Early Birds Lay in Wait

What a heartwarming story it would have been for Seattle pitcher Ken Cloude, a 22-year-old rookie who four years ago was playing high school baseball in the Baltimore area, to start the fifth and deciding game of a playoff series against the team he idolized growing up.

But it was the Baltimore Orioles who held the rights to this script, and they left Cloude and his Mariner teammates on the editing-room floor Sunday, defeating Seattle, 3-1, in Game 4 to win the American League division series, three games to one.

A Camden Yards crowd of 48,766 saw another Mike Mussina masterpiece. The Oriole right-hander gave up one run and two hits and struck out seven in seven innings, and Baltimore scratched out just enough offense to beat Seattle ace Randy Johnson for the fourth time this season.

Light-hitting second baseman Jeff Reboulet, one of three right-handed batters Oriole Manager Davey Johnson employs against the Mariners’ 6-foot-10 left-hander, smacked a homer into the left-field seats, and Geronimo Berroa doubled and scored on Cal Ripken Jr.’s single in the first inning for a 2-0 lead.

Berroa added a solo homer in the fifth, and the Orioles rode Mussina and the bullpen tandem of Armando Benitez and Randy Myers the rest of the way to earn a return trip to the American League championship series against either the New York Yankees or Cleveland Indians beginning Wednesday night.

“I would say whoever plays Baltimore has their work cut out for them,” said Randy Johnson, who struck out 13 and gave up seven hits in eight innings, “because they played extremely well against us.”

Especially against Johnson, who lost twice to Baltimore in this series, went 0-4 with a 5.50 earned-run average and one no-decision--an eventual Mariner loss--against the Orioles this season, and now has a 3-9 record and 4.79 ERA against them.

“Certain years strange things happen,” Davey Johnson said. “In five starts by Randy Johnson this season, the Orioles won all five games. If someone told me we could do that, I would have told them they were crazy.”

Why have the Orioles dominated one of baseball’s most dominant pitchers? Well, they have a specific strategy against the Big Unit, loading their lineup with right-handers and stressing patience. They make him throw a lot of pitches--he threw 35 in the first inning Sunday. They try not to swing at balls out of the strike zone.

But perhaps there are greater forces working in Baltimore’s favor.

“The good Lord is on our side,” Eric Davis said. “I’m just glad we don’t have to face him a sixth time.”

Baltimore center fielder Brady Anderson struck out four times against Johnson on Sunday, but he had two hits and an RBI against him in Game 1.

“It’s very unusual, and it’s something that will be talked about for a long time,” Anderson said. “But the focus shouldn’t be on us beating Randy Johnson four times. It should be on Mike Mussina shutting them down.”

Indeed, Mussina, who, like Johnson, was going on three days’ rest, showed again Sunday why he has the highest winning percentage (.682) among active pitchers with 100 or more decisions.

After the second inning, in which he gave up a bases-empty homer to Edgar Martinez, Mussina allowed only two balls to leave the infield. He spotted his fastball on the corners. He was so confident in his knuckle-curve he threw it for strikes on several 3-and-1 counts. He did not give up a hit after the second and struck out the side in the third.

“He seems to go unnoticed at times, but he pitched against the best offense in the league, one of the best lineups ever, and shut them down twice in this series,” Ripken said. “We relied on Mike to do that all year, and he did it again today.”

Mussina, who went 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA and 16 strikeouts in the series, was the primary reason the Mariners hit .218 (29 for 133) with only 11 runs and 10 extra-base hits against the Orioles.

Seattle superstar Ken Griffey Jr. was hitless in eight at-bats against Mussina and went two for 15 (.133) with two singles in the series. Martinez hit only .188 (three for 16).

“We just didn’t hit--that’s the bottom line,” Griffey said. “You have to give them credit. They played us tough.”

Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez said Oriole pitchers never took any chances against the Mariners, keeping most of their pitches outside or off the plate.

“They made us fish more, and we didn’t make the adjustments,” Rodriguez said. “And the way Mussina pitches, he throws all of his pitches for strikes. I didn’t think any pitcher could shut us down twice in a series and he did. I tip my hat to him.”