NEW YORK — Freddy Garcia was part of the Randy Johnson package, one of the three unknowns the Seattle Mariners acquired for the best pitcher they've ever owned.

        Let the record show that Garcia has made a name for himself now. He beat the New York Yankees Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, and most of them were fortunate to put the bat on the ball. The Mariners won the first game of the American League Championship Series 2-0, and their four pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts.

        Garcia, who turned 24 last Friday, threw 6 2/3 shutout innings against the world cham pions and went through the meat of their order like a freshly sharpened cleaver. Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, David Justice and Paul O'Neill — all of them recurring All-Stars — were 0-for-11 against the Seattle starter.

        “I've always said that Freddy has the potential to be like a Pedro (Martinez),” Seattle shortstop Alex Rodri guez said, “because he has three dominant pitches. The important thing for him is not to fall in love with the fastball.”

        Jeter, who hit .339 during the regular season, never put a ball in play against the Mariners Tuesday. He struck out three times, twice against Garcia.

        The only time Jeter reached base, on a full-count walk in the sixth inning, he gave the Yankees runners at first and second base with no one out.

        Mariners manager Lou Piniella strode slowly to the pitcher's mound, slowly enough that it appeared to be a ruse to give his bullpen time to get warm. But when plate umpire John Hirschbeck went out to put an end to the loitering, Piniella went back to the dugout and left his young pitcher in place.

        “I felt Freddy was OK,” Piniella said. “I thought he had really good stuff. His pitch count was low. He was throwing the ball well and we left him in there and he pitched himself out of that jam.”

        Garcia justified Piniella's confidence with an inning for his memory book. He retired O'Neill on a swinging third strike after a long foul down the left-field line. Then he struck out Williams.

        Justice, one of the few Yankee sluggers to work the count to his advantage against Garcia, teed off on Garcia's 2-0 pitch, only to drive it to the deepest part of the ballpark. Center fielder Mike Cameron caught the ball on the warning track for the inning's last out.

        “He pitched well when he had to,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “He pitched pretty well when he didn't have to.”

        Garcia would get two more outs in the seventh, but this time when Piniella went to the mound, he raised his right arm for relief. Jose Paniagua replaced Garcia and promptly struck out Luis Sojo.

        Paniagua struck out three of the four hitters he faced. Left-hander Arthur Rhodes, called on to face the left-handed O'Neill, instead faced pinch hitter Glenallen Hill and struck him out to end the eighth.

        “We haven't been hitting the ball,” Torre said. “We haven't been scoring runs. When the names you write down every day are the ones who have played for you, when they don't hit, it surprises you.”

        Scott Brosius, the most valuable player of the 1998 World Series, twice came up with the opportunity to play hero and both times failed to get the ball out of the infield. WIth two on and none out in the third inning, Brosius failed to execute a sacrifice bunt and subsequently grounded into a double play. In the fifth, after the Mariners had taken a 1-0 lead, Brosius batted with runners at first and third and two outs and bounced weakly to third base.

        Yankee starter Denny Neagle, though he was generally behind in the count and had walked three batters, had not allowed a hit until Mark McLemore's two-out double in the top of the fifth inning.

        Rickey Henderson, Seattle's 41-year-old leadoff man, moved ahead of Neagle, two balls and no strikes. But when Neagle squared the count at 2-2, Yankee coach Lee Mazzilli motioned to O'Neill to move in a few steps in right field on the theory that Henderson would cut down his swing to make contact.

        O'Neill moved in, but he was not close enough to catch Henderson's single. With two outs, McLemore was waved around third base. When a good throw might have meant an inning-ending out, O'Neill's peg was up the third-base line, far enough for McLemore to slide safely home.

        This was all the offense the Mariners would need, but it was not all they would get. Alex Rodriguez led off the Seattle sixth inning with a home run high off the left-field foul screen.

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