Garcia doesn’t feel Game 4 pressure

By Kirby Arnold

Herald Writer

CLEVELAND – Freddy Garcia saw what the Cleveland Indians did to four of his fellow pitchers Saturday and formed his own opinion.

“They hit pretty good,” said the Seattle Mariners right-hander who will start today when the stakes are greatest for the Mariners.

If they hit Garcia today like they did Aaron Sele, Paul Abbott, John Halama and Jose Paniagua on Saturday, the season will be over.

If Garcia pitches like he did in an 18-5 regular season, the Mariners have a good chance to extend the series. Win and they return home for Game 5 on Monday with Jamie Moyer on the mound.

“I’ll go out there and try to do my job,” Garcia said. “There’s no pressure. I know it’s a big game, but I’ll try to do the best I can do.”

It will have to be better than what Garcia did Tuesday in Game 1, when the Indians nicked him for nine hits and four runs in a 5-0 Cleveland victory. Bartolo Colon, who shut down the Mariners in eight innings of that game, will start for the Indians today.

“I’ll try to do my job,” Garcia said. “I’ll try to throw a lot of strikes and be aggressive with all those guys. Right now, they are really hot, but I’ve got to be aggressive and go out there and do the best I can, too.”

The Mariners announced Saturday morning that Garcia would start today after they originally planned to let the result of Game 3 determine who they would pitch. They also were considering right-hander Paul Abbott, who is 5-0 lifetime against the Indians but hadn’t pitched in 11 days.

Abbott relieved starter Aaron Sele in the third inning Saturday and allowed eight runs in three innings.

Pitching coach Bryan Price said that by deciding early Saturday that Garcia would get the Game 4 start, it would give him a full day to physically and mentally prepare.

“Freddy led the league in ERA (3.05) and he came close to it in road ERA (3.09) this year,” Price said. “There’s also nothing wrong with wanting to run your top two starters out there (for Games 4 and 5).”