Indians Do It Mariner Way

Not one of those major league-record-tying 116 regular-season victories can help the Seattle Mariners now. The euphoria of their six-month joy ride through baseball, during which they led the American League in batting at .288, earned-run average at 3.54, and fielding percentage at .986, is suddenly history.

The sobering scenario for Seattle is this: A team that put together one of the greatest seasons in baseball history will go down as one of baseball’s biggest disappointments unless it wins three of four games against the Cleveland Indians, who generated that predicament with a 5-0 victory over the Mariners in Game 1 of the AL division series Tuesday before 48,033 in Safeco Field.

Cleveland right-hander Bartolo Colon, featuring a lively fastball that hit 99-mph in his final inning, was dominating, shutting out the Mariners on six hits, striking out 10 and walking two on a shadowy 55-degree afternoon, giving the underdog Indians a huge lift in the best-of-five series.

The bottom four batters in the Cleveland order combined for eight of the team’s 11 hits, including a homer, double and single by Ellis Burks. First baseman Jim Thome, known more for his power than his glove work, started a flashy double play in the bottom of the fourth to snuff out a potential Mariner rally.

“It’s good to be the underdog; let the other team have all the pressure,” Indian shortstop Omar Vizquel said. “It’s not like Seattle needs to win, they have to win. All the ESPN people, all the analysts, say Seattle is going to win. They’ve had a remarkable season, and when you win 116 games, you expect a lot. So today’s win was very important to us, and a big disappointment for them.”

Not if you believed the comments emanating from the Mariner clubhouse. .

“I’m not worried about this team,” said Seattle second baseman Bret Boone, who went 0 for 4 and struck out twice. “We’ve come too far, we’ve played too well, we have too many veterans, and the character in this room is too good for us to be concerned. It’s natural for people to question us, but we’ll be ready Thursday.”

Mariner left-hander Jamie Moyer, who allowed one run in 14 innings of two victories over Cleveland this season, will oppose Indian left-hander Chuck Finley in Game 2.

“Worried?” said Seattle right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, who had three hits in his playoff debut but was thrown out on his only stolen-base attempt. “If our team could be affected by just one loss, we never would have won 116 games.”

There was at least one voice of reason in the Mariner locker room, though.

“We’re 0-1 now; 116 wins doesn’t mean a thing,” shortstop Mark McLemore said. “We’re a confident club, we’ve come back before, but we need to win Thursday. Who’s the best today is the most important thing, and they showed that [Tuesday]. They’re not going to crumple up and go home because we won 116 games.”

Instead, the Indians swiped a page right out of the Mariner playbook, using excellent pitching, timely hitting and flawless defense to win the series opener and hand the Mariners their fifth shutout of the season.

Cleveland bunched five hits during a three-run third off Seattle starter Freddy Garcia and used three infield singles to score in the sixth before Burks pounded his eighth-inning homer into the upper deck in left field off reliever Jose Paniagua.

“I don’t think this intimidates them at all, but it sure boosts our psyche,” Cleveland third baseman Travis Fryman said. “To see Bartolo dominate ... we have to have that. To see us manufacture runs ... we know we have to do that to win.”

Roberto Alomar opened the Indian fourth with a double to left-center and scored on Juan Gonzalez’s broken-bat bloop over Boone’s head for a 1-0 lead. Thome walked, and Burks’ grounder to the left side glanced off diving third baseman David Bell’s glove for an infield single, loading the bases.

Fryman’s single to center made it 2-0, Marty Cordova’s single to center made it 3-0, and the Indians, who still had the bases loaded with no outs, were in position to blow open the game. Then Garcia stopped throwing the ball over the middle of the plate.

The Mariner right-hander struck out Einar Diaz with a sweeping slider and Kenny Lofton with a nasty split-finger fastball before falling behind Vizquel with three consecutive balls. But Garcia came back with two strikes before retiring Vizquel on a lazy fly to left.

Garcia’s escape put a surge into the Mariners and their fans, but Thome quickly pulled the plug on them in the fourth, making a superb backhand grab of John Olerud’s one-hop smash and turning it into an inning-ending, 3-6-3 double play.

AL PLAYOFFS

Division Series; Best of five

SEATTLE VS. CLEVELAND

Game 1

Cleveland 5, Seattle 0

Game 2--Thursday

at Seattle, 1:20 p.m., Fox Family

Starters--Indians LH Chuck Finley (8-7, 5.54 ERA) vs. Mariners LH Jamie Moyer (20-6, 3.43)

OAKLAND VS. NY YANKEES

Game 1--Today

at New York, 5:15 p.m., Channel 11

Starters--Athletics’ LH Mark Mulder (21-8, 3.45 ERA) vs. Yankees’ RH Roger Clemens (20-3, 3.51)

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