Mariners Classics preview: Pivotal Game 3 of 2001 ALDS in Cleveland

With baseball season delayed for the foreseeable future, 710 ESPN Seattle is broadcasting classic Mariners games throughout the spring. At 7 p.m. tonight we continue the 2001 American League Division Series with the top-seeded Mariners taking on the Cleveland Indians. Here’s Shannon Drayer’s preview of the airing of Game 3.

ALDS Game 3: October 13, 2001

After winning 116 games in the regular season, the Mariners actually found themselves in a bit of an uncomfortable situation following Game 1 of the ALDS even if the soon-to-be-announced MVP and Rookie of the Year right fielder refused to acknowledge it.

“Pressure, what pressure?” asked Ichiro following the Mariners’ 5-0 Game 1 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

After a 5-1 bounceback in Game 2 with Jamie Moyer on the hill, manager Lou Piniella admitted that game was as close to must-win as you would want it to be. With the series tied up at a game apiece, the Mariners headed to Cleveland with hopes of grabbing the upper hand at Jacobs Field.

The veteran Aaron Sele was on the hill for the Mariners, appearing in the postseason for the fourth time in his nine-year career. Seattle owned a 5-2 record against the Indians in the regular season, and while both losses were started by Sele, he did not factor into either decision. Perhaps fresh on the Indians’ minds, however, was the 15-14 win over the Mariners in August where they came back from a record 12 runs down in the seventh inning to win in extras.

To start for the Indians was CC Sabathia, who went 17-5 with a 4.39 ERA to earn runner-up to Ichiro in the Rookie of the Year voting. The Mariners’ bats were relatively quiet in the first two games, managing just six hits in each. The difference maker in Game 2: back-to-back home runs by Mike Cameron and Edgar Martinez in the first inning.

LINEUPS!

Mariners

Ichiro, RF
Mike Cameron, CF
Bret Boone, 2B
Edgar Martinez, DH
John Olerud, 1B
Jay Buhner, LF
Dan Wilson, C
David Bell, 3B
Mark McLemore, SS

Aaron Sele,P

Indians

Kenny Lofton, CF
Omar Vizquel, SS
Roberto Alomar, 2B
Juan Gonzalez, RF
Jim Thome, 1B
Ellis Burks, DH
Travis Fryman, 3B
Russell Branyan, LF
Einar Diaz, C

CC Sabathia, LHP

Still so strange to see Jay Buhner in left field. This was one of just 13 he played there out of 1,472 career games.

A bit of a 2001 murderers row with Alomar, Gonzalez and Thome, who finished fifth, fourth, and seventh that year in MVP voting, respectively. Of course Ichiro took the award home. Omar Vizquel was a huge threat to the Mariners as well, coming into the game with a .450 career average against Sele.

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