M’s big win is a record breaker

By Kirby Arnold

Herald Writer

NEW YORK – The New York tabloids had a ball with the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, with headlines like “Sweep Lou” and “Toodle-Lou” that pronounced the Mariners finished in the American League Championship Series.

Saturday night, the Mariners gave the headline writers at least another day of material.

Mired in a hitting slump throughout the postseason, the Mariners broke out of it with a record-setting performance at Yankee Stadium. They beat the New York Yankees 14-3 in Game 3 of the ALCS and set or tied three records in the process.

The Mariners set an ALCS record for runs scored in a game.

Their seven-run outburst in the sixth inning, when they broke the tension of a 2-2 score, tied an ALCS record.

Second baseman Bret Boone drove in five runs and matched the ALCS record for RBI in a game.

“It would be nice if they let us take some of these runs and start (today) with them,” said shortstop Mark McLemore, whose three-run triple in the sixth inning was his first hit of the series.

The Yankees still lead the best-of-seven series 2-1, but a victory by the Mariners in Game 4 today would make good the promise that manager Lou Piniella made on Thursday.

Piniella, angry after the loss in Game 2 that put the Mariners down 0-2, told reporters that the series would return to Seattle for Game 6 on Tuesday. The New York newspapers chomped on Piniella’s words for two days.

The Mariners, in turn, feasted on Yankee pitching Saturday.

They scored twice in the fifth inning to tie the score 2-2, then broke through with the big sixth inning that made the game a runaway.

“I think it was important for our offense to get back to swinging the bats the way that we are capable of, and have some guys get hits and feel better about (today’s) game,” Boone said. “But by no means by winning the game 14-2 do we think we have a big edge (today).”