Ho Hum, Mariners Sweep Yankees

There wasn’t a raucous celebration in Seattle’s clubhouse Sunday at Yankee Stadium as players milled around the lunch table while the music remained at a normal decibel level.

That’s not the usual reaction from a visiting team that has just swept the New York Yankees. Then again, the Mariners know that nothing counts in this rivalry until October.

“It’s not a message,” reliever Jeff Nelson said after the 10-6 victory. “This is the regular season. The postseason is different.”

The sweep gave the Mariners their 11th victory in their last 12 regular-season games at Yankee Stadium.

But New York ended Seattle’s last two seasons in the American League championship series. The Mariners won’t come back this season unless the teams meet in the playoffs.

“We beat them up pretty good in the regular season last year, and they got us back in the postseason,” second baseman Bret Boone said. “We’re not putting too much into this. To get to where we want to be, which is the World Series, we will have to beat these guys.”

They did that Sunday with Ruben Sierra homering and driving in four runs and Joel Pineiro shutting down the Yankees for six innings.

Bernie Williams homered twice for the Yankees, who were swept for the first time this season. They fell 41/2 games behind Boston in the American League East, New York’s largest deficit since September 1997.

“It’s still early,” Williams said. “We’ve got to start winning some games obviously, but we can’t be worried about what other teams are doing.”

Pineiro (2-0) gave up two runs and five hits in six innings to get his first win as a starter this season. Ichiro Suzuki scored three runs and Jeff Cirillo went three for four with two RBIs.

The Mariners jumped on David Wells (4-1) early and kept up their amazing play away from Safeco Field.

They are 14-2 on the road this season and 73-24 since the start of 2001.

“It’s just a work in progress. The guys just go about their business and win games,” said Cirillo, who joined Seattle in the off-season. “We just swept the Yankees in Yankee Stadium and there wasn’t jubilation.”

One day after rallying from a 5-0 deficit to win, the Mariners played from ahead most of the game.

Suzuki led off with an infield single and went to third when Boone hit a drive to deep center that glanced off Williams’ glove for a double.

John Olerud’s groundout made it 1-0--the only first-inning run yielded by Wells in seven starts this season.

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Boston 2, Tampa Bay 0--The Red Sox won for the fifth time in a row and improved their record to 20-7, the best in the major leagues.

Frank Castillo gave up three hits in eight innings and Jose Offerman hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Offerman’s sacrifice fly off Steve Kent drove in Trot Nixon, who doubled off Ryan Rupe (3-3). Nomar Garciaparra added a solo homer off Esteban Yan in the ninth.

The Devil Rays have lost 10 in a row, their longest streak since Sept. 9-20, 2000, and one short of the club record set from June 30-July 13, 1998.

Rupe, 0-4 in five starts against Boston last season, had limited the Red Sox to two singles by Johnny Damon through seven innings.

He retired 13 in a row after hitting Shea Hillenbrand with a pitch that loaded the bases with two outs in the first.

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Detroit 7, Minnesota 6--Jeff Weaver won in the Metrodome for the first time as the Tigers ended the Twins’ 10-game home winning streak.

Robert Fick and Wendell Magee each hit two-run homers during a five-run fifth inning that gave Detroit a 7-1 lead. The Tigers survived a late rally to record only the second victory in their last 15 games at Minneapolis.

Weaver (2-4) gave up four runs and six hits in six-plus innings to beat the Twins for only the third time in 10 starts.

Weaver was 0-2 with a 9.54 earned-run average in three previous Metrodome starts and 2-6, 6.66 lifetime against the Twins. Juan Acevedo got the final five outs for his second save, working around a double by Corey Koskie in the ninth.

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Oakland 3, Chicago 2--Barry Zito combined with Jim Mecir and Billy Koch on a six-hitter at Comiskey Park and the Athletics avoided being swept in the three-game series.

The White Sox, who were swept in three games by Oakland last weekend, outscored the Athletics, 18-6, in this series after being outscored, 32-5, at the Coliseum.

Zito (2-2), who gave up six runs and six hits in four innings at New York in his last start, yielded two runs and six hits in six innings.

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Cleveland 9, Texas 2--Omar Vizquel had five hits in five at-bats and drove in two runs and C.C. Sabathia won for the first time in four starts.

Ranger starter Kenny Rogers (3-1), who entered with the AL’s second-lowest ERA, gave up 10 hits and six runs in four innings in the loss at Cleveland.

Vizquel singled in his first two at-bats and doubled in his next three for the Indians, who got a season-high 16 hits and won for the fourth time in 19 games. It was Vizquel’s second five-hit game, his first since July 18, 1991, when he was with Seattle.

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Baltimore 3, Kansas City 2--The Orioles, who trailed, 2-0, before rallying in the sixth inning, had never swept a four-game series at home against the Royals.

Baltimore finished 7-0 against Kansas City this season, outscoring the Royals, 55-16.

Jeff Conine homered and Mike Bordick added a run-scoring single during a three-run sixth. Michael Tucker homered for Kansas City, 0-6 since interim Manager John Mizerock replaced Tony Muser on Tuesday.