By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
CLEVELAND – At 1:50 Friday afternoon, Gerald Perry swept through the visitor’s clubhouse at Jacobs Field and ordered his hitters to clear the room.
“Two o’clock in the room downstairs,” said Perry, the hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners. “We’re going to take a look at Sabathia.”
Ten minutes later, all eyes were fixed on a TV screen as the Mariners got their first glimpse of a rookie pitcher whose success against them today could determine the fate of the American League Division Series between the M’s and Cleveland Indians.
C.C. Sabathia, a 21-year-old left-hander who the Mariners have never seen beyond video tape, will start Game 3 for the Indians today against Seattle veteran Aaron Sele.
The winner will take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series and have a chance to clinch in Game 4 Sunday.
The Mariners know their success will hinge largely on how Sabathia handles the pressure of his first postseason start.
In their perfect world, they would turn up the heat on the kid’s big moment with small-ball stuff like a walk or base hit, stolen base, hit-and-run or, as they did against Chuck Finley on Thursday, a couple of first-inning homers.
“Get on the board first, that’s the key,” said first-base coach John Moses, who stands at the launching point for much of the Mariners’ attack.
When at their best, the Mariners pressure teams with their speed and force opponents, especially young pitchers, into mistakes.
“He’s got an ERA over 4.3 (it’s 4.39), so he’s got to be walking guys or giving up some hits,” Moses said. “Get baserunners on and put the game in motion. I think the style of play that we have here, we can put pressure on a pitcher. He’s young. This is his first postseason and he’s not accustomed to this type of atmosphere.”
Carsten Charles Sabathia, born, raised and still living in Vallejo, Calif., has devoted a good part of his mental preparation for the biggest start of his life to remaining calm. Adrenaline can do nasty things to a young player in the postseason.
“That’s my biggest concern,” Sabathia said. “Not getting too pumped up for the game and staying calm. Not trying to overthrow and just make pitches.
“I haven’t had jitters yet but I’m pretty sure I will. Hopefully I can get them out of the way and settle down early.”
Indians manager Charlie Manuel is a believer.
“His composure has been a little bit better than I thought it was going to be,” Manuel said. “I started noticing it in spring training and that’s one reason why I fought to keep him on the team. I think a big part of his success is that he hasn’t let things bother him on the mound.”
“We know he’s got good stuff,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. “He’s got a good arm and he’s had a very successful season. Seventeen and five speaks for itself. We’ve got a good challenge.”
Still, Sabathia (17-5, 4.39 ERA) has suffered enough nicks this season to show he isn’t invincible, especially against the top teams in the league. Against the other two AL playoff teams, New York and Oakland, Sabathia is 1-2 with one no-decision and – get this – an 18.57 ERA.
Sabathia beat the Yankees at New York 7-4 in a rain-shortened game in which he allowed four runs in four innings; lost to the Yankees 15-5 at New York when he gave up six runs in only one inning; lost 17-4 when Oakland rocked him for seven runs in three innings, got a no-decision against Oakland in a 9-7 Cleveland victory in which the A’s got him for five runs in 2 2/3 innings.
In four of his last five starts, Sabathia hasn’t gotten through the sixth inning, although he’s 2-1 in that span.
All that is fodder to anyone looking for the dark side of Sabathia’s season.
The great equalizer today, however, could be that he has never pitched against the Mariners.
“It was not intentional, it was just based on the way our rotation fell,” Manuel said.
So we turn to the video tape, as the Mariners did for about 30 minutes Friday.
What they saw was a big pitcher (6 feet 7 inches, 260 pounds) with a good fastball and changeup, plus a breaking ball that he sometimes struggles to throw for strikes.
“I saw where he throws a lot of balls out of the strike zone with it, and obviously if you lay off it, much the better,” Piniella said. “You’ve still got to make the pitcher throw the ball over the plate. That’s important. You’ve got to get good pitches to hit, and when you get your pitch, you can’t foul it off. You’ve got to hit it hard.”
That’s easier to say when you’ve got a TV clicker in your hand instead of a baseball bat.
“We haven’t seen what the ball is like coming out of his hand,” said Mariners first baseman John Olerud, a left-hander who probably will bat sixth. “We need to learn what he throws in different situations, what his tendencies are, what his breaking ball looks like.”
Yes, there will be a certain amount of on-the-job learning today by the Mariners.
However, Piniella reminded, “He hasn’t faced us, either.”
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