By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
SEATTLE — Say this about Freddy Garcia: The kid sure can look like one of the premier pitchers in the game.
Or say this about Freddy Garcia: He’s still not a complete enough package to be considered a true ace.
Of course, Pat Gillick already said the latter.
Gillick, the Seattle Mariners’ general manager, raised a few eyebrows on June 8 when he announced that the club was shopping for a true No. 1 pitcher. Garcia, he contended, was still developing into that role.
On Thursday, both Freddy Garcias showed up. The one with the dominating fastball pitched the final 5 1/3innings of Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
Unfortunately for the Mariners, the other Freddy Garcia gave up too much to overcome. After spotting the Yankees a 3-0 lead, the Mariners never could catch up.
"Hopefully we’ll start getting more on base," Garcia said afterward, summing up the unspoken words of many other Seattle pitchers this postseason.
Garcia could have also done more, if only the second inning had looked like innings three through seven. During the second frame, Garcia gave up three runs on three hits and a walk.
"He’s a top of the rotation pitcher for us for a reason," pitching coach Bryan Price said. "He battles. It’s not typical for him to give up three or four runs in an inning. Unfortunately, today it was the back-breaker."
Price added that Garcia’s performance showed his maturity in that he was able to bounce back.
"I thought he maintained his composure," Price said. "They put up a three-spot there in the second, kind of put us in a little bit of a deficit, but he gave them nothing else. He didn’t lose his focus.
"I would say earlier in the year or earlier in his career, he probably would have gotten a little emotional under those circumstances. Maybe he’d start to overthrow or muscle the ball. But he didn’t."
Garcia said his problem early was location, but he felt that he settled into a rhythm as the game went on. All six of his strikeouts came after the third inning, and he never let a runner past second base following the disastrous inning.
"After the third inning, I felt pretty good," Garcia said. "I got better and better every time."
Garcia, who entered this postseason with a career 2-0 record in playoff games, has lost two of his three starts in the past two weeks. He has not given up more than four runs in any of those outings, but has been plagued by an offense that scored just two runs in his two losses.
"It’s a shame he had to lose that game," catcher Dan Wilson said Thursday. "He pitched well, and it was a gutsy performance."
Added Mark McLemore: "That’s just Freddy. He’s going to go out and give everything he has. We’ve got to step it up offensively."
Garcia gave up a hit to the first batter of the game, but got out of the first inning behind some solid defense from first baseman John Olerud, who snagged a line drive and made a nice play on a Bernie Williams grounder to end the inning.
Garcia’s second inning began with a single by Tino Martinez and a walk to Jorge Posada before Paul O’Neill flew out to left field. Then Scott Brosius delivered the hardest blow, driving the first pitch into the left-field corner. A bad bounce in the corner helped the ball squirt away from left fielder Stan Javier and allowed both Martinez and Posada to score on Brosius’ double. Two batters later, Chuck Knoblauch brought Brosius home with a two-out single to right.
Manager Lou Piniella and Price never considered warming up the bullpen, even though it appeared as if the game was going to slip away from Garcia.
"It’s pretty early in the game to decide your No. 1 starter needs to come out of the game," Price said. "Then you’re doing patchwork with your bullpen."
The only thing that bailed Garcia out of the third was Wilson’s throw to second base, which nailed Knoblauch trying to steal during a Derek Jeter at-bat.
Garcia allowed at least one baserunner in each of the next four innings, but two key strikeouts and an inning-ending double play helped him get out of those jams.
He retired the side in the sixth, then was replaced by Arthur Rhodes after a one-out walk in the eighth.
"He had good command of his offspeed today," said Brosius, who struck out in his final two at-bats against Garcia. "He had a real good curveball and a changeup."
Garcia’s final line included seven hits and four walks, statistics that are hardly typical of a so-called ace. But when the team needed him to get things on track, Garcia delivered.
"He pitched well, gave us a chance to win," Price said. "Obviously, we’d like one pitch back. Our plan all year is for him to go out there and pitch and give us a chance to win games. And I think he did that today."
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