Well, try more than 7 months. I apologize, because this was really a great series, and now I have to reconstruct it from box scores and fading memory. As they used to say on Bullwinkle, when last we left our heroes, or in this case the 2001 World Series, the Astros had an unlikely 2-0 lead on the Mariners. What’s more, Houston had won four in a row and their pitching was lined up perfectly for the rest of the Series, with Wade Miller going in Game 3. The Mariners, meanwhile, had to rely on their third and fourth starters just to get back in it.
GAME 3
Astros.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 1
Mariners........ 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 - 3 6 1
W: Sele L: Miller
HR: Javier, Guillen
Seattle needed a big game from Aaron Sele, and he delivered a four-hit shutout to give the Mariners their first win of the series.
Wade Miller was on his game too, at least until Stan Javier homered in the sixth for the game’s first run. Carlos Guillen connected for a two-run shot with David Bell aboard in the seventh. That was more than enough for Sele, who pitched out of two early jams and didn’t give up a hit after the fourth. He walked three and struck out six.
GAME 4
Astros.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 1Mariners........ 2 1 0 2 0 0 2 0 - 7 7 1W: Abbott L: MlickiHR: Suzuki Paul Abbott also came up big for Seattle, and got help from four relievers as the Mariners posted their second straight shutout to tie the series.
It wasn’t as efficient as Sele’s blanking in the previous game, as Abbott walked six and couldn’t get through the seventh. Jeff Nelson walked Jeff Bagwell to load the bases and came out for Norm Charlton, who got Lance Berkman to fly out to end the seventh. Jose Paniagua pitched the eighth and John Halama finished the four-hitter. Houston stranded 11 runners.
Seattle got to Dave Mlicki right away, with Bret Boone driving in a pair with a single in the first, and Mlicki threw a wild pitch in the second to allow another run to score. Ichiro Suzuki homered in the fourth off Nelson Cruz and Edgar Martinez’s RBI double off Mike Williams was part of a two-run seventh.
GAME 5
Astros.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 1Mariners........ 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 - 3 9 0W: Garcia L: Reynolds S: Rhodes The Astros apparently forgot to pack their bats for the trip to the northwest as the Mariners pitched their third straight shutout at Safeco Field. Freddy Garcia came within one out of the complete game, with Arthur Rhodes fanning Lance Berkman to end the five-hitter and send the Mariners back to Houston with a 3-2 lead.
Shane Reynolds was much better in this game than in the opener, but Mike Cameron’s RBI double in the fourth was enough to beat him. That was the only run he gave up in seven innings, and Seattle added two in the eighth off Octavio Dotel on Cameron’s RBI single and a throwing error by backup catcher Tony Eusebio.
GAME 6
Mariners........ 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 9 1Astros.......... 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 - 4 10 0W: Wagner L: SasakiHR: Bagwell, Alou, Truby Back in their new indoor stadium, the Astros found the magic again, with Jeff Bagwell’s solo shot in the eighth winning it and forcing a seventh game.
Seattle looked to wrap it up and jumped to a three-run lead right away against Roy Oswalt, with John Olerud doubling in a run and Carlos Guillen’s single scoring two more. The Astros got a run back with the help of David Bell’s error in the second and tied it in the fourth off Jamie Moyer with solo homers by Moises Alou and Chris Truby, inserted in the lineup to try to get some punch going. Oswalt went five, Octavio Dotel pitched two hitless innings and Billy Wagner went two for the win.
Bagwell connected off Kaz Sasaki, who lost for the second time in the series and saw his ERA in the series rise to 21.60. (He didn’t pitch in any of the games in Seattle.)
So we go to Game 7, a rematch of Game 3 with Aaron Sele for Seattle and Wade Miller for Houston. The Astros are 5-0 at home, and seem to have the magic back ….
GAME 7
I will put the linescore on the bottom.
Aaron Sele shut out the Astros in Game 3, but that wasn’t going to happen this time. Biggio walked, moved up on a sacrifice and Bagwell followed with a double. Berkman then homered and Houston was already up 3-0. The home field magic was in control. Hidalgo led off the second with a double but stayed there. Houston left two more on base in the third, but Wade Miller kept the Mariners off the scoreboard. Ichiro got the first Seattle hit in the third, but with two out. Olerud singled leading off the fourth, but Boone hit into a double play.
The Mariners broke through in the fifth. Guillen walked and David Bell followed with a two-run homer. Dan Wilson walked as Miller began having control problems. Sele sacrificed, and Ichiro flied out, but Stan Javier walked to bring up Olerud – the No. 3 hitter with Edgar benched in the Astros’ home. Olerud grounded out to keep the score at 3-2.
Sele gave up two hits in the fifth, but Moises Alou flied out to end the inning. In the visitors’ sixth, Miller still couldn’t find the plate. He walked Cameron with one out, then picked Mike off first. Guillen singled, and Bell and Wilson walked to load the bases for Sele. Lou Piniella figured this was the spot for Edgar Martinez. Larry Dierker stayed with Miller despite seven walks, and Wade fanned Edgar on his 104th pitch to end the Seattle sixth. Brad Ausmus doubled with two outs off Joel Pineiro in the Astros’ half, and Dierker figured his bullpen was ready so he pulled Miller for Orlando Merced. Pineiro got him to ground out, keeping it as a one-run game to the seventh.
Mike Jackson came on for Houston. Javier singled with one out, but Jackson retired Olerud and Boone to end the visitors’ seventh. That meant the Nos. 3 and 4 batters, plus Martinez who was out of the game, would need some help to keep the Mariner hopes alive. Pineiro retired the Astros’ 1-2-3 hitters in order in the seventh, and Jackson came back out for the eighth. Cameron led off with a single. Dierker waved for Octavio Dotel, who struck out Guillen. That brought up David Bell, who had homered in his previous trip to the plate. The slick fielding third baseman, amazingly, did it again for his second two-run homer of Game 7 and Seattle led 4-3. The stunned home crowd, which was just five outs away from a world championship, watched Dotel retire the next two hitters to end the inning, but now the Astros needed to come back. Arthur Rhodes came in to pitch the eighth, and retire hot-hitting Lance Berkman. Alou walked but Vinny Castilla hit into a double play.
Billy Wagner entered to try to keep Houston within a run. He walked Ichiro and Olerud but did his job, and the question now was, who would pitch the ninth for Seattle? Piniella went with his regular closer, Kaz Sasaki. He had pitched three games in the series, all in Houston, going 0-2 with a blown save, and contributed to another loss in the opener. His ERA entering the outing was 21.60. He was facing the bottom of the Astro order, however. Hidalgo flied out and then pinch hitter Daryle Ward doubled. Roy Oswalt, the Game 6 starter, came in to run for Ward. Jose Vizcaino batted for Wagner and grounded to Guillen with Oswalt holding at second. That brought up Craig Biggio, in many ways the face of the Astro franchise. Sasaki delivered and Biggio lifted a fly to center. Mike Cameron squeezed it and the Seattle Mariners were the champions of the world for 2001 in an exciting seven-game series.
Mariners........ 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 - 4 7 0
Astros.......... 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 8 0
W: Pineiro L: Dotel S: Sasaki
HR: Bell 2, Berkman
And that was it. As I type this, these two franchises, a decade after these teams played, are going through some awful times. Seattle has lost a franchise-record 17 games in a row – it took the 2001 team 70 games to lose No. 17 – and Houston, despite playing half of its games in the horrible NL Central, has the worst record in baseball by far. So I hope the fans of those two teams were able to enjoy this little trip back in time.
It’s time for the MVP selection. The leading vote-getter in the balloting was Houston’s Lance Berkman, who did have a great series with three homers, seven RBI and a .320 average. With his homer early in Game 7 it’s easy to imagine that if the voting took place in, say, the sixth inning, that he would have won the honors. But I would rather not select a player from the losing team unless there is really no one from the winning team to pick. The next player in the award rankings is Billy Wagner – same problem, and he only pitched four innings in the series. He did go 2-0, benefiting from some Seattle relief failures.
The top Mariner is Ichiro!, and I think he’s the right choice. 
He had 14 hits in the series, which would have been a World Series record, and batted .452. He had a homer and four RBI, and no one else stood out in Seattle. No starter won more than once, and relief was a bit of an issue. What about David Bell you say? Well, going into Game 7 he was batting .167. So yes, they wouldn’t have won Game 7 without him. Then again, if he had played better in the first six games there might not have been a Game 7. So Ichiro it is – and the honor is a capstone to his 2001 season that saw him win Rookie of the Year and MVP honors for the 116-win Mariners.
