Sweep! Bunt Puts Mariners In Alcs Mariners 2 White Sox 1

Time was, they won baseball games in Seattle with the Big Bang Theory.

Well, now it’s the Big Bunt Theory.

And there is now no bigger bunt in Seattle Mariners history - with apologies to Joey Cora - than the one Carlos Guillen poked past first baseman Frank Thomas and the Chicago White Sox’ drawn-in infield in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday afternoon at Safeco Field.

It scored Rickey Henderson from third base for a 2-1 Mariners victory and a sweep of their best-of-five American League Division Series - and set off a delirious celebration of M’s players and the sellout crowd of 48,010 fans, who seemed temporarily oblivious to the fact that there is more baseball to be played.

That would be the American League Championship Series against either New York or Oakland, set to begin on Tuesday and with games in Safeco next Friday, Saturday and (if necessary) Sunday.

“That’s going to be a tough series, no matter who we play - so I’ll think about it later,” said center fielder Mike Cameron. “Right now, there’s a lot of joy to share with the people who energized us all year long.”

It’s Seattle’s second trip to the ALCS, the M’s having lost in six games to Cleveland in 1995 after a magical run in the regular season and the division series that both saved and jump-started baseball in the Northwest. The Seattle lineup then was based on long-ball lightning, and the enduring image is Ken Griffey Jr. sliding home with the winning run against the Yankees after a slash double off the bat of Edgar Martinez (though, yes, there were a couple of bunts by Joey Cora that helped do in the Yankees, as well).

The enduring image of this one, undoubtedly, will be the delicately placed bunt and Guillen’s joyous bounding into the arms of his teammates.

It made sure another dose of fine starting pitching by Aaron Sele, dominant relief work by Arthur Rhodes and Jose Paniagua and absolutely stifling Mariners defense was not wasted. And it made a prophet of manager Lou Piniella, who said the M’s - as they have all season - would have to use every last bullet to subdue the White Sox, who led the A.L. in wins but have now gone 83 years without winning a post-season series.

Guillen, as it happened, was the only position player who had not yet seen action when Piniella sent him up to bat for Joe Oliver in the ninth.

John Olerud led off the inning with a frightful smash off the sternum of Chisox reliever Kelly Wunsch, who recovered to chase down the ball - only to make a desperately wild throw to first that allowed Olerud to reach second base. Piniella subbed in Henderson for the slow-footed Olerud, and Stan Javier advanced the runner to third with a perfect bunt down the third-base line.

After David Bell walked, Guillen was sent up to face righthander Keith Foulke - with explicit, if not specific, instructions.

“Lou told me to try to hit a ground ball to Thomas,” Guillen said, “because he don’t play too much first base and maybe we can make him have a difficult throw to home plate.”

Thomas had been Chicago’s designated hitter most of the year, but started at first in manager Jerry Manuel’s juggled lineup - Paul Konerko sitting against the right-handed Sele.

After fouling off Foulke’s first offering - swinging away - Guillen lined a bunt just past the glove of the diving Thomas, easily scoring Henderson and triggering Safeco’s biggest celebration to date.

Piniella acknowledged that losing Olerud’s defense had the game gone to extra innings was a risk.

Piniella pointed out that the M’s have bunted all year.

“We worked on our bunting more this year than any team I’ve been associated with,” he said. “I think we probably led the league in sacrifice bunts, and that’s the hard work we put in all spring.”

True enough. Seattle did lead the A.L. with 63 sacrifices.

Raul Ibanez’s fourth-inning single was the lone Seattle hit out of the infield that led to a run - a tribute both to the scratch-and-claw style the M’s have employed all year, but also to the gritty pitching of Chicago starter James Baldwin. Plagued by a sore arm the last month and a half of the season, Baldwin limited the M’s to just three hits in six innings of work.

“He really showed the heart of a lion,” said Manuel.

But he was more than matched by Sele, who worked 7-1/3 and also surrendered just three hits. And the coup de grace was again applied by the Seattle bullpen - Rhodes and Paniagua in this case - who allowed just one base runner in the final 1-2/3.

“Outstanding doesn’t even begin to describe the job they did,” said second baseman Mark McLemore. “They were incredible.”

Seattle relievers worked 11-2/3 innings in this series, allowing no runs and just three hits. Chicago batters - the league leaders in runs produced this season - hit just .071 off the bullpen, and .185 overall

“They attacked our weakness and they pitched us well,” said Manuel. “Everything they did was right.”

That included their glovework, which included brilliant stops by Olerud and Bell, and a critical double play in the eighth inning started by McLemore, who fielded a grounder by pinch-hitter Konerko and tagged pinch-runner Tony Graffanino on his dash by.

That was on the first play after Sele had departed, having retired 17 of the last 20 batters he faced. Though he didn’t get the victory - it went to Paniagua - Sele is 4-0 in September and October, with a 2.43 ERA.

Mariners 2, White Sox 1

Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Durham 2b 3 0 0 0 1 1 .200 JAValentin ss 3 0 0 0 0 2 .300 Thomas 1b 2 0 0 0 2 0 .000 MOrdonez rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .182 Baines dh 3 1 1 0 0 0 .250 CJohnson c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .333 Perry 3b 1 0 1 1 1 0 .444 1-Graffanino pr-3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 —- CNLee lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .091 Singleton cf 2 0 0 0 0 0 .111 a-Konerko ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Christensen cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 —- Totals 25 1 3 1 4 4

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cameron cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .250 Ibanez rf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .375 ARodriguez ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 .308 EMartinez dh 3 0 1 0 1 1 .364 Olerud 1b 2 0 1 0 2 0 .300 2-Henderson pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 .400 Javier lf 3 0 1 1 0 1 .167 DaBell 3b 3 0 1 0 1 0 .364 JOliver c 2 0 0 0 0 1 .250 b-CGuillen ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 1.000 McLemore 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .111 Totals 28 2 6 2 4 5

Chicago 010 000 000 - 1

Seattle 000 100 001 - 2

One out when winning run scored. a-grounded into double play for Singleton in the 8th. b-singled for Oliver in the 9th. 1-ran for Perry in the 8th. 2-ran for Olerud in the 9th. E-Wunsch (1). LOB-Chicago 3, Seattle 8. 2B-Baines (1). RBIs-Perry (1), Javier (1), CGuillen (1). S-JAValentin, ARodriguez, Javier, JOliver. SF-Perry. GIDP-MOrdonez, Baines, Konerko. Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 3 (Cameron, Javier, DaBell). Runners moved up-CJohnson, EMartinez. DP- Seattle 3 (Sele, ARodriguez and Olerud), (McLemore, ARodriguez and Olerud), (McLemore and Olerud).

Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Baldwin 6 3 1 1 3 2 92 1.50 Howry 2 1 0 0 0 3 28 3.38 Wunsch L,0-1 0 1 1 0 0 0 5 0.00 Foulke 1/3 1 0 0 1 0 7 11.57

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Sele 7-1/3 3 1 1 3 1 95 1.23 Rhodes 1-1/3 0 0 0 0 2 9 0.00 Paniagua W,1-0 1/3 0 0 0 1 1 12 0.00

Wunsch pitched to 1 batter in the 9th. Inherited runners scored-Foulke 1-1, Rhodes 1-0. T-2:40. A-48,010 (47,145).