Rodriguez Is Feeling a Wave of Nostalgia

Mariner shortstop Alex Rodriguez has been able to suppress his anxiety over his future all season, not letting his impending free agency affect his approach or his play.

But with Seattle on the brink of elimination in the American League championship series and the possibility that Sunday could be his last game as a Mariner in Safeco Field, Rodriguez found himself consumed with distracting thoughts Saturday night.

“For the first time, it hit me, and I had a hard time sleeping a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “You know you might be facing the end, and you don’t know what the future holds. For the most part this season I’ve been able to put that behind me and worry about the present.”

Rodriguez said he was able to get a few hours sleep, and he looked fresh Sunday, poking a Jeff Nelson slider into left field for a two-run single that gave Seattle a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning of an eventual 6-2 Game 5 victory over the Yankees.

Rodriguez also made a nice diving stop of Luis Sojo’s sixth-inning grounder up the middle and threw Sojo out, his contributions helping Seattle extend its season--and Rodriguez’s Mariner career--by at least one more game.

“Obviously, you become a bit apprehensive about the possibilities,” said Rodriguez, who will probably test the free-agent market but hasn’t ruled out a return to Seattle.

“My mom has always told me, ‘Sometimes the grass is not greener on the other side.’ That’s something, when it’s all said and done, I’m going to sit down and talk with my loved ones about, and hopefully I’ll make a wise decision.”

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They say those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it. Someone in the Yankee dugout should have mentioned this to Glenallen Hill before he pinch-hit for Paul O’Neill with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh inning Sunday.

Mariner reliever Arthur Rhodes jumped ahead of Hill with fastballs just off the plate and then dropped a slider on the inside corner for a called strike three to end the inning and preserve Seattle’s 6-2 lead.

It was the exact same sequence and out pitch Rhodes used to retire Hill in the eighth inning of Game 1 on Tuesday night, when Hill struck out looking with a runner on first in a 2-0 Mariner victory.

“I don’t know what was in his mind, but I knew I was going to do the same thing I did in New York,” Rhodes said. “They were both nasty pitches. The one in New York was right down the middle. The one today was inside, and he couldn’t pull the trigger.”

Rhodes, who was torched for three runs and four hits during the Yankees’ seven-run, eighth-inning rally in Game 2, got himself into trouble by walking Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez to load the bases in the seventh, but he extricated himself from the mess with strikeouts of Jorge Posada and Hill.

“This was redemption, payback time,” Rhodes said, “and it felt good.”

*

The Yankees left 15 runners on base Sunday, setting an AL championship series record. . . . Seattle catcher Dan Wilson is 0 for 25 lifetime in the AL championship and two for 58 in the postseason. . . . David Cone, the forgotten Yankee, pitched a scoreless eighth for New York on Sunday, the first postseason action this season for a pitcher who played a prominent role on the Yankees’ World Series championship teams of 1996, ’98 and ’99.

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The Series

Yankees lead series, 3-2

Game 1: Seattle 2, New York 0

Game 2: New York 7, Seattle 1

Game 3: New York 8, Seattle 2

Game 4: New York 5, Seattle 0

Game 5: Seattle 6, New York 2

Tuesday: Seattle (Halama 14-9) at New York (Hernandez 12-13), 5 p.m.

Wednesday: Seattle at New York, 5 p.m.*

TV--Ch. 4; *--if necessary

All times Pacific