SEATTLE -- Andy Pettitte and Paul O'Neill went to dinner in downtown Seattle Tuesday night, only hours away from a showdown with the American League's biggest, baddest entity, the Mariners.

	Andy Pettitte is congratulated by Derek Jeter during Wednesday's game.

The two Yankees didn't have to acknowledge the enormity of their task, taking on the most successful team in AL history. That much was obvious. But O'Neill could sense that Pettitte was on the doorstep of greatness -- that, in the right fielder's words, "he was ready to go."

O'Neill doesn't pretend to be a prophet, but his assessment proved to be stunningly accurate. Pettitte didn't just beat the Mariners, 4-2 in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series, he overwhelmed them, won the battle in every inning and virtually every at-bat

Pettitte was so good, Lou Piniella had no choice but prepare his rotation for a long series. He's starting Freddy Garcia in Game 2 on just three days' rest, realizing that's the only way both Garcia and Jamie Moyer can be available for Games 6 and 7 -- if the Mariners get that far.

"That's as good as we can do," Piniella ruefully said. Just goes to show how volatile October can be: only a few days ago, the Yankees were on the brink of being swept three straight by the A's in the Division Series, their dynasty ready to expire in humiliating fashion.

But the Bombers outpitched and outperformed Oakland in Game 5, and had so much leftover confidence from that triumph, they hardly seemed threatened by the Mariners on Wednesday.

For that, they can thank Pettitte, who, in limiting the Mariners to just three hits and one run in eight innings, accomplished a near-miracle -- keeping Ichiro off the bases in all three at-bats (Ichiro doubled off Mariano Rivera in the ninth and later scored).

And O'Neill was just as critical to the Yankees, smashing a two-run homer off Aaron Sele in the fourth-inning -- a pretty line drive into the right-field seats that actually proved to be the difference.

O'Neill's production was sorely needed, since the Yankees' 3-4-5 hitters -- David Justice, Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez -- were a combined 1-for-11. That only diminished Pettitte's margin for error, not that he would need the extra breathing room.

In fact, Pettitte realized as early as his bullpen warmup that he had a particularly sharp cut fastball, and that, "I was going to be able to throw it for a strike pretty much any time I wanted to."

It soon became obvious to the Mariners that the afternoon would belong to Pettitte. They didn't get a hit until the fifth inning, and even when they finally broke through -- putting runners on second and third with none out -- Pettitte won a moral victory, keeping Seattle to just one run.

Piniella admitted, "I thought we had a chance" until he saw how quickly Pettitte smothered that rally. The left-hander got John Olerud to ground out to short, producing the inning's sole run, before striking out both Jay Buhner and Dan Wilson.

The Mariners did have one last chance to wound Pettitte, who was clinging to a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning before Bret Boone led off with a single. Once again, the crowd at Safeco Field stirred, since Edgar Martinez -- who started the fifth-inning rally with a single to right -- was now standing at the plate.

There was no doubt how Pettitte would battle Martinez -- cutters, from first pitch to last. And that's precisely how the at-bat went, as the first four cutters produced a standoff, a 2-2 count.

Pettitte tried another breaking pitch, this time bouncing the ball in the dirt, loading the count. And that's when Tino Martinez approached the mound with what turned out to be a critical message for Pettitte.

The first baseman reminded his teammate that, because of the setting sun and the shadows in the hitter's background, "It was really hard for me to see the ball (when he had hit)," Pettitte said, recounting Martinez's words.

"Hearing that really relaxed me," Pettitte said. "It made me feel like I had the advantage at that moment."

Which is why Pettitte took a deep breath and delivered his finest cutter of the at-bat -- sharp and downward breaking and, most importantly, perfectly disguised as a fastball until the final five feet to the batter's box.

Edgar, one of the game's most disciplined hitters, couldn't lay off the pitch, swinging over it for strike three. And Pettitte then took care of Mike Cameron, getting him to bounce into a 5-4-3 double play.

That quickly, the Mariners were wiped out in the seventh inning, and the rest of the game became a formality, even with Mariano Rivera's uncharacteristic wildness -- he was charged with two wild pitches while pitching to Boone -- allowed the Mariners a run in the ninth inning.

It was too little, far too late for the suddenly mortal M's. All Piniella could do was turn his gaze to Game 2, although, with Mike Mussina waiting, that vista looked just as hostile as Game 1.

"It's obvious the Yankees have good starting pitching. We know that," Piniella said. "They spend quite a bit of money on it, and it shows."

Bob Klapisch of The Record (Bergen County, N.J.) covers baseball for ESPN.com.