The Orioles' sinkerballer is familiar with Cleveland's lineup, having held the Indians to three runs on six hits in his 6 2/3-inning outing in Game 2 of the 1996 division series. Baltimore won, but Erickson did not get a decision.
Erickson believes the 1997 Indians resemble the 1996 team that lost to Baltimore in the series.
"I think they're a pretty similar team," said Erickson during yesterday's news conference in Camden Yards.
"I think they have more balance this year from the left side of the
plate. They lost Albert Belle, but Matt Williams has done a great
job. they're a pretty strong team all around."
Since Erickson cam to Baltimore from Minnesota in a 1995 trade, he
is 38-23 with a 4.27 earned run average.
The 1997 ALCS is Erickson's third. He is 0-1 with a 2.93 ERA in three starts, one with the Twins in 1991 and two against the Yankees last year.
The Indians' Bip Roberts, who started the season with Kansas City, watched Erickson pitch against the Royals. Erickson gave up three runs in seven innings but did not get a decision in the 7-3 Baltimore victory.
"What I saw that day was a guy that was very aggressive toward hitters in the first five, six innings, and then he went to a little finesse," said Roberts, who has one hit in three career at-bats against Erickson. "I think what he does is make adjustments according to the hitters. He's a smart pitcher. He's not gong to make very many mistakes."
Roberts said the Indians should be patient against Erickson, who was 16-7 this season with a 3.69 ERA in 34 games, including one relief appearance.
"Hitters are going to have to make adjustments and have controlled aggression because he has laste movement on some of his pitches," Roberts said. "The more pitches we see, hopefullly we can wear him down."
Wearing down Erickson might be difficult. He has worked more than 220 innings in each of the past two seasons, in part because of his ability to induce groundball outs. Nearly 75 percent of the pitches hit fair against Erickson this season were ground balls, including 33 double-play balls--the second highest total in the American League.
"What Scotty has to do all the time is keep the ball down and make sure that his breaking pitch is able to get fastball hitters," said Baltimore manager Davey Johnson. "He has a good sinker, he goes after people with that. When his sinker-slider is working, it's as good as any pitch there is in baseball."