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Olerud delays Subway Series
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By LAURA VECSEY
New York's subways never intimidated John Olerud.
Whatever John Rocker found so distasteful about traveling between the lively boroughs in the city that never sleeps, Olerud found quite the opposite.
So when he was a member of the New York Mets the past three seasons before coming home to play, Olerud rode the rails.
Out to Shea Stadium, back into Manhattan, stopping for a slice of pizza in the neighborhood, getting lost in the throng of rainbow humanity -- Olerud shuttled in the spray-painted red cars of the No. 7 train. He not only lived to tell about it, he loved it.
He steeped himself in the cacophonous culture of a city that demands its residents keep on their toes, stay alert and stay aggressive, never say die.
Maybe all that New York City train riding prepared Olerud for this moment.
Yesterday afternoon, with the Yankees at Safeco Field, up 3-1 in the American League Championship Series and looking to uphold their end of the bargain of an all-New York "Subway Series" against the Mets, Olerud had another idea.
With a home run, a would-be home-run, a hard single, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly for an early RBI, Olerud not only racked up a nice box score line -- 3-1-2-2 -- in this do-or-die Game 5, he helped put the brakes on the Yankees express.
For all of that, citizens of Marinerville, Yankees haters and anyone tired of talk of a Subway Series should tip their caps to Olerud.
Did the quiet man who left the yapping environs of Gotham to return to the tranquil woodlands of Fall City take special delight in postponing the Noo Yawk onslaught that will no doubt come if the Yankees win the ALCS?
In typical Olerud fashion, understatement was the tone of the victorious afternoon.
"It's always a good feeling to play well in a must-win game," said Olerud.
"But I've been playing against the Yankees since when I was with Toronto, and I played them when I was with the Mets. The Yankees are always a team you want to work hard to beat, and we do our best to beat 'em," he said.
In his first season as a Mariner, yesterday might have been Olerud's crowning glory.
Yes, his stellar glovework at first base helped land the Mariners in the postseason, as did his steady, if slightly subpar (for Olerud) offensive production.
But yesterday, with Safeco Field chilly under October skies and 47,802 fans packed in for what many realists believed would likely be the Mariners' final game of this rewarding 2000 season, Olerud shined.
After a summer of admitting he often thinks about his buddies on the Mets, he achieved a measure of success and satisfaction -- the sort of thing that comes from being in the right place at the right time.
In beating the Yankees and sending the series back to New York for Game 6, tomorrow Yankee Stadium, not only did Olerud help crush the Mariners' ALCS foe, he also beat the Mets' psychic and geographic rival.
When Olerud became a free agent after New York was eliminated from the 1999 NLCS by Atlanta, the Mets were dying to have the sure-handed left-hander back at first base. Meanwhile, new Mariners general manager Pat Gillick, who drafted Olerud for the Blue Jays out of Washington State, was making some friendly, if not quite so innocent, phone calls to Olerud's parents when Olerud was on a post-playoff vacation in Italy.
Olerud agonized about the decision, in part because for a Northwest guy with a placid demeanor, Olerud had come to appreciate the craziness of New York.
Last October, everywhere Olerud turned, there were blaring headlines in New York tabloids and blithering sports talk radio hosts on WFAN gurgling obsessively about a potential Subway Series.
A year later, the Mets and Yankees have put New York in another state of high anxiety.
Everyone is on edge, waiting for the Mets to brush back the Cardinals and the Yankees to dispose of the Mariners.
This is where it gets funny -- at least if you're the Mariners, who had every reason to hang their heads yesterday. They had dropped three in a row, capped by the wicked, one-hit loss they suffered at the hands of Roger Clemens in Game 4.
But an anemic offense that had seen the Mariners total five runs in the first four games finally came alive.Olerud kicked it off. In the first inning, when Yankees starter Denny Neagle gave up three walks, Olerud drilled a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Mike Cameron for a 1-0 lead.
It was a good omen. In the bottom of the fourth, after the Yankees had taken a 2-1 lead, Olerud launched a long ball that arced all the way back to the wall in right center -- a home run that was robbed when center fielder Bernie Williams timed his leap perfectly to snare the ball.
"I was rooting for the ball to carry out. It's definitely discouraging when you hit the ball well and somebody makes a great play on you," he said.
The stolen homer didn't discourage Olerud and the Mariners.
In the fifth, the Mariners broke the game open. Alex Rodriguez greeted reliever Jeff Nelson with a two-RBI single through the left side if the infield for a 3-2 lead. Edgar Martinez then launched a homer to straightaway center -- no chance for Williams there.
Then it was Olerud's turn. He also took Nelson long, getting good wood on the ball and good air from Safeco for a 6-2 lead."Some days the ball carries. I haven't gotten a good feel for when that is," Olerud said.
Yesterday, the ball carried. So did Olerud and Martinez and A-Rod. They carried their team back to the Bronx.
Their task gets no easier in Yankee Stadium, where New York's 3-2 series lead is sufficient reason for the rabid fans to plan far greater things than what they will see as the ritual dismissal of the Mariners.
Luckily, Olerud understands the New York state of mind. He rode among the people there. He knows all about subways and rivalries, and he remains calm, almost bemused.
The Northwest's unflappable native son can ward off the Big Apple hysteria. He and the Mariners will calmly attempt to derail that Subway Series.
P-I columnist Laura Vecsey can be reached at 206-448-8011 or lauravecsey@seattle-pi.com
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