1995 ALDS: Mariners vs Yankees

In real life, this was a series that produced one of the most inconic images in postseason baseball history, Ken Griffey Jr scoring from first on an Edgar Martinez double off of Jack McDowell, pitching in relief in the bottom of the 11th of game 5.

My replay had nearly as much excitement.  The Mariners won game 1 at Yankee Stadium, 3-1.  Chris Bosio threw 7 shutout innings.  David Cone took the loss.  Tino Martinez's 2 run HR in the top of the 2nd was all that Bosio needed.

Game 2 was a wild, wooly affair that saw the Yankees win 12-11 after scoring 4 runs in the 9th.  Both starters got knocked around early.  Andy Benes gave up 8 runs in 6 IP for the Mariners and Andy Pettite got knocked out in the 4th after giving up 9 ER on 8 hits.  After getting up 9-4 in the fourth, the Yankees pulled back 3 runs in the 5th.  The Mariners scored 2 more in the 8th off of Yankees closer John Wetteland on an RBI single by Vince Coleman, who later scored on a Wade Boggs fielding error.  But the bottom of the 9th was where the action was.  

Bobby Ayala, the Mariners regular season closer who had struggled throughout the year was sent out to try and hold the 3 run lead.  After back to back walks to Randy Velarde and Boggs, Ayala was pulled in favor of Jeff Nelson.  Nelson proceeded to strike out Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill.  Ruben Sierra strode the plate as the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the 9th and the Yankees on the verge of travelling to Seattle for 3 games, down 2-0.  Sierra proceeded to put Nelson's pitch in the right field bleachers.  Nelson, clearly shaken, allowed Don Mattingly to reach first when he fumbled a grounder back to the mound.  Dion James stepped up, and drilled a walk off triple down the right field line, scoring Mattingly, crushing the Mariners faithful, and sending the series to Seattle tied one game a piece.

In game 3, the Mariners pinned their hopes to 6'10" Randy Johnson.  The Big Unit struggled, though, giving up 9 hits, 5 walks, and 4 runs in 8 innings of work.   On the flip side, Jack McDowell was lights out - a complete game, allowing only 5 hits and 1 run, while striking out 10.  Sierra was again the offensive star for the Yanks, blasting two more homeruns.

Facing a do-or-die game 4, the Mariners again turned to Chris Bosio.  Again, he was lights out.  Allowing only 1 run on 5 hits in 7.2 innings of work.  The M's turned to Norm Charlton and Bob Wells to close things out.  Offensively, the Mariners exploded, scoring 12 runs on 13 hits, knocking around starter Scott Kamieniecki and young reliever Mariano Rivera.  Ken Giffey Jr hit two longballs.  Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez added a homerun a piece to power the Mariners to a deciding game five...

Game 5 saw a matchup of David Cone and Andy Benes.  The Yankees struck first, on a 2-run homerun by Paul O'Neill in the 4th inning.  The Mariners struck back in the bottom of the same frame, behind an RBI single by Jay Buhner and then a two-run triple by Luis Sojo.  The M's added another run in the 6th on an RBI double by Joey Cora and then two more in the bottom of the 7th behind a solo HR by Griffey and then Mike Blowers drew a bases loaded walk.  The Yanks would claw one back when a Wade Boggs single scored Mike Stanley after his leadoff double.  But that would be it and the game would end with a 6-3 Mariners win, sending them to their first ever ALCS.  Andy Benes went 5 solid innings and Norm Charlton and Jeff Nelson would each pitch two innings of relief to close things out.

Mike Stanley (6-15, 5 2B), Bernie Williams (7-21, 2 HR), and Paul O'Neill (6-22, 5 RBI, 2 HR) led the way offensively for the Yankees.  Amazingly, the hero of games 2 and 3, Ruben Sierra went only 3-19 (with 3 homeruns).

For the Mariners, they hit .292 and slugged .515 as a team. Dan Wilson went 7-15 with 2 HR.  Vince Coleman went 9-22, scoring 5 runs.  Tino Martinez (8-21) and Edgar Martinez (6-18) both had timely hits.  But it was the kid, Ken Griffey Jr. (8-22, 6 RBI, 3 HR) who was the star for the upstart Mariners.