Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510180087
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SEATTLEI LENGTH: Long
Make no mistake now.
These Cleveland Indians are definitely major-league.
The Indians reached the World Series for the first time since 1954, stopping Randy Johnson and the Seattle Mariners 4-0 Tuesday night behind Dennis Martinez to win the American League playoffs 4-2. (Box score in Scoreboard. B4)
``I think that the people of Cleveland have suffered long,'' said Indians manager Mike Hargrove, who played on some of Cleveland's terrible teams. ``This is something you can never count on.''
The Mariners, for the fourth time in 16 days, asked Johnson to save their season. Relying on his slider more than his overpowering fastball, he kept his team close until Carlos Baerga's homer capped a three-run eighth inning, and Johnson left - with one last wave - to a standing ovation that included the applause of series MVP Orel Hershiser of the Indians.
``You don't win 100 games just because of a great offense,'' Johnson said. ``They have some pretty good pitching over there, too.''
Now the Indians, who dominated the regular season and swept Boston in the first round of the playoffs, will take on the Atlanta Braves, the team with the best record in the National League.
The World Series starts Saturday night in Atlanta. Greg Maddux, likely to win his fourth straight NL Cy Young Award, will start Game 1 for the Braves. Hershiser, 7-0 in postseason play, likely will pitch for Cleveland.
``It's so great to be able to accomplish something we haven't done for a long time,'' Martinez said. ``Especially for the Cleveland people. They've waited a long time for this.''
Indians fans had been waiting for this moment ever since Willie Mays' catch on Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series sent Cleveland skidding to a four-game sweep by the New York Giants. That was a disappointing end to a year in which the Indians won an AL-record 111 games.
Cleveland last won the World Series in 1948, beating the Boston Braves. Bob Feller was the star of that team, and the Hall of Fame pitcher was at the Kingdome on Tuesday night to see the pennant clincher.
Martinez matched Johnson pitch for pitch, holding the Mariners to four hits in seven innings. At 40, he finally won for the first time in the postseason and became the oldest pitcher to win a league championship series game.
The Mariners had won four games this year when a loss would have meant the end of the season, and Johnson won three of them.
But a two-base throwing error by second baseman Joey Cora in the fifth set up an RBI single by Kenny Lofton for a 1-0 lead. Cleveland broke open the game in the eighth on a passed ball by Dan Wilson that allowed two runs to score, and the homer by Baerga that finished Johnson.
``He's an unbelievable trooper out there,'' Hershiser said. ``He went as hard as he could for as long as he could. Tonight we finally got to him.''
The crowd of 58,489 gave the team a standing ovation when Jay Buhner ended the game with a groundout. Some fans kept applauding until a few Mariners came back on the field.
They had cheered the ``Refuse To Lose'' Mariners through a remarkable run in which they overcame a 13-game deficit to win the AL West and an 0-2 hole in the first round of the playoffs against New York.
Despite the loss, it was a great season for Seattle, which made the playoffs for the first time in its 19-year history. The fans' enthusiasm, meanwhile, may have helped get the city a new stadium and keep the team in town.
Martinez, who struck out three and walked one, escaped his biggest jam in the sixth when he fanned Tino Martinez with runners on second and third to end the inning with a 1-0 lead. Twice he was helped by barehanded plays by shortstop Omar Vizquel.
The shutout was Cleveland's second in three games. Seattle was shut out only twice during the season, but a slump by AL batting champion Edgar Martinez - who went 2-for-23 - and tough pitching against Ken Griffey Jr. shut down the Mariners.
Johnson kept the Indians scoreless until the fifth. But after beginning the inning with a leaping catch, Cora fielded a grounder and threw it past Johnson covering first base.
With two outs, Lofton lined a single the opposite way to left - it was Lofton's fourth hit this year off Johnson, who held lefties to a .129 average in the regular season.
In the eighth, Tony Pena led off with a double off the tiring Johnson and Lofton bunted for a single. Lofton stole second, then streaked home along with Pena when a pitch glanced off Wilson's glove.
``I just went,'' Lofton said. ``They weren't paying any attention.''
TV DEAL ALMOST DONE: Major-league baseball is closing in on a new, multi-network television deal that would end regional playoff telecasts and bring back the game of the week on Saturdays.
Patterned after the NFL's TV deal, it will involve at least two broadcast networks, almost certainly Fox and probably either CBS or ABC, as well as a cable partner for some regular-season and playoff games.
``We have three players: ABC, Fox and CBS,'' said Philadelphia Phillies owner Bill Giles, chairman of baseball's TV committee.
Tuesday's editions of USA Today reported that a deal already has been struck with Fox and CBS, calling for $880 million in rights fees over four years, or $110 million per year per network.
Fox said it would not comment, but CBS Sports president David Kenin said in a statement: ``Contrary to a published report in USA Today, CBS has made no deal to broadcast major-league baseball.''
He said CBS was ``pleased to have the opportunity'' to talk with baseball's TV negotiator, Barry Frank of IMG, but that ``as of now, no formal negotiations have begun with major-league baseball or its representatives.''
by CNB