Sunday, October 15, 2000
Clemens one-hits Mariners
Yanks close in on AL crown with 5-0 win
By Chris Haft
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SEATTLE — When the New York Yankees return home tonight, the Seattle Mariners might not be making the trip with them.
The Yankees took a 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series, leaving them one victory away from ending the best-of-seven affair, with a 5-0 triumph in Game 4 Saturday night at Safeco Field.
Roger Clemens recorded the best of his 15 career postseason starts, no-hitting Seattle for six innings before finishing with a one-hitter. His 15 strikeouts set an ALCS record for a nine-inning game and equaled the overall League Championship Series mark established by Livan Hernandez, then of the Florida Marlins, in 1997 against Atlanta.
“Tonight was special,” Clemens said, after the seventh one-hitter in postseason history. “My fastball was very much alive and I knew I had to try to harness it early.”
Derek Jeter's three-run homer in the fifth inning and David Justice's two-run shot in the eighth helped generate the Yankees' 28th win in their last 34 postseason games.
Denny Neagle, the former Red, will start Game 5 for the Yankees today as they seek their 37th trip to the World Series.
One night after New York relief ace Mariano Rivera broke Whitey Ford's postseason record for consecutive scoreless innings (33 1/3), Clemens' performance reminded some of another Yankee feat — Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers on Oct. 8, 1956.
Clemens, 38, looked every bit like the five-time Cy Young Award winner who has twice struck out 20 batters in a game. Not only did he walk nobody, but he seemed to gain strength as he progressed, retiring seven of the last nine Mariners on strikeouts.
“It's tough to beat this for a postseason game,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “Don Larsen's perfect game was pretty darned good. But this was total dominance tonight.”
Until Al Martin began the seventh inning by lining a 1-0 slider over leaping first baseman Tino Martinez's glove for a double, Seattle didn't come close to managing a hit off Clemens.
Martin's drive briefly aroused the pro-Mariners crowd of 47,803. But Clemens responded by striking out Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez, Seattle's No. 3 and 4 hitters. John Olerud walked on a 3-2 delivery before Cameron took a called third strike on a full-count pitch.
Clemens said he never entertained the notion of pitching a no-hitter, though he noticed the zero in Seattle's hits column when he went to the clubhouse to change his undershirt in the fifth inning.
“I've always felt I throw too many strikes to throw a no-hitter,” said Clemens, who notched the only other one-hitter of his 17-year career on Sept. 10, 1988 against Cleveland.
Working on six days' rest, Clemens established his control immediately and rudely. His first two pitches to Rodriguez, who owned a .341 career batting average against him, were high and tight. Mariners starter Paul Abbott retaliated in the next inning by aiming his first pitch to Jorge Posada in the direction of the Yankee catcher's head.
Clemens denied any malicious intent.
“We had a game plan and we stuck right with it. We had to work inside,” he said. “I was just trying to go at (Rodriguez's) hands inside and for strikes both times.”
But Mariners manager Lou Piniella was seething.
“If he wants his hitters to get thrown at, that's fine with me,” Piniella said. “That (retaliation) is exactly what will happen. That's exactly what happened tonight and that's exactly what will happen the next time he faces our ballclub.”
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Clemens one-hits Mariners