AMERICAN LEAGUE: INSIDE THE A.L.: M'S MYSTERIOUSLY SEND NELSON TO N.Y.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

CLEVELAND - When Jeff Nelson ripped Seattle Mariners management for failing to improve the team at the nonwaiver trade deadline, he implied the club wasn't willing to go to the great lengths other contenders would to reach the World Series.

Six days later, by trading Nelson to the New York Yankees for Armando Benitez, the Mariners proved his point just splendidly.

General manager Pat Gillick said Nelson's pointed comments, for which he later apologized, ``had no impact at all'' on the trade, a statement that's sure to be regarded with some suspicion. Taken purely from a baseball standpoint, the Mariners just handed the Yankees, a potential playoff rival, a reliable piece of their bullpen while taking on the talented but always adventurous Benitez.

Nelson was a stalwart for the Yankees' four World Series-winning clubs, posting a career 2.66 ERA in 47 postseason games with them and Seattle. He was unscored upon in nine appearances in the 1999 postseason with the Yankees.

Nelson signed with Seattle after the 2000 season, and the Yankees have gone through the likes of Jay Witasick and overpaid for Steve Karsay in trying to fill Nelson's vacancy in the set-up role. Upon reacquiring the 6- foot-8 right-hander, general manager Brian Cashman said, ``We may not have been able to fill that void since he left.''

Benitez was the latest stopgap. In three weeks with the Yankees, he posted a 2.93 ERA, but appearances are deceiving. He blew a game against Boston on July 26, giving up a game-winning single to David Ortiz, and helped lay the groundwork for two blown saves by closer Mariano Rivera when Rivera couldn't clean up his messes.

And his playoff pratfalls are legendary - blowing Game 1 of the Subway Series against the Yankees in 2000, giving up a game-winning home run to J.T. Snow in the National League division series that year, and blowing a game in the '96 American League Championship Series for the Orioles.

Assuming the goal is to make the World Series, why, other than wanting to punish the outspoken Nelson, would the Mariners want to take on the unpredictable Benitez?

The party line is that with closer Kazuhiro Sasaki struggling to regain his velocity, the Mariners need a proven closer until Sasaki returns to form, if he does. But Shigetoshi Hasegawa has a 0.67 ERA and nine saves as a fill-in, and even if he's a long way from Benitez's 197 career saves, he also can't match Benitez's dossier of big-game failures. On Saturday, with a 2-1 lead, the Mariners opted for Hasegawa, not Benitez, to close out a victory over the Yankees.

Meanwhile, Nelson moved back to New York, where he's since mended fences with manager Joe Torre after - surprise - he ran his mouth off in 2000 and 2001 when Torre omitted him from the All-Star team. He made his Yankees debut Friday against the Mariners and struck out the side.

``The hardest part is leaving home,'' he said. ``I got pretty emotional when they told me about it. I asked (Gillick) if this was about my being outspoken, and he said it wasn't. But it caught me by surprise. When I told the guys, they couldn't believe it. I think it came as a surprise to everybody.''

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com