Tuesday, October 21, 2003
TWO YEARS AGO TODAY...
October 21, 2001.
My most painful sports experience to date.
It was Game 4 of the 2001 American League Championship Series between the Mariners and Yankees. The Yankees had a 2-1 lead over the M's in the series, but things were looking up for Seattle after their 14-3 victory the day before.
Paul Abbott had a no-hitter through 5 innings. However, he also walked EIGHT batters. It proved to be Abbott's last meaningful start up to this point. Abbott was 17-4 for the 2001 Mariners, who had won 116 games, tying the all-time Major League record. Roger Clemens was just as good as Abbott, pitching 5 innings, allowing just one hit.
It was a scoreless ballgame until the 8th inning, when Bret Boone hit a solo home run off of Ramiro Mendoza to give the M's a 1-0 lead. And with Arthur Rhodes and Kazuhiro Sasaki waiting in the wings, you would think that would be enough. Not so fast. The game was in Yankee Stadium, you know. Rhodes did his usual Bronx choke session, giving up the slim lead, thanks to a Bernie Williams solo shot.
M's manager Lou Piniella had told everybody within shouting distance that the M's were going to bring the 2001 ALCS back to Seattle for Game 6 (as noted below in David's post). But that prophecy was quickly turning to %$&#.
Enter Sandman. Mariano Rivera.
What does the most clutch player in the history of baseball do?
John Olerud. Grounds out to Tino Martinez.
Stan Javier. Grounds out to Alfonso Soriano.
Mike Cameron. Pops out to Tino Martinez.
Three pitches. Three outs. End of the %@$#%&$ season.
Actually, it wasn't the end of the season. That came in 5 minutes, maybe 7 minutes.
Kazuhiro Sasaki comes on to get the M's to extra innings. He gets Shane Spencer to ground out to David Bell. Then, on the first pitch to Scott Brosius, the McMinnville, Oregon native gets a base hit.
Runner on 1st, 1 out. The #9 hitter, Alfonso Soriano, came up to the plate. That's right, Soriano hit NINTH in 2001.
Sasaki falls behind in the count, 1-0. What happens next?
Of course, Soriano hits a walkoff home run into the right center field bleachers. Yankees win the ballgame 3-1. As Yankees play by play man John Sterling likes to say, "Ballgame over, Yankees win. THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN!"
I then turn off my TV in utter disgust. When Rivera got through the 9th inning on just three pitches, I knew it was over. The Soriano HR just prolonged my agony.
Why the lack of faith? Well, Mr. Clutch Aaron Sele was pitching Game 5 for the M's. Obviously I'm joking about the clutch part. The last time Sele was clutch, "Finders Keepers" was still on the air.
We all know what happened in Game 5. The 12-3 rout by the Yankees. Ballgame over. Season over. 116 win season = Doesn't mean a damn thing without the ring.
The Mariners haven't been back to the playoffs since 2001. You see why David and I are so fired up over this team, and why we want to see them get better?
So we don't have to go through days like 10/21/01 ever again. Maybe with an improved team, the M's can win those type of ballgames.
A few links to that infamous day in my life and Mariners history...
Retrosheet box score
ESPN recap
Seattle P-I recap
Just another day in Seattle sports history, I guess.
My most painful sports experience to date.
It was Game 4 of the 2001 American League Championship Series between the Mariners and Yankees. The Yankees had a 2-1 lead over the M's in the series, but things were looking up for Seattle after their 14-3 victory the day before.
Paul Abbott had a no-hitter through 5 innings. However, he also walked EIGHT batters. It proved to be Abbott's last meaningful start up to this point. Abbott was 17-4 for the 2001 Mariners, who had won 116 games, tying the all-time Major League record. Roger Clemens was just as good as Abbott, pitching 5 innings, allowing just one hit.
It was a scoreless ballgame until the 8th inning, when Bret Boone hit a solo home run off of Ramiro Mendoza to give the M's a 1-0 lead. And with Arthur Rhodes and Kazuhiro Sasaki waiting in the wings, you would think that would be enough. Not so fast. The game was in Yankee Stadium, you know. Rhodes did his usual Bronx choke session, giving up the slim lead, thanks to a Bernie Williams solo shot.
M's manager Lou Piniella had told everybody within shouting distance that the M's were going to bring the 2001 ALCS back to Seattle for Game 6 (as noted below in David's post). But that prophecy was quickly turning to %$&#.
Enter Sandman. Mariano Rivera.
What does the most clutch player in the history of baseball do?
John Olerud. Grounds out to Tino Martinez.
Stan Javier. Grounds out to Alfonso Soriano.
Mike Cameron. Pops out to Tino Martinez.
Three pitches. Three outs. End of the %@$#%&$ season.
Actually, it wasn't the end of the season. That came in 5 minutes, maybe 7 minutes.
Kazuhiro Sasaki comes on to get the M's to extra innings. He gets Shane Spencer to ground out to David Bell. Then, on the first pitch to Scott Brosius, the McMinnville, Oregon native gets a base hit.
Runner on 1st, 1 out. The #9 hitter, Alfonso Soriano, came up to the plate. That's right, Soriano hit NINTH in 2001.
Sasaki falls behind in the count, 1-0. What happens next?
Of course, Soriano hits a walkoff home run into the right center field bleachers. Yankees win the ballgame 3-1. As Yankees play by play man John Sterling likes to say, "Ballgame over, Yankees win. THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN!"
I then turn off my TV in utter disgust. When Rivera got through the 9th inning on just three pitches, I knew it was over. The Soriano HR just prolonged my agony.
Why the lack of faith? Well, Mr. Clutch Aaron Sele was pitching Game 5 for the M's. Obviously I'm joking about the clutch part. The last time Sele was clutch, "Finders Keepers" was still on the air.
We all know what happened in Game 5. The 12-3 rout by the Yankees. Ballgame over. Season over. 116 win season = Doesn't mean a damn thing without the ring.
The Mariners haven't been back to the playoffs since 2001. You see why David and I are so fired up over this team, and why we want to see them get better?
So we don't have to go through days like 10/21/01 ever again. Maybe with an improved team, the M's can win those type of ballgames.
A few links to that infamous day in my life and Mariners history...
Retrosheet box score
ESPN recap
Seattle P-I recap
Just another day in Seattle sports history, I guess.
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