Freddy Garcia doesn't let the aura of Yankee Stadium get to him during just his second career postseason start. (AP)

Once he gets to that level, this night in the Bronx will probably be remembered as the night it started. The hard and heavy thrower from Venezuela was undaunted and largely unhittable, vaulting the surging Mariners past the Yankees 2-0 in an impressive display of pitching.

Pitching is the key word there. The knock on Garcia when he is going bad is that he just throws.

"I'm like Freddy's big brother and I've always said Freddy has the potential to one day be like a Pedro (Martinez) because he has three dominant pitches," said Mariners superstar Alex Rodriguez, who belted a majestic solo home run off the foul pole in the sixth. "The one thing we all emphasize when we talk to Freddy is that he has to establish all three pitches, and don't fall in love with just fastball, breaking ball or changeup."

He was hit hard in Game 1 of the Division Series against the White Sox, but Garcia obviously left his playoff jitters in Comiskey Park.

"It's exciting pitching here, with the fans so close and loud," Garcia said. "But I was just focusing on not trying to be too high."

On this cool night, you couldn't help but notice how coolly Garcia set down the Yankees. On his bad nights, they say he is wild. Not on this night.

Garcia was at his baffling best, changing speeds and perplexing the Yankees with his mid-90s fastball, dazzling curveball and deceptive changeup.

In an American League largely devoid of top young pitchers, Garcia is a rare exception. He won 17 games last year and probably would have had at least that many this year if not for a stress fracture in his right tibia that robbed him of three months and limited him to nine wins.

But in September, when the Mariners were fighting for their playoff lives, Garcia went 5-1.

Somewhere, erstwhile Mariners general manager Woody Woodward had to be smiling. Garcia was the prize of the 1998 trade that sent Randy Johnson packing to Houston, the trade that would supposedly ruin the Mariners' credibility.

Instead, the Mariners -- without Johnson, without Ken Griffey Jr. -- are three victories away from the World Series. They are now 4-0 in the playoffs.

They play like the Yankees have the past few years, letting their pitching lead them and using defense and timely hitting to close out the deal.

The difference in this game was that they could get at least some semblance of offense -- a Rickey Henderson RBI single and A-Rod's homer in the sixth -- off of New York's Denny Neagle.

Garcia made sure the Yankees got nothing on his watch. And speaking of watches, just how was it that a pitcher's duel like this took three hours, 45 minutes?

There was but one anxious moment for Garcia. Chuck Knoblauch led off the sixth with a double and then Derek Jeter walked, making it first and second with nobody out and the Yankees' 3-4-5 hitters coming up.

M's manager Lou Piniella had lefty Arthur Rhodes ready in the bullpen to face Paul O'Neill, but Garcia sent his manager back to the dugout. Told him he'd take care of business.

So he made O'Neill look ridiculous on a dipping fastball for strike three and punched out Bernie Williams on a changeup. David Justice almost ruined Garcia's night, but his bid for a three-run homer to dead center died short of the warning track.

"I felt all along that when I went out there that I'd get the response I'd get," said Piniella. "He had good stuff, his ball was live. He throws that big hard heavy sinker, he's got the curveball and changeup. He felt very composed out there and felt strong. The catcher assured me he was throwing the ball well and that was the end of that. To have a young pitcher come into a playoff game for us like Garcia did, he should be very proud of his effort tonight."

It's easy to harp on the Yankees' lack of offense and how that might have played a role in Garcia's 6 2/3 innings of three-hit, eight-strikeout, shutout ball.

But watching the way his pitches were moving, the Yankees weren't wrong to tip their caps.

"He throws hard, obviously," said Jeter. "But he never throws the ball straight."

At the end of the night, Garcia sat at his locker in front of a barrage of reporters he never sees in Seattle and seemed fully unaware of what he had just done.

"Just tried to be myself, I was pretty good," said Garcia. "I had everything going tonight."

The Yankees wouldn't argue.