The Associated Press
Al Martin (front) and Charles Gipson reflect after Monday's loss in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series eliminated the Mariners. Both players are heading for free agency.

M's face decisions

After tough loss in ALCS, Seattle must address issues

JIM COUR, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published October 24

AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES AFTERMATH

SEATTLE -- The New York Yankees made the Seattle Mariners look more ordinary than magical in the AL championship series.

Maybe, in retrospect, the Mariners' 116 regular-season victories were more surprising than their disappointing ending.

"You know, the amazing thing about baseball is that no matter how many games you win, unless you win a World Series, you're going to feel disappointment," manager Lou Piniella said.

After breaking the AL record of 114 victories set by the 1998 Yankees and tying the 1906 Chicago Cubs' major league mark of 116 wins, the Mariners lost to the Yankees in five games.

Or one less than it took the Yankees to beat the Mariners in the 2000 AL championship series.

The Mariners took six of nine games from the Yankees during the regular season, including five of six at Yankee Stadium. In the ALCS, the Yankees were the much better team, though. Even their bullpen was better, and the bullpen was the Mariners' strength this season.

The Yankees stunned the Mariners and relief pitchers Sunday during Game 4 in New York. Ahead 1-0 after Bret Boone's home run in the top of the eighth, the Mariners were five outs from tying the series at two games all.

But Bernie Williams hit a homer off Arthur Rhodes with one out in the bottom of the inning to tie the score and Alfonso Soriano followed that with a two-run homer with one out off closer Kazuhiro Sasaki in the ninth.

The Mariners' season might as well have been over right then. The Yankees wrapped up the series with a 12-3 win over Aaron Sele on Monday night.

"We knew coming in here we had to hit their starting pitching," Piniella said.

Although the Mariners led the league with a .288 batting average and scored a major league-high 927 runs this season, they couldn't do much against Yankees starters Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina and Roger Clemens, and closer Mariano Rivera. Pettitte beat the Mariners twice and was the ALCS MVP, after losing twice to Seattle during the regular season.

The Mariners didn't hit much in winning their AL division series from Cleveland in five games. They hit even less against the Yankees.

In the ALCS, the Mariners hit .211 (36-for-171). They scored 22 runs against the Yankees, but most came in their 14-3 victory in Game 3 Saturday. That's a total of eight runs against the Yankees' pitching in Seattle's four ALCS defeats.

Designated hitter Edgar Martinez, their cleanup hitter, was 3-for-20 (.150); Mark McLemore was 2-for-14 (.143); Mike Cameron was 3-for-17 (.176); and John Olerud was 4-for-19 (.211). Even Ichiro Suzuki, who hit .600 in the Cleveland series, couldn't figure out the Yankees' pitching, hitting .222 (4-for-18).

"We didn't really hit in this series," Piniella said. "We didn't pitch that badly. We just didn't swing the bats all that well and that was really the key."

There will be a lot of changes in Seattle during the offseason. The Mariners have decisions to make about right-hander Aaron Sele, a 15-game winner during the regular season who was 0-3 in the postseason, and second baseman Bret Boone, who led the Mariners with 37 homers and the AL with 141 RBIs.

Both are eligible to become free agents after the World Series.

In the second year of his contract in Seattle, Sele was the highest-paid Mariners player this season at $7.5 million, but lost twice to the Yankees in the ALCS and is 0-6 in his career in the playoffs, including 0-5 against the Yankees.

Boone is expected to ask for $8 million to $10 million a season after earning $3.25 million this year in one of baseball's biggest bargain signings last winter.

In addition to Boone and Sele, the Mariners have seven other free agents: third baseman David Bell; outfielders Al Martin, Stan Javier and Jay Buhner; infielder Ed Sprague; left-hander Norm Charlton; and McLemore, who played six positions this season. The Mariners' nine free agents earned $23 million this season.

Javier, 37, has said he's retiring and Buhner, also 37, is expected to retire after being limited to 19 games this season because of an injured foot. The Mariners aren't expected to re-sign Martin, a major disappointment after being acquired in a trade in July 2000 with San Diego. Martin earned $5 million and hit .240 in 100 games this season.

General manager Pat Gillick astutely put together the Mariners' roster last winter after the Mariners lost All-Star shortstop Alex Rodriguez. Suzuki, a free-agent signee from Japan who set a record for hits by a rookie at 242, and Boone more than made up for Rodriguez's departure during the regular season.

The Yankees gave the Mariners' season a bittersweet ending. Now, they will try to close the gap on the Yankees again this winter. They still want to get to the World Series for the first time, perhaps more badly now than ever.

"We don't have anything to be ashamed about," said Cameron, who was one of eight Mariners to play in the All-Star game in July. "We just got beat in the LCS. We had a great season, but we came up short of our goal."

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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