By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE — A moving pregame ceremony yanked a tear from every emotion and a seven-day layoff created a level of rustiness that nobody was surprised to see.
On a night when players tried to control the mental wrestling match their feelings have played with them for a week, Freddy Garcia did it best Tuesday.
The right-hander held the Anaheim Angels to three hits in a 4-0 Seattle Mariners victory that clinched a tie for the American League West Division championship. Second-place Oakland also won Tuesday, beating the Texas Rangers to prevent the Mariners from winning the division title.
The championship moment can occur tonight if the Mariners beat the Angels or the Rangers beat the A’s.
Garcia composed himself after an emotional display of patriotism before the game, when the crowd sang "God Bless America" and the "Star Spangled Banner" and, in between, broke into an impromptu but unified chant of "USA! USA!"
"The way the fans got into it compassion-wise was a beautiful moment," Piniella said.
It certainly got to third baseman Mark McLemore. "I was pretty much a wreck until the first inning," he said.
Garcia was touched, too, and then gave the Mariners what he has done all year: a dominant performance.
"Right now what people need is baseball," Garcia said. "Now they need a distraction to watch a game or come to the ballpark."
He gave it to the crowd of 45,294, the 50th sellout at Safeco Field this season, with an array of fastballs, curves and changeups that shut down the Angels a third straight time. He struck out eight, walked four and only twice allowed a runner as far as second base.
Garcia is 5-0 with a 0.44 earned run average against the Angels this season, and he has pitched 24 consecutive shutout innings going back to the second inning on Sept. 4, when he allowed a leadoff home run.
He also is 17-5, joining Jamie Moyer in the Mariners’ 17-victory club, and lowered his league-best ERA to 2.85.
"You think about Cy Young winners and Roger Clemens (19-1, 3.44 ERA with the Yankees) certainly has a leg up," Piniella said. "But boy oh boy, Freddy has the lowest ERA in the league and he’s 17-5 and Jamie is 17-5."
Garcia, who recorded his team-high fourth complete game this season, also accomplished a rarity. He was the winning pitcher in each of the Mariners’ last two games, the first starter in Mariners history to do that.
The last major league starter to do it was current Mariner Brett Tomko, who won on July 5 and July 10 in the final game before the All-Star break and the first game after in 1998 when he pitched for the Reds. Ben McDonald of the Brewers was the last American League pitcher to win consecutive games, also before and after the All-Star break in 1997.
Garcia allowed only a third-inning single to David Eckstein, a fourth-inning single to Tim Salmon and an eighth-inning single to Darrin Erstad.
Neither team had played since Garcia beat the Angels last Monday in Anaheim, and the layoff was evident early.
The bottom of the second inning, when the Mariners scored their first two runs, featured an Angels throwing error and three Seattle runners tagged out on the bases.
John Olerud led off with a single and made it to third when Angels third baseman Troy Glaus fielded Mike Cameron’s ground ball and threw wildly to second base. Stan Javier hit a grounder to Glaus, but Olerud strayed too far from the bag, was caught in a rundown and tagged out.
Cameron and Javier pulled off a double steal to put runners on second and third with one out, and Dan Wilson drove a single to left field that easily scored Cameron. Javier, however, also tried to score on the play and was tagged out at the plate by Ben Molina for the second out.
Wilson went to second on the play and jogged to third on a sharp single to center by Carlos Guillen. Guillen, however, never slowed after rounding first and was trapped when Scott Spiezio cut off the throw from the outfield. Guillen stayed in the rundown long enough for Wilson to score before he was tagged out to end the inning.
Even Piniella wasn’t immune from the first-day-back blunders.
"I forgot my signs," he said. "I had to ask my bench coach what my signs were. I’ve never done that in my life."
The Mariners added their final two runs in a more conventional manner in the sixth.
Ichiro Suzuki led off with a single, his third of the game, McLemore walked and Bret Boone beat out Ramon Ortiz’s throw after a dribbler up the third base line to load the bases. Edgar Martinez and Olerud each hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Suzuki and McLemore, for a 4-0 lead.
Garcia kept it that way, ending a night nobody will forget with a strikeout of Tim Salmon.
"It’s great," Piniella said, "to have the game back."
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