Tuesday October 23, 2001

NEW YORK - The New York Yankees made a liar out of Lou Piniella.

The AL championship series never made it back to Seattle, as the Mariners manager promised, thanks to a 12-3 victory in Game 5 last night that gave the Yankees a chance to win their fourth straight World Series.

MVP Andy Pettitte took a shutout into the seventh inning, Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill homered and the Yankees put the bumbling Mariners away early.

Next up for New York is Game 1 of the World Series against aces Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark on Saturday night.

The Yankees jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third inning - thanks to third baseman David Bell's error and Williams' third homer in as many days.

The rest was just a formality as the Yankees brought a swift ending to Seattle's record-tying 116-win season and won their 38th pennant.

A team that looked old and tired in the first two games in the opening round against Oakland staged an improbable rally. One home run swing away from being swept, the Yankees showed a resiliency that endeared them more than ever to their fans in this shaken city.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was among the 56,370 fans cheering Joe Torre's Yankees so loudly the stadium shook. The celebration was a wonderful distraction from the heartache and devastation endured by this city following last month's terrorist attacks.

"I think it's as emotional as I've ever heard it at Yankee Stadium," Giuliani said. "This year I have to say the emotion adds something extra to it."

The Yankees of Derek Jeter, Williams and Pettitte became the first team since their predecessors in 1960-64 - led by Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford - to win four straight pennants.

There was no more tough talk to come from Piniella on this night. All he could do was stare at the field and pop his chewing gum while the Yankees romped around the bases.

After two straight losses at Safeco Field to open the series, a defiant Piniella made a promise his team couldn't keep - that the ALCS would return to Seattle for Game 6.

Piniella looked like a prophet after Seattle's 14-3 Game 3 win Saturday. But the Mariners lost in the ninth inning on Sunday and they let him down again in the clincher. After becoming the first team in 53 years to lead the league in batting average, fielding and ERA, the Mariners could do nothing right.

Seattle committed one error, let three flyballs fall in front of outfielders for hits and threw a run-scoring wild pitch in one of its sloppiest games of the year.

After Tino Martinez's three-run homer in the eighth inning, the fans chanted: "No Game 6! No Game 6!" - as if Piniella and the Mariners didn't know that already.

The Mariners joined baseball's only other 116-win team as a postseason dud. The 1906 Chicago Cubs lost the World Series to the crosstown White Sox in six games.