Indians put Mariners on ropes

CLEVELAND -- The big kid with the big smile and bigger fastball was cool as usual, and now rookie C.C. Sabathia has the Seattle Mariners very, very nervous.

Sabathia handled postseason pressure like a veteran and Omar Vizquel had six RBIs as Cleveland clobbered Seattle 17-2 in Game 3 of the AL playoffs on Saturday, moving the Indians one win from the AL championship series -- and of ending the Mariners' magical season.

Juan Gonzalez, Kenny Lofton and Jim Thome homered for the Indians, who led 8-1 after three innings and never stopped pouring it on, finishing 19 hits.

Cleveland's Bartolo Colon, who shut out Seattle for eight innings in Game 1, will get a chance close out the Mariners today in Game 4. Freddy Garcia, who lost the opener, will have to try and save Seattle's season.

The Mariners entered the series as huge favorites after winning an AL record 116 games this season. But unless they can win today, they'll be remembered more for their postseason failure than any victories.

They can't play much worse than this.

Seattle, which became the first team since the 1954 Indians to lead the league in batting average, ERA and fielding, did none of the three very well. The Mariners made three errors and got seven hits.

After splitting two games in Seattle, the Indians looked like a different club back home at Jacobs Field. They knocked out Aaron Sele in just two innings, led 8-1 after three, scored five runs in the eighth and had 45,069 towel-waving fans on their feet for much of the game.

Vizquel had four hits and Cleveland's 1-through-4 hitters, who came in a batting a collective .147 (5-for-34) in the series, were 6-for-9 in the first three innings with six RBIs.

The four -- Lofton, Vizquel, Roberto Alomar and Gonzalez -- finished 11-for-18 with 13 RBIs.

Thome's shot in the sixth inning off Paul Abbott was his 17th career postseason homer, one shy of the record shared by Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson.

The 21-year-old Sabathia, who went 17-5 this season as the league's best rookie not named Ichiro Suzuki, didn't face Seattle this season and spent the past few days reviewing film and reading scouting reports on the Mariners.

With his mother, Margie, nervously watching from the stands, Sabathia settled down after a shaky first inning. He allowed two runs and six hits in six-plus innings, walked five and struck out five -- three coming against Bret Boone, the AL's RBI champion.

On Friday, Sabathia said his mom was more nervous than he was, but that he expected some "jitters" when he took the mound.

They can both relax now. Nothing rattled the left-hander all season, and the Mariners didn't scare him, either.

Notes: MARINERS GM PAT GILLICK ASKED FOR THE MOUND TO BE MEASURED BEFORE THE GAME. "EVERYTHING CHECKED OUT," GILLICK SAID. "EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT IN LINE WITH THE PRESCRIBED PARAMETERS." ... INDIANS GM JOHN HART, WHO IS STEPPING DOWN ON NOV. 1, THREW OUT THE CEREMONIAL FIRST PITCH. HART TOOK OVER THE INDIANS IN 1991 AND IS CREDITED WITH REBUILDING CLEVELAND'S FRANCHISE.