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Mariners vs. Yankees |
Mets vs. Cardinals
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Tuesday, October 10
Mariners-Yankees have keen postseason history
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- While the New York Yankees fought off the pesky
Oakland Athletics, the Mariners sat on a runway in Seattle deciding
where to go next for the AL championship series.
The Mariners enter the ALCS on Tuesday night rested following
three days off. The Yankees are drained following back-to-back
cross-country flights.
"Once they hear 56,000 screaming fans at Yankee Stadium, that
should get their adrenaline going," Mariners manager Lou Piniella
said. "I'm not feeling sorry for them."
Piniella knows that feeling, having to endure a similar travel
schedule in 1995 after eliminating the Yankees in a tense five-game
series.
Seattle won the opener of the ALCS that year in Cleveland before
falling to the Indians in six games.
"They've had to make that trip twice now," Piniella said. "We
were caught in a similar situation in 1995. But they're not the
world champions for nothing. They showed it. It's fitting to play
the defending world champions to go to the World Series. We're
going to go in nice and relaxed."
They'll also go in with their pitchers in rotation. Freddy
Garcia (9-5) starts for the Mariners against Denny Neagle (15-9),
who didn't even pitch in the first-round against Oakland.
Piniella will follow up Garcia with John Halama, Aaron Sele and
Paul Abbott, while Yankees manager Joe Torre counters with Orlando
Hernandez in Game 2, followed by Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens.
There are few similarities between the teams that will meet in
this year's ALCS and the ones who played that thrilling division
series in 1995.
Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson left Seattle. Alex Rodriguez
and Derek Jeter have become full-blown megastars. Tino Martinez,
Jeff Nelson and Luis Sojo shed their Mariners' uniforms for Yankees
pinstripes.
Perhaps most importantly is that the Yankees have the mystique
of winning three World Series titles in four years and the Mariners
have undergone an overhaul from a power-hitting team to a club that
relies on pitching and situational baseball.
"It's a different Yankees club and certainly a different
Seattle club," said Piniella, one of the few holdovers on either
team. "I don't think you can go back to 1995 and draw any
comparisons."
Many of the changes the teams have undergone stem from that
memorable week in October 1995. The series featured two
extra-inning games, including Jim Leyritz's game-winning homer in
the 15th inning that gave the Yankees a 2-0 series lead.
Then Griffey, Johnson and Edgar Martinez took over, with the Big
Unit winning two of the next three games -- one in relief -- and
Griffey scoring the winning run on Martinez's double in the 11th
inning of the deciding fifth game.
"It was so dramatic," Rodriguez said. "We were serious
underdogs. Nobody expected us to do anything."
Buck Showalter lost his job following that series, and Yankees
owner George Steinbrenner, in one of his best moves, hired manager
Joe Torre. Jeter became the starting shortstop in 1996, Martinez
took over Don Mattingly's spot at first base, and Nelson helped
give New York the best postseason bullpen in history.
"Losing that series was such a huge disappointment for us,"
said Paul O'Neill, one of five Yankees still on the roster. "When
you lose like that, it's something you never forget. But that
experience has made this team better. We learned you don't take any
year for granted because you know it can go so quickly."
The Mariners' changes took longer to develop. Their dramatic
playoff run helped spur state legislators to approve funding for a
new stadium, which opened last season. But Seattle was unable to
keep Johnson and Griffey, losing their ace pitcher and star hitter.
Part of the reason is a new philosophy that coincided with the
opening of spacious Safeco Field and the closing of the homer-happy
Kingdome.
"What's made this ballclub better is the fact that their
pitching is better," Torre said. "I think (Lou) has a lot more
depth in the bullpen than he ever had."
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