M’S Dump Yanks, Tribe On Deck

The most improbable aspect of the Seattle Mariners’ impossible season was that it didn’t end Sunday.

Moments after the New York Yankees had driven a stake through the hearts of another sellout Kingdome crowd - scoring a run against Randy Johnson to take a one-run lead in the 11th inning, the Mariners pulled off another baseball miracle.

They came back - and brought the American League Division Series with them.

Edgar Martinez doubled home Joey Cora from third base and Ken Griffey Jr., starting from first, came all the way around to score the run that beat New York, 6-5, and send the Mariners on to the AL Championship Series.

“Now we can talk about Cleveland,” Tino Martinez said.

But first, the Mariners had to celebrate, with a party that included 57,411 fans who watched what those who played it called the single greatest baseball game they’d ever seen.

“The best game, the best series ever played,” reliever Norm Charlton said. “You saw two teams leave the field exhausted because neither one of us had a damn thing left.”

It wasn’t just hype.

The pitching in Game 5 alone was extraordinary. In the beginning, the matchup was Andy Benes against 1994 Cy Young Award winner David Cone. In the end, Randy Johnson was pitching for Seattle - and ‘93 Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell for the Yankees. “I was out there in right field that last inning thinking, ‘My God, this is the best game I’ve ever seen,” Jay Buhner said. “Even when the Yankees scored and went ahead, we didn’t think it was over. We had the heart of lineup coming up.”

In a best-of-five game series the Mariners trailed, 2-0, Seattle swept New York out of the Kingdome by winning the last three games by coming from behind and saving the best for last.

Johnson, two days after winning Game 3, came on in relief in the ninth inning Sunday and pitched three innings, giving up an RBI single to Randy Velarde in the 11th.

By the time he got to the dugout, Charlton was waiting for him.

“Bleep this,” Charlton told him, “we’re going to the next level.”

And then the Mariners did.

Cora dropped another drag bunt single - the same kind he used Saturday to ignite the rally that won Game 4 - to bring up Griffey. Junior, who earlier had his major league record fifth home run of the series, lined a single into center field.

On the mound, McDowell glowered in at Edgar Martinez. Martinez, who had two home runs and seven RBI on Saturday, calmly wagged his bat back and forth and took a pitch for a strike.

McDowell came in with another fastball and Martinez grounded it hard just inside the third base line and into the left field corner. Cora trotted home from third base.

“I knew we were tied,” manager Lou Piniella said. “I didn’t think we’d won until I saw Junior’s face coming around second base.”

In a series in which he has displayed his power, Griffey used his speed to win the biggest game in franchise history. As Gerald Williams ran down the ball in left field, Griffey rounded second and sprinted toward third.

“He was going to have to stop me because I wasn’t going to stop myself,” Griffey said of third base coach Sam Perlozzo. “I saw him wave once and then I saw the plate.”

Griffey beat the throw with a hard slide, then leaped into the air, both arms straight up. Almost before he came down he was buried by teammates. And no sooner had they pummeled Griffey senseless than the Mariners turned toward second base and set upon Matrtinez.

The celebration was so intense that Perlozzo strained a calf muscle just jumping in the air.

“That,” catcher Dan Wilson said of the finish, “was impossible.”

For the second time in a week, the Seattle clubhouse was a champagnesoaked refuge for a team that couldn’t win and did. Monday, the Mariners had beaten California in a one-game tie-breaker to win the AL West championship.

Johnson won that game.

On Sunday, they won the right to play the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS, which begins in the Kingdome on Tuesday - and the Big Unit won the game that got them there.

Said outfielder Vince Coleman: “Don’t just look at today, look at this week, this last month. If the game’s not over, this team isn’t done.”

So in the middle of a crammed clubhouse, doused and beaming, Griffey was unable to hide the smile he usually won’t display on television.

“This,” he said, “is where I always wanted to be. This, more than anything.”

Mariners 6, Yankees 5

New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Boggs 3b 5 0 0 0 0 3 .263 Leyritz ph-c 1 0 0 0 0 1 .143 BWilliams cf 2 2 0 0 4 1 .429 O’Neill rf 5 2 1 2 1 1 .333 Sierra dh 4 0 0 0 1 2 .174 Mattingly 1b 5 0 1 2 0 1 .417 James lf 2 0 0 0 1 0 .083 GWllms pr-lf 1 0 0 0 1 1 .000 Stanley c 4 0 1 0 1 0 .313 Kelly pr-2b 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 TFernndz ss 4 0 2 0 0 0 .238 Vlrde 2b-3b 4 0 1 1 1 2 .176 Totals 37 5 6 5 10 12 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Coleman lf 6 0 1 0 0 0 .217 Cora 2b 5 2 2 1 0 0 .316 Griffey Jr cf 5 2 2 1 1 1 .391 EMartinz dh 6 0 3 2 0 1 .571 TMartinez 1b 3 1 2 0 1 1 .409 ARdrgz pr-ss 1 1 0 0 0 0 .000 Buhner rf 5 0 3 1 0 2 .458 Sojo ss 2 0 0 0 0 1 .250 Newson ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Fermin ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 ADiaz ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 .333 Widger c 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 DWilson c 3 0 1 0 0 2 .118 Strnge ph-3b 1 0 0 1 1 0 .000 Blwrs 3b-1b 5 0 1 0 0 2 .167 Totals 44 6 15 6 4 12 New Yrk 000 202 000 01 - 5 6 0 Seattle 001 100 020 02 - 6 15 0 No outs when winning run scored. DP-Sea 1. LOBNY 10, Sea 13. 2B-Mattingly (4), TFernandez 2 (2), EMartinez 2 (3), TMartinez (1). HR-Cora (1), Griffey Jr (5), O’Neill (3). S-TFernandez, Cora.

New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Cone 7 9 4 4 3 9 147 4.60 MRivera 1 0 0 1 1 8 0.00 JMcDwll L,0-2 1 5 2 2 0 2 28 9.00 Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Benes 6 4 4 4 6 5 111 5.40 Charlton 1 1 0 0 2 1 28 2.45 RJhnsn W,2-0 3 1 1 1 2 6 40 2.70 Charlton pitched to 2 batters in the 9th, JMcDowell pitched to

3 batters in the 11th. WP-Cone 2. T-4:19. A-57,411.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Mariner’s tickets go on sale this morning Several thousand tickets for Games 1 and 2 of the 1995 American League Championship Series in Seattle will go on sale today at 8 a.m. The tickets will be available by phone through Ticketmaster, or in person at the Kingdome. Fans may purchase up to four tickets per game at prices ranging from $20 to $40. Tickets purchased by phone (1-206-622-4487 or 1-800-800-3500) must be charged to a Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover card. Telephone orders can be picked on game day at a special post-season Will Call area inside the Kingdome exhibition hall. All tickets purchased at the Kingdome must be paid for in cash. Tickets for Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS and Games 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series - should they be played at the Kingdome - will be available at a later date.