Cameron’s home run set the stage for Mariners victory

By Kirby Arnold

Herald Writer

SEATTLE — The mind game started in the first inning, and Mike Cameron’s melon was filling up as he dug in at the plate with a two-strike count against Chuck Finley.

"In the back of my mind I thought he might throw a forkball, but consciously I was looking for something fast because I knew in the back of his mind that … "

It gets complicated from there.

The result was that Cameron guessed right and crushed a two-run home run that launched the Seattle Mariners to a 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians at Safeco Field in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.

It’s what Cameron is thinking now that’s most important for the Mariners, who tied the best-of-five series 1-1 with the next two games in Cleveland.

"It would have been very tough on us going there down 0-2," he said. "There’s a tremendous amount of pressure if you don’t win a ballgame. In a short series, it would have been very difficult.

"But for some reason, the guys were as loose as if we were up 2-0. By that, I think that gave us an opportunity to relax and get up on the board early."

The Mariners, balled up in knots in Game 1 when Bartolo Colon overpowered them in a 5-0 shutout, loosened up quickly against Finley.

Cameron pounded an 0-2 fastball into the left-field seats for a two-run homer and, after Bret Boone singled, Edgar Martinez crushed the first pitch over the center-field fence.

The Mariners led 4-0 before Finley recorded an out, and it stayed that way before they got another hit.

That one, a leadoff home run by David Bell in the fifth, made it a five-run lead that might as well have been 20 the way Jamie Moyer was pitching.

Moyer needed just 20 pitches to get through the first two innings, didn’t allow a hit until two outs into the third, and only once worked with a runner as far as third base.

By the time he faced serious trouble after allowing two singles to start the seventh, Moyer already had spun the Indians into confusion with his assortment of slow fastballs and slower curves and changeups.

"He works on hitters’ timing," manager Lou Piniella said. "That’s what makes him successful. He’s not a power pitcher, but there’s other ways to skin a cat."

One of Cleveland’s biggest cats wound up feeling absolutely naked. Twice.

Moyer struck out Jim Thome, who hit 49 home runs in the regular season, on a 77 mph breaking pitch in the second inning, then got Thome with an 85 mph fastball to end the top of the fourth with runners on first and third.

"That’s all I have to offer," Moyer said. "I can’t reach back and throw 95."

Ellis Burks and Thome hit back-to-back singles to start the seventh, but by then the power side of the Mariners’ bullpen was warmed up and ready.

Jeff Nelson lost Travis Fryman on a 3-2 fastball that loaded the bases with nobody out, but he jammed Marty Cordova and got a double-play grounder. It produced the Indians’ only run but killed the Indians’ rally. Einar Diaz hit a fly to center to end the threat.

Arthur Rhodes, without challenge to his earrings, pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Kazuhiro Sasaki gave up a hit to Ellis Burks but struck out two in the ninth, including Fryman.

That whiff ended the game and tied the series as it heads to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4.

Advantage Mariners? After all, they set an American League record with 59 road victories this season.

"We’re confident whether we’re at home or on the road. It doesn’t matter where you are," said shortstop Mark McLemore, one of the leaders in a clubhouse that celebrated its victory with roughly the same exuberance as Tuesday’s Game 1 loss.

"Same approach," he said. "Be ready Saturday."

That’s not to say there weren’t a few nervous twitches by the Mariners going into Thursday’s game.

One swing eased the minds of Cameron’s teammates on the bench, plus most in the Safeco Field record attendance of 48,052.

Cameron, thinking fastball on 0-2 even though Finley can throw a wicked forkball, guessed right as Ichiro Suzuki stood on first base after a leadoff walk.

"I knew in the back of his mind that he didn’t want to let Ichiro get into scoring position with two right-handers coming up," Cameron said. "I had a hunch he was going to throw a fastball. I wanted to be ready for it, and I didn’t miss it."

Bell couldn’t emphasize enough what the four-run first inning meant.

"If that doesn’t happen, who knows how it would turn out for us?" Bell said.

Now they need to win two of the next three, including at least one on the road.

"We’ve been doing it all year long," Cameron said. "If we can get ourselves to do that going into Cleveland, we’re going to be pretty tough. Take nothing away from Cleveland because they are playing at home, but we’ve played in some very hostile environments and pulled out some victories."