Mariners Feel Ready for Yankee Stadium

Much like the sudden transformation of their manager from Sweet Lou Piniella to Sour Lou on Thursday night, the setting for Seattle’s American League championship series against New York shifts from Mariner-friendly Safeco Field to hostile Yankee Stadium for Game 3 today.

“The East Coast fans are pretty tough,” said Mariner reliever Jeff Nelson, who played five seasons for the Yankees from 1996-2000. “Not only are they loud, but they say some things that can stick with you when you play. So it’s a good advantage for New York.”

Does that mean it’s a disadvantage for Seattle? The Mariners had a better record on the road (59-22) than at home (57-24) and they thrived in Yankee Stadium, winning five of six games.

That gave Piniella the confidence to predict after Game 2 that the series would return to Seattle for Game 6.

“If I was intimidated, I would not have gotten on the plane, so I don’t feel like there’s an intimidation factor,” said Jamie Moyer, the Seattle left-hander who will oppose Yankee right-hander Orlando Hernandez today. “They are no different than we are. They are grown men playing a kids’ game, and so are we.”

Any hope the Mariners have of getting back into the series rests on Moyer, a veteran whose deliveries are so soft they rarely make a sound when hitting catcher Dan Wilson’s mitt.

Moyer baffled Cleveland twice in the division series, winning Games 2 and 5 and limiting the Indians to two runs and eight hits in 12 innings. He went 2-0 in three starts against the Yankees this season, giving up three earned runs and 12 hits in 20 innings.

“You see all these big thumpers, big home-run hitters, and he has them down on their hands and knees with the way he pitches,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “He has taken a page out of [Greg] Maddux’s book, and he went soft or softer. It certainly messes a team up. We don’t look forward to facing him because we haven’t had a lot of success against him.”

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Yankee closer Mariano Rivera has a record 23 playoff saves and has given up only four earned runs in his last 49 playoff innings for an 0.73 ERA.

He doesn’t need any extra advantage, which is what Piniella thought Rivera got Thursday night. After Torre summoned Rivera to replace Ramiro Mendoza in the eighth inning, Rivera took another four or five warm-up pitches before coming onto the field, while Piniella waved his arms and screamed at the umpires in displeasure.

“It looks like this guy makes his own rules,” Piniella said. “Call the guy into the game, you throw one pitch and come in. You don’t throw four or five more pitches. But that didn’t cost us the ballgame. It just gave me something to argue about.”

Said Rivera: “When they called, I was throwing, but nobody told me there was a call so I kept throwing. I don’t know if it’s different rules for myself. But if there is, it’s good then to have that, I guess, because you get more throws.”

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Since his lone blown postseason save, in a division series game against Cleveland on Oct. 5, 1997, Rivera has converted 22 consecutive playoff saves and held opponents scoreless in 40 of his 46 playoff appearances. While most managers baby their closers, rarely allowing them to pitch more than one inning, Rivera has gone more than one inning in 18 of his 23 saves.

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The Yankees have won three consecutive and four of the last five World Series, but the hunger for another championship is still there.

“I’m kind of a dessert eater, so I liken it to sitting with a piece of chocolate cake in front of me, having one bite and liking the way it tasted,” Yankee third baseman Scott Brosius said. “So I’m not going to put it down. I’m going to take another bite. That’s how the guys feel about winning here. We’ve had a taste of it, but just because we’ve had a taste doesn’t mean we want to put down yet.”

TODAY

MARINERS’ JAMIE MOYER (20-6, 3.43 ERA) VS. YANKEES’ ORLANDO HERNANDEZ (4-7, 4.85 ERA)

Yankee Stadium, 1:20 p.m.

TV--Channel 11

Update--Hernandez, who sat out almost three months of the season because of a toe injury, struggled with his command in Game 4 of the division series, but he still managed to limit Oakland to two runs and eight hits in 52/3 innings to gain the victory and improve his postseason record to 9-1. Since losing the first two games against the A’s, the Yankees have won five in a row and appear to be on the kind of roll that carried them to the last three World Series titles. The Mariners are hitless in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position, but Piniella thinks one or two clutch hits could turn the tide. “One at-bat, one game can turn the lights on, and you’re on your way again,” Piniella said. “So that’s what we’re going to try to accomplish.”