Boone runs into ‘bump’

  • Monday, October 15, 2001 9:00pm
  • Sports

Seattle’s MVP candidate hits just .095 in the Division Series

Herald staff

SEATTLE— Bret Boone had a miserable series with the bat, but shined with the glove.

A strong candidate for American League Most Valuable Player, the Seattle Mariners’ second baseman got only two hits in the five games of the American League Division Series for a .095 batting average but turned in solid work afield, including an outstanding play in the series-clinching 3-1 victory on Monday.

In the second inning, Boone went far to his right to backhand a ground ball and throw out Cleveland’s Ellis Burks.

"I haven’t hit a bump all year," said Boone, who put together a regular season in which he batted .331 with 37 home runs and 141 runs batted in. "This is the first time for me. It just shows you how tough this game is … and it just kind of hits you and says, ‘Hey, if you think this game is easy, it’s not.’ This is a tough game, but a humbling game. It just makes you appreciate the game and how tough it is."

Boone couldn’t — and didn’t — duck his unproductivity. "I’m going up to guys and saying, ‘I don’t know what’s going on,’" he said. "I’m trying as hard as I can. My swing’s a little screwed up right now. It’s something very small. The thing is, small things become big at the plate."

Making noise: A sellout crowd of 47,867 showed up at Safeco Field ready to celebrate, and celebrate they did. They rocked the stadium when Mark McLemore delivered two runs with a second-inning single, and again when Edgar Martinez knocked in Ichiro Suzuki in the seventh inning.

Seattle pitchers struck out 10 Indians — oddly, there were none in the first three innings — and whenever there were two strikes the fans stood and clapped in unison, anticipating another strikeout.

In the ninth inning, the crowd remained standing as Seattle closer Kazuhiro Sasaki retired Cleveland in order.

"I thought the fans were outstanding," said Seattle catcher Dan Wilson. "You could feel it in the air. Every time there was two strikes they were on their feet, and that just really fires you up.

"Our fans have been great all season, and I think it was very fitting that they were able to see this win today," he said.

Defensive gem: Seattle scored twice in the bottom of the second, but Cleveland countered with a quick run in the top of the third and was threatening more with the bases loaded and just one out.

Mariners starter Jamie Moyer then made perhaps his most important pitch of the day, inducing Cleveland’s Robbie Alomar to bounce into a third-to-second-to-first double play.

It was Cleveland’s last offensive threat of the day. Moyer and Seattle relievers Jeff Nelson, Arthur Rhodes and Sasaki retired 18 of the next 19 hitters while holding the Indians scoreless.

The Alomar double play "was a big turning point in the game," Wilson said. "The momentum was kind of in the balance at that point. We had the momentum and they were trying to get it back, but after that point Jamie really shut it down."

That’s a fact: This was the first time Seattle did not clinch a postseason series in its last at-bat.

In 1995, a two-run double by Edgar Martinez in the bottom of the 11th inning lifted the Mariners past the New York Yankees, 6-5. And last year, a Carlos Guillen squeeze bunt scored Rickey Henderson in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.

Bull session: So what do you do after you’ve just been beaten 17-2 and stand on the brink of having your season end prematurely?

Sit around and mope? Start pointing fingers?

No. If you’re a bunch of the Seattle Mariners, you grab a beer, adjourn to the training room, sit around and try to take something positive out of the loss.

"Not much positive came out of that," said Jay Buhner with a laugh, alluding to the loss to Cleveland on Saturday that dropped the Mariners behind 2-1 in the American League Division Series. "So we just kicked back and picked on each other and had fun and said we’d turn it around the next day."

Which they did with a 6-2 victory.

Collision course: Mike Cameron delivered the biggest hit of the day when he crashed into Cleveland catcher Einar Diaz while trying to score in the second inning.

Cameron stood on third and Mark McLemore on first with two outs when McLemore broke for second. Indians pitcher Chuck Finley threw to first and trapped McLemore in a rundown, giving Cameron a chance to break for home.

Shortstop Omar Vizquel’s throw to Diaz arrived well before Cameron, who lowered his shoulder and delivered a hit that sent both players flying. Diaz held onto the ball to end the inning.

"I didn’t have a real good chance to score, so I just tried to create some havoc," Cameron said. "He held onto the ball, but I punched him well."

Diaz looked back at Cameron but didn’t say anything.

"He didn’t have a chance," Cameron said. "He was trying to catch his breath."

No pressure: 116 and out? The thought, the Mariners say, was not on their minds during the must-win Games 4 and 5. They were not worried about going from the team that equaled the 1906 Cubs’ record of 116 regular season victories to playoff bust.

"You’re in the playoffs, it’s icing on the cake," Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer said. "And it should be fun. At times when you put pressure on yourself, before you know it you’re doing things you don’t want to be doing."

Manager Lou Piniella said the team needed to get back to what it had done during those 116 regular season victories Sunday and Monday against the Indians. They needed good pitching and defense along with some timely hitting. Do those things, he said, and there is no pressure.

"This is not pressure, it really isn’t," Piniella said. "If you put me on deadline to write a story, that would be pressure. But, we do this every day for a living, so it’s fun for us."

Anywhere but the mound: One of the questions heading into the ALDS was how utility player Mark McLemore would handle a regular gig at shortstop with Carlos Guillen recovering from tuberculosis. McLemore, who played every position but pitcher and catcher during the regular season, proved to be solid during the series. He did make his one error of the series in the first inning of Monday’s game, but quickly washed it away by starting a double play moments later. McLemore said he feels comfortable at shortstop, but will play anywhere Piniella asks. Anywhere, that is, except the pitcher’s mound.

"You won’t see me touching that mound unless Lou makes a pitching change," McLemore said. "And it won’t be me that he’s changing to."

Larry Henry, Kirby Arnold, Rich Myhre and Aaron Coe

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