are going to be back here to play Game 6. Now you can ask me any questions you want." Q: What gives you that confidence? Sweet Lou: "I've got confidence in my baseball club. We've gone to New York and beat this baseball team five out of six times, and we're going to do it again." Give Piniella some credit. In two losses, his team has gone 10-for-62. It's scored four runs. Its on-base percentage is a Bobby Meacham -like .242. Save for Dan Wilson (who entered the '01 playoff with an all-time worst .050 batting average, but is hitting .333 vs. New York), nobody is above .300. Heck, Ichiro Suzuki is batting .286. Desperate times call for, well, desperate guarantees. "I love what Lou said," said Seattle second baseman Mark McLemore . "It's coming from our manager right after a loss, and we all agree. Whether it needed to be said or not, I don't know. But I love that he said it. And once everyone in this clubhouse finds out, they'll love it, too." Love is a beautiful thing. But so, to a struggling offense, are hittable pitches. So far, the Mariners have seen very few. Through six innings, Yankees right-hander Mike Mussina was far from his best, but he still kept the Mariners guessing and dizzy. The tone was set in the bottom of the first, when M's second baseman Bret Boone doubled to center, then watched from across the diamond as Edgar Martinez (who entered with a .373 lifetime average vs. Mussina) grounded into an inning-killing 5-4-3 DP. The following inning, with men on the corners and two outs, David Bell swung through an 87-mph Mussina fastball. Save for Stan Javier 's fourth-inning two-run homer, Mussina rarely gave Seattle anything to solidly touch. "He was fantastic," said Martinez. "Mussina is a big-game guy." Up next, in New York -- Orlando Hernandez . Then, Roger Clemens . Guarantees are great. Really, they are. But guaranteed? They're guaranteed not. Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jeff Pearlman will contribute regularly to CNNSI.com throughout the playoffs.
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