Mariner Boone-Doggle Comes to End

He had produced the finest offensive season by an American League second baseman, but as Bret Boone went to his position after the top half of the third inning Saturday he had not homered in the postseason, had not driven in a run and had only four hits in 30 at-bats.

In addition, frustrated and overanxious, he had just ended a Seattle Mariner threat in a scoreless game by electing to swing at the first pitch from Orlando Hernandez with two runners on base and two out.

The resulting fly to right further stoked Boone’s anger, and as first baseman John Olerud fed him ground balls before the New York Yankees batted, Boone--whose career has been driven by an inner fire and conceit--swiped at them with his glove, creating the impression he would have preferred to take a bite out of the ball.

Instead, at this early juncture of what would eventually become a breakout game for Boone and the Mariners, a 14-3 must win in which they buried Yankee mystique under 15 hits and delivered the first installment on Manager Lou Piniella’s guarantee that the American League’s championship series would return to Seattle for Game 6, Boone appeared to take a verbal bite out of shortstop Mark McLemore, wagging a finger at his teammate from their respective positions.

Had McLemore questioned Boone’s judgment in swinging at that first pitch moments earlier? Were they sniping at each other?

“Not at all,” McLemore said with a smile. “He was just telling me what he usually tells me when he doesn’t get a hit. It’s been the same since Day One, nothing changes. I don’t know how many times he tells me, ‘Mac, I [stink].’

“I mean, he was no more upset with that at-bat than any other. He feels he should get a hit every at-bat. We all go through it. Bret just takes it a little harder than most.”

Boone would fulfill those great expectations in his next three at-bats, delivering a two-run single, a two-run homer and a run-scoring single for five runs batted in, matching the ALCS record and helping the Mariners avoid an 0-3 series deficit that would have put Roger Clemens in position to complete a sweep tonight.

That possibility dissolved amid a profusion of pinstriped errors as the Mariners finally resembled the team that a) won 116 regular-season games, including five of six in the caldron that is Yankee Stadium, and b) rebounded to capture the five-game division series against the Cleveland Indians by winning Games 4 and 5.

Of course, there is no guarantee--despite the Piniella guarantee that was nothing more than an expression of confidence in his team and which he reiterated in a fire-and-brimstone pregame meeting with his players Saturday--that this rout of the Yankees was the start of a similar series comeback.

Then again, if Boone has regained the stroke that produced 36 homers and a league-leading 141 RBIs, it could be.

Actually, Boone said he hadn’t lost that stroke.

“I know I had a tough time in the Cleveland series,” he said. “That happens. It’s a tough game. But I had the opportunity to work on some things between the two series, and I’ve really felt great at the plate since then, as good as I have all year.”

Perhaps, but maybe it took a broken-bat, bloop single that was in and then out of left fielder Chuck Knoblauch’s glove in the fifth inning to restore that good feeling and relieve some of the pressure for Boone and the Mariners.

A diving Knoblauch had the fly ball for a moment, but lost it when he hit the ground. The blow, if that’s what it was, scored two runs to tie the game against El Duque, and the Mariners untied it big time in the next inning, scoring seven runs. McLemore delivered a bases-loaded triple off Mike Stanton after Ichiro Suzuki had been walked intentionally, and Boone followed with his two-run homer, a bolt to dead center, off Mark Wohlers.

How big was that Boone bloop that Knoblauch couldn’t hold?

“On a scale of 1 to 10,” said McLemore, “it was huge.”

Said Boone: “Sometimes, when you get that chinker, it opens things up and you feel a lot better [at the plate], but, really, I’ve been feeling a lot better the last two or three days. Sure, it’s been frustrating for me personally, but at this stage of the season, with all we’ve been through, it’s all about winning games. I mean, the only thing I felt relief about when that hit fell was that we were tied. It didn’t matter if I got it or someone else did.”

Boone delivered his best season by cutting down on his oft-criticized big swing, using the entire field, and becoming more of a contact hitter with two strikes. He also hit the weights to such an extent during the off-season that Piniella described him as “Little Tarzan” when he arrived for spring training.

“Bret just has to relax and do what he’s done all year,” Piniella said before Game 3 with the Yankees. “I think he’s been trying to do too much. He’s been a really good left-center, right-center hitter, and that’s what he’s got to get back to.”

Boone, who is eligible for free agency and could be playing his final games with the Mariners, singled to left, homered to center, singled to right and made two brilliant defensive plays in a victory he described as crucial “because it would have been very difficult coming back from 0-3.”

The Mariners are back in it now, but they were low keying the high-scoring romp. They know they can’t carry over any of those 14 runs, and that Clemens, if sound, has the ability to derail all of that offensive momentum.

They also know that if McLemore isn’t hearing Boone tell him how much he [stinks], their chances are improved.