Yankees Get Lucky This Time New York Edges M’S 10-8 In 11, In Another Memorable Meeting

On rainy days, boys used to play a mind game, creating an imaginary room into which two ferocious creatures would be placed - followed by a debate over which one would emerge victorious.

A weasel and, say, a wolverine. An alligator vs. a tiger. A grizzly bear vs. your father before his first cup of coffee …

The American League has a spinoff of the same contest today - they put the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees in the Kingdome, bring in national television coverage, and sit back to see which team wins.

On Saturday it took 11 innings, 4 hours and 46 minutes, but in the end it was New York that grabbed a 10-8 victory and didn’t even try to gloat.

“I was lucky I made contact with that pitch,” outfielder Paul O’Neill said, after his opposite-field, two-run double landed just inside the foul line in the 11th inning.

The man who threw the pitch O’Neill hit - reliever Heathcliff Slocumb - talked of luck, too, and of a game that featured a little of everything for a Kingdome crowd of 57,282.

“They threw a wild pitch with Ken (Griffey) on third base in the ninth inning, it bounces right back to the catcher and they tag him out at the plate,” Slocumb said. “The pitch I threw Paul wasn’t a strike, it was up and away, and he was standing way off the plate to begin with.

“Yeah, there’s luck involved, but all teams are lucky sometimes. You don’t complain, because the next time it might be you that gets lucky.”

For years, now, this is the kind of baseball game the Mariners and Yankees seem to play.

“A great game for the fans,” manager Lou Piniella said. “We battle like that all year, we’ll get the job done.”

In a contest that featured home runs by Griffey, Russ Davis and, in the ninth inning, a game-tying shot by Roberto Kelly, the Mariners used stolen bases and bunts to produce runs, too.

“We lost, but I think today was a positive,” Alex Rodriguez said. “We regained our offense. We had some clutch hits, we pitched out of some jams, we played well. We just came up short.”

Seattle led 2-0 early, but New York rallied against Omar Olivares - who threw 97 pitches and got 10 outs - to tie. The Mariners pulled ahead, 3-2, were tied again and then saw the Yankees grab a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning.

That didn’t last, because Griffey doubled home one run and Edgar Martinez singled Griffey home and it was tied again, 5-5.

“Two teams that wouldn’t give it up,” New York manager Joe Torre said.

Using a sacrifice bunt and the stolen base, the Mariners broke the tie with two runs in the sixth inning - and New York scored three in the seventh to go up, 8-7.

By the ninth, Torre went to his closer, Mariano Rivera, and Seattle’s 50th left fielder since 1989, Kelly, led off the inning with a solo home run.

“We’re tenacious, we come back,” Slocumb said, “and that’s a pretty good New York team, too. This game was intense.”

After Kelly’s home run tied it, Griffey singled, Martinez walked and Rodriguez beat out an infield hit to load the bases with no one out. Rivera then threw a ball past catcher Jorge Posada, but it caromed off the advertising display behind the plate and directly back to Posada, who threw to the plate.

Rivera put the tag on Griffey, and though replays showed it was a little high and a little late, Griffey was called out.

“I hope they’re getting a lot of money for that sign,” Piniella said of the advertising display behind the plate.

Rivera got out of the Seattle ninth, then got out of another bases-loaded jam in the 10th. In all, the Yankees stranded 17 runners and the M’s 12.

Yankees 10, Mariners 8 (11)

New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Jeter ss 6 2 2 1 1 0 .300 Curtis lf 5 1 2 1 1 1 .289 BeWilliams cf 5 2 3 2 1 1 .325 TMartinez 1b 6 0 1 2 1 4 .301 O’Neill rf 6 0 1 2 1 4 .325 Strawberry dh 4 0 1 2 0 3 .080 a-Stanley ph-dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 .295 Hayes 3b 6 1 2 0 0 2 .267 Posada c 4 2 2 0 2 0 .262 Sanchez 2b 5 2 2 0 1 0 .407 Totals 50 10 16 10 8 16 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 3 2 1 1 1 0 .316 RKelly lf 6 1 1 1 0 1 .289 Griffey Jr cf 5 2 3 2 1 0 .304 EMartinez dh 3 1 2 2 2 0 .329 1-Amaral pr-dh 0 0 0 0 0 0 .266 b-Buhner ph-dh 0 0 0 0 1 0 .238 ARodriguez ss 6 0 2 1 0 2 .299 Sorrento 1b 3 0 1 0 2 0 .270 c-Marzano ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .324 RDavis 3b 6 1 1 1 0 3 .273 Ducey rf 4 1 2 0 1 1 .283 d-Blowers ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .311 DaWilson c 4 0 1 0 0 1 .271 Totals 42 8 14 8 8 10 New York 002 120 300 02 - 10 Seattle 201 022 001 00 - 8 a-flied out for Strawberry in the 7th. b-walked for Amaral in the 10th. c-struck out for Sorrento in the 11th. d-struck out for Ducey in the 11th.

1-ran for E.Martinez in the 9th. E-Olivares (2), Timlin (1). LOB-New York 17, Seattle 12. 2B-TMartinez (26), O’Neill (35), Strawberry (1), Posada (6), Sanchez (3), Cora (36), Griffey Jr (31), ARodriguez (36), Ducey 2 . 3B-EMartinez (1). HR-RKelly (6) off MRivera; RDavis (20) off Mendoza; Griffey Jr (41) off Mendoza. RBIs-Jeter (56), Curtis (41), BeWilliams 2 (71), TMartinez 2 (121), O’Neill 2 (101), Strawberry 2 (2), Cora (47), RKelly (39), Griffey Jr 2 (116), EMartinez 2 (93), ARodriguez (70), RDavis (63). SB- ARodriguez 2 (24), Ducey (3). CS-Ducey (3). S-Curtis, Cora, DaWilson. SF-Cora.

Runners left in scoring position-New York 12 (Curtis 2, TMartinez 2, O’Neill 2, Strawberry 2, Stanley 3, Hayes); Seattle 8 (ARodriguez 2, Sorrento, RDavis, Ducey 2, DaWilson 2).

Runners moved up-Jeter.

New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Mendoza 5-1/3 9 7 7 2 5 98 4.68 Lloyd 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 3.05 Nelson 1-2/3 1 0 0 2 1 29 2.67 MRivera W, 4-3 2 4 1 1 4 2 46 1.94 Stanton S, 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 10 2.66 Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Olivares 3-1/3 7 3 3 3 3 97 4.65 Spoljaric 2-1/3 2 2 2 2 6 61 3.51 Timlin 2/3 2 3 2 1 1 16 3.15 Charlton 2-2/3 2 0 0 1 3 42 6.87 Slocumb L, 0-7 2 3 2 2 1 3 32 5.68 Inherited runners-scored-Lloyd 1-1, Spoljaric 3-0, Charlton 3-2.

IBB-off MRivera (Griffey Jr) 1, off MRivera (EMartinez) 1, off MRivera (Sorrento) 1, off Nelson (Sorrento) 1, off Timlin (BeWilliams) 1. HBP-by Spoljaric (BeWilliams). WP- MRivera, Slocumb.

T-4:46. A-57,282 (59,084).