With A Little Help, Bosio Could’ve Been A Hero For Mariners

He is a pitcher who likes to think of himself as a warrior, and no one was more aware than Chris Bosio when he took the mound Sunday that he’d been knocked on his shield a lot lately.

He finished the regular season with the Seattle Mariners with a 10-8 record, an unsightly 4.92 earned-run average - the highest of his 10-year major league career.

Putting that behind him, he made a pair of appearances in the American League Division Series against New York, and exited with two no-decisions and a 10.54 ERA.

“I have pride,” Bosio said. “You can’t pitch in this league without it. I wanted the ball again.”

Sunday, he got it, and in Game 5 of the A.L. Championship Series, he gave the Mariners 5 innings against Cleveland - was touched for two earned runs - and lost, 3-2.

This time, he lost with his head up.

“I kept us in the game,” he said. “I gave it all I had. It was a tough game for both sides, it was cold, it was windy. They made four errors and still won. We made two and lost.”

Bosio is a man with a handful of self images - professional pitcher, with all that entails, is only one of them. He can sound like a philosopher, a military strategist, a prankster.

After losing Game 5, Bosio sounded like a man who wanted one more chance.

“The way this team has played at home this season, the way we’ve come back again and again and again, I just don’t think this will be the last time I pitch this month,” he said.

Taking it an inning at a time Sunday, Bosio pitched out of trouble constantly. An error by Tino Martinez in the first led to Cleveland’s first run, but by the sixth inning, Seattle had staked out a 2-1 lead.

Bosio retired Albert Belle in the sixth inning on a line drive, then saw Eddie Murray double to right - his third consecutive hit. Bosio fell behind Jim Thome, 2-0, and made two mistakes.

First, he thought Thome would be taking.

Second, he threw an off-speed pitch that caught the inner half of home plate.

Thome hit it 435 feet for the final runs of the game.

“Was it a good pitch? Hell, no - didn’t you see where he hit it?” Bosio asked. “It was a miserable night, but in baseball you play some games in 100-degree temperatures and some near freezing. It wasn’t easy to grip the ball, but it wasn’t any easier for their pitchers than ours. You saw two pretty good teams commit six errors.”

Time and again, the Mariners rallied and fell short.

In the seventh inning, the Mariners had the heart of their lineup up with two on and none out and failed to score. It was the eighth that had Bosio shaking his head.

Reliever Eric Plunk walked pinch-hitter Vince Coleman and, after Coleman stole second base, walked Alex Diaz with one out. On a 3-2 pitch with the runners moving, Luis Sojo then lined a shot right at shortstop Omar Vizquel’s head for an easy double play.

“Nobody gets hits all the time, nobody,” Bosio said. “This team has too many big hits this year to count, and tonight we came close to blowing it open.”