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Seattle’s Freddy Garcia couldn’t last four innings against the White Sox last week in Game 1 of the American League division series. The Sox battered him for six hits and four runs in 3 1/3 innings but were helpless against every other pitcher in the series.
Fast-forward to Tuesday night.
Garcia, pressed into duty because of an injury to left-hander Jamie Moyer, looked like a different man. Garcia shut out the Yankees for 6 2/3 innings, leading the Mariners to a 2-0 victory in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series.
“His ball was live,” Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. “He had his good, hard, heavy sinker.”
The win was huge for the Mariners, who went 44-37 on the road this season but were 1-11 in the first game of their 12 road swings.
Former Cub Glenallen Hill had a chance to help the Yankees late in the game. Pinch-hitting for Paul O’Neill with a runner aboard in the eighth inning, Hill was frozen on Arthur Rhodes’ 1-2 changeup.
Kazuhiro Sasaki, Seattle’s 32-year-old rookie closer, gave up two hits in the ninth but hung on for the save.
It marked the first time the Yankees had been shut out in a postseason game since Game 2 of the 1996 World Series against Atlanta’s Greg Maddux and Mark Wohlers. New York has played 34 postseason games since.
“We haven’t been hitting the ball,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “But we go up there and grind until the last out.”
In the most glaring example of the Yankees’ struggles, Derek Jeter struck out three times.
“He’s not pressing,” Torre said. “It just didn’t seem like he was seeing the ball well.”
Few Yankees did against Garcia, who was called to start after Moyer broke his left kneecap Saturday in a simulated game.
Garcia was acquired in Seattle’s 1998 trade with Houston for Randy Johnson.
Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez recalled that a “sense of disappointment” swept through the organization after the deal was completed. That disappointment turned into delight Tuesday night.
“We tell Freddy that he has the potential to be a Pedro [Martinez] because he has three dominant pitches,” Rodriguez said. “I tell him, `Don’t fall in love with one.’ He did a great job [of not doing that] tonight.”
New York’s Denny Neagle also pitched valiantly, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning until Mark McLemore’s two-out double.
Rickey Henderson then punched a single to right, giving O’Neill an excellent chance to cut down McLemore at the plate.
But O’Neill took his time, allowing McLemore to beat his one-hopper with a headfirst slide.
Rodriguez supplied Seattle’s second run with a monumental blast in the sixth.
When the ball hit the netting about three-quarters the way up the left-field foul pole, Rodriguez started circling the bases. And the Yankee Stadium crowd of 54,481 went silent.
With a 3-2 count, Rodriguez said he was looking for a fastball.
“I saw a pattern that Neagle was developing,” Rodriguez said. “He was trying to tie me up with my hands. The whole at-bat I was focused on getting a fastball in, and I finally got it.”
At least Torre could take solace in the Yankees’ Game 2 starter–Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez.
The Yankees last trailed in the ALCS in 1998 against Cleveland. Down 2-1 to the Indians, Hernandez tossed seven shutout innings, leading the Yankees to a 4-0 win. They won the next two and swept San Diego in the World Series.
“El Duque’s had a habit of picking us up,” Torre said. “Hopefully he can do it again.”
