| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
SEATTLE (AP) -- Roger Clemens brushed back Alex Rodriguez, then
brought the New York Yankees to the brink of another World Series
trip.
Pitching the greatest game of his flawed postseason career,
Clemens threw a one-hitter and struck out a record-setting 15 to
give the Yankees a 5-0 win Saturday night and a 3-1 lead in the AL
championship series.
|
Game 4 at a glance
|
|
Every game a hero
Wow. From the first inning, Roger Clemens was firing blazing 96-mph fastballs that the Mariners flailed helplessly at. He fanned 15 and remained strong throughout the game. He allowed only Al Martin's leadoff double in the seventh -- and then fanned Alex Rodriguez, Edgar Martinez and Mike Cameron to get out of the inning.
Key play
In the fifth, Scott Brosius hit a one-out single to right field off Paul Abbott, who allowed just one hit to that point. Chuck Knoblauch walked on a 3-1 pitch, bringing up Derek Jeter, who took ball one low. After a meeting with pitching coach Bryan Price, Abbott threw a fastball ... and Jeter deposited it over the center-field fence, just past the reach of Cameron, for a 3-0 lead.
Key number
Clemens became the sixth pitcher to get 15 strikeouts in a postseason game. The others:
17 -- Bob Gibson, Cardinals (1968 W.S.)
16 -- Kevin Brown, Padres (1998 NLDS)
15 -- Sandy Koufax, Dodgers (1963 W.S)
15 -- Mike Mussina, Orioles (1997 ALCS)
15 -- Livan Hernandez, Marlins (1997 NLCS)
ESPN analysis
Lou Piniella was very critical after the game but Roger Clemens knew that Alex Rodriguez was the one hitter in Seattle's lineup who really hit him and it was always pitches he left out over the plate. Clemens was simply not going to let that happen tonight. He came up and in and got A-Rod out.
-- Buck Martinez
|
Al Martin doubled off the glove of leaping first baseman Tino
Martinez in the seventh inning for Seattle's only hit.
"Tonight was special," Clemens said. "The ball was jumping
out of my hand."
In a testy, tense affair that saw Mariners manager Lou Piniella
shout a string of profanities toward Yankees counterpart Joe Torre
after some early brushbacks, the Yankees won with power pitching
and power hitting.
Derek Jeter hit a three-run homer in the fifth and David Justice
launched a two-run shot in the eighth. That was plenty for Clemens,
who used 97 mph fastballs to set a nine-inning ALCS record for
strikeouts.
"It was total dominance," Torre said.
The Yankees can wrap up their 37th AL pennant and a chance at
their third straight World Series title -- possibly in a Subway
Series -- when Denny Neagle starts against Freddy Garcia in Game 5
Sunday.
And suddenly, all those white towels Mariners fans have been
waving at Safeco Field might wind up being flags of surrender.
Martinez vainly jumped to catch Martin's leadoff liner, but the
ball glanced off the very tip of his glove and rolled into the
right-field corner. It was a clean hit, and the official scorer
immediately ruled it that way.
"I couldn't get it. It was the best I could jump," Martinez
said.
Coming off two losses to Oakland in the division series that
dropped his postseason record to 3-5, Clemens had become the symbol
of what was wrong with the Yankees. At 38, some thought the
five-time Cy Young winner and his teammates were too old and broken
down to keep their run going.
The Rocket showed otherwise from the start -- and with a
vengeance.
After striking out Stan Javier and Martin to start the bottom of
the first, he buzzed Rodriguez with two fastballs. Rodriguez
eventually walked, making him the only Mariners hitter to reach
until the seventh.
In the top of the second, losing pitcher Paul Abbott threw a
fastball near Jorge Posada's head, and that's when the shouting
started.
From the Mariners' first-base dugout, Piniella started screaming
across the way toward Torre. Fans in the front row -- including the
world's richest man, Bill Gates -- could certainly hear the
world-class tirade, with Piniella vowing his team would not back
down.
"He wants to throw at our guys, we'll throw at his guys,"
Piniella said after the game. "I was just trying to let him know
we'll protect our hitters, period."
Said Torre: "It was animated. I can understand. Lou's a fiery
guy."
Before the bottom of the second, umpire crew chief John
Hirschbeck walked in from second base to talk with Clemens on the
mound.
"I told him: 'I'm not saying you threw at Rodriguez or accusing
you of that. But obviously they thought you did because of that
pitch to Posada,' " Hirschbeck said.
"I said: `Let's just let it be done, or else I'll have to issue
warnings.' He said, `I hear you, John. I'm all set,"' he said.
In the fourth, Martin was retired on a play in which Clemens
covered first base. The two players bumped shoulders after crossing
the bag and Clemens raised an elbow.
But in the seventh, Martin hit back with a liner that prevented
Clemens from throwing only the second no-hitter in postseason
history. Don Larsen threw a perfect game for the Yankees against
Brooklyn in the 1956 World Series.
Clemens, who has never pitched a no-hitter in the majors, said
he was not aware he had one in progress until he saw the boxscore
on the clubhouse TV in the fourth inning.
"I wasn't really focused on that, I was focused on winning the
game."
The Mariners, meanwhile, are batting only .183 in the series and
have scored just five runs.
It was the second one-hitter in a week for a New York pitcher,
with Bobby J. Jones of the Mets doing it in an NL division clincher
against San Francisco.
The scrape between Clemens and Martin was the last sign of
trouble. Clemens mowed down the Mariners, much the way he did in
setting a major league strikeout record by fanning 20 Seattle
hitters on April 29, 1986, while with Boston.
The Mariners threatened only once. Martin's double and a two-out
walk to John Olerud brought up Mike Cameron as the tying run, but
he struck out.
The Yankees broke through against Abbott in the fifth. Scott
Brosius singled with two outs, Chuck Knoblauch worked out a walk
and Jeter homered to dead center.
Jeter blew a bubble as he ran toward first base and raised his
right fist when he saw the ball clear Cameron's leap.
Abbott left with tightness in his right shoulder after the
fifth. Justice homered off Jose Mesa.
Game
notes
Clemens has 21 regular-season wins against Seattle, the
most by a Mariners opponent. ... Yankees OF Paul O'Neill stopped
during pregame warmups to watch the scoreboard when it showed Mark
McGwire's pinch-hit at-bat in NLCS. Big Mac hit a long fly ball,
prompting O'Neill to say, "Didn't miss by much." St. Louis beat
the New York Mets 8-2, cutting the Cardinals' deficit to 2-1, in a
game that ended a minute before the Yankees and Mariners began. ...
It was the anniversary of the date current Yankees batting coach
Chris Chambliss hit a bottom-of-the-ninth homer to lift New York
over Kansas City in the deciding Game 5 of the 1976 ALCS. ...
Seattle catcher Dan Wilson struck out twice, leaving him at
2-for-54 (.037) lifetime in postseason play.
|
Greatest postseason performances
|
| Using the Game Score method (see below for scoring method), Roger Clemens' outing Saturday ranks as the most dominating in postseason history. Here are the postseason performances that "scored" at 90 or higher: |
|
Pitcher
|
Team
|
Year
|
Series
|
IP
|
H
|
ER
|
BB
|
SO
|
GS
|
|
Roger Clemens
|
Yankees
|
2000
|
ALCS
|
9
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
15
|
98
|
|
Babe Ruth
|
Red Sox
|
1916
|
World
|
14
|
6
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
97
|
|
Don Larsen
|
Yankees
|
1956
|
World
|
9
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
94
|
|
Ed Walsh
|
W. Sox
|
1906
|
World
|
9
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
12
|
94
|
|
Bob Gibson
|
Cardinals
|
1968
|
World
|
9
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
17
|
93
|
|
Ken Holtzman
|
A's
|
1973
|
ALCS
|
11
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
7
|
93
|
|
Kevin Brown
|
Padres
|
1998
|
NLDS
|
8
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
16
|
92
|
|
Bill Dinneen
|
Red Sox
|
1903
|
World
|
9
|
3
|
0
|
2
|
11
|
90
|
|
George Earnshaw
|
Phi. A's
|
1930
|
World
|
9
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
8
|
90
|
|
Monte Pearson
|
Yankees
|
1939
|
World
|
9
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
8
|
90
|
|
Livan Hernandez
|
Marlins
|
1997
|
NLCS
|
9
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
15
|
90
|
|
Vida Blue
|
A's
|
1974
|
ALCS
|
9
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
90
|
|
Mike Scott
|
Astros
|
1986
|
NLCS
|
9
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
15
|
90
|
|
Nolan Ryan
|
Astros
|
1986
|
NLCS
|
9
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
12
|
90
|
| Method: Start with 50. Add one point for each out recorded, one point for each strikeout, and two points for each inning completed after the fourth. Subtract one point for each walk, two points for each hit, four points for each run and two points for each unearned run. |
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
NY Yankees Clubhouse
Seattle Clubhouse
Rodriguez, Piniella have words for Clemens
ALCS notebook: It's official, Neagle to start Game 5
RECAPS
NY Yankees 5
Seattle 0
St. Louis 8
NY Mets 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Joe Torre and Roger Clemens answer questions about the Yankees' Game 4 victory.
RealVideo: | 28.8
 Roger Clemens talks with ESPN's Mark Schwarz about his one-hit shutout in Game 4.
wav: 834 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Derek Jeter talks with ESPN's Peter Gammons.
wav: 646 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Despite the brush backs, Alex Rodriguez couldn't help but compliment Roger Clemens.
wav: 141 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Roger Clemens felt a little different about those inside pitches to Alex Rodriguez.
wav: 85 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Joe Torre felt Roger Clemens' performance tonight was legendary.
wav: 84 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Manager Lou Piniella comments on Roger Clemens' aggressive pitching techniques.
wav: 95 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
