The Yankees threatened against Ian Snell (5-2 since joining Seattle) in the 1st inning, putting two runners aboard with no one out.  But Snell retired Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui to escape the jam and the Yankees offense flopped like a fish after that.  The Yankees would manage just five hits on the day, three of them byTeixeira.

Chamberlain retired the first two hitters of the game, but then gave up back to back doubles to Jose Lopez and Ken Griffey Jr., and an RBI single to Adrian Beltre for a 2-0 M’s lead.  Things went from bad to worse an inning later with Griffey punctuating the 5-run outburst with a 3-run home run.  It was Griffey’s 16th home run of the season, the same output as his 1989 rookie season, and 627th of his career.

Game Notes

On the bright side, Sergio Mitre tossed five innings of 1-hit ball in relief.

The Yankees begin a three game series tonight with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  The AL East lead has been reduced to 5 1/2 games (ahead of Boston), but the magic number is just one to clinch a playoff spot.

The Yankees second best acquisition of this past off-season made their best acquisition, CC Sabathia, the American League’s first 18 game winner.  The big left-hander, and Cy Young candidate, allowed one unearned run in seven innings of work while allowing just four hits.  The Yankees were already up 6-0 when the Mariners got on the board thanks to an Rodriguez throwing error, andTeixeira and company put the pedal to the medal to put the game out of reach.

Teixeira would have had a three home run game if not for the 1st inning effort of Mariners’ centerfielder Franklin Gutierrez.  With Johnny Damon aboard, Teixeira hit a smash to deep center off starter Doug Fister that a leaping Gutierrez got a glove on as the ball began to go over the fence for a sure home run.  Gutierrez couldn’t hang on though as he hit the wall and it landed in play for an RBI triple.

Hideki Matsui’s 26th home run in the 2nd helped increased New York’s advantage to 3-0 as Teixeira came to bat with two aboard in the 5th.  This time he pulled the ball  down the right field line, just over the 326-ft sign, for his 36th home run of the year and a 6-0 Yankees’ lead.

Home run #37 would come after a mere single in the 7th. Teixeira, batting from the right side in the 9th against left-hander Luke French, hit a no doubt about it shot over the 388-ft sign in left-center for his 118th run batted in of the season.

Game Notes

Since the All-Star break, CC Sabathia is 10-1, 2.54 in 13 starts.  He’s struck out 91 in 92 innings with just 22 walks and 78 hits allowed.

Ian Kennedy is all the way back from aneurysm surgery and in this case that means back on the major league roster.  IPK even surprised himself with is return.  He’ll get more innings over the next two months in the Arizona Fall League.

Freddy Guzman drove in his first run as a Yankee last night with a 9th inning sacrifice fly.

Ichiro Suzuki would never forget the game after being picked off first base not once, but twice. Then an unfunny thing happened on the way to the post-game high fives for the Yankees.  Pinch-hitter Mike Sweeney narrowly missed hitting one out, driving a ball on to the warning track in right for a 2-out double.  That set up a showdown between two future Hall ofFamers, Ichiro and Rivera.  Moments later it was the Mariners celebrating when Ichiro hit a rare home run for a 3-2 Mariners victory.

The loss somewhat wasted a bounce back effort from A.J. Burnett, who allowed one run and scattered seven hits over seven innings.  I say somewhat, because Burnett really needed a good outing for his own confidence as well as his manager’s confidence in him.  He still could have picked up a victory had his team taken advantages of opportunities they had against “King” Felix Hernandez (16-5).

Derek Jeter led off the ball game with a single and Johnny Damon followed with a double.  But the Yankees came away with only one run on Alex Rodriguez‘ sacrifice fly.  Nick Swisher was stranded after a lead off double in the 7th and the Yankees had at least one man on in seven of the nine innings.

The Yankees went ahead in the 7th when Damon doubled for the second time, moved to third on a passed ball, and scored on Mark Teixeira’s sac fly.

But despite the one run lead, the Yankees had the ball in the right hands.  Rivera hadn’t blown a save since April 24 when Boston’s Jason Bay slugged a 2-run home run off of him up in Fenway Park.  He had only been scored upon once in the last two months.

And things seemed normal when Rivera (3-3) struck out John Hannahan looking to give the M’s infielder the “Golden Sombrero” and then blew an inside fastball past a swinging pinch-hitter Mike Carp for the 2nd out.

Mo breathed a sigh relief when Sweeney’s opposite field fly seemed destined to leave the park, but short hopped the wall instead.  Then Rivera’s first pitch cutter to Ichiro didn’t move and the M’s right fielder deposited the ball deep into the right field seats for his 10th home run.  It was Ichiro’s fourth hit of the game, second walk-off hit of the week and third game winning home run of the season.

Game Notes

The Yankees announced that Sergio Mitre’s turn will be skipped when the Yankees open a series with the Angels on Monday.  Chad Gaudin, who pitched effectively against the Blue Jays, will take his turn.

CC Sabathia goes after his 18th win this afternoon (4:10 p.m. ET) when he faces rookie Doug Fister.

WP – Hughes (5-3)  SV – Rivera (34)  LP – Lowe (1-5)

I was probably off the mark when I predicted Mark Teixeira would be the American League MVP this year. That being said, Teixeira has been plenty valuable to the Yankees this season.  Last night Teixeira cracked his 30th home run to snap a 2-2 in the top of the 9th and the Yankees went on to a 4-2 win over the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.  The win gave the Yankees the first two games of the four game set and kept them 6 1/2 games ahead of Boston in the AL East.

Starter Andy Pettitte had a rough 1st inning, but settled down and struck out a season high 10 hitters.  It gave the Yankees a chance to come back from a 2-0 deficit against Mariners’ starter Ryan Rowland-Smith and set up the 9th inning scenario.  Hard throwing reliever Mark Lowe left a change up in Teixeira’s wheelhouse and the 1st baseman turned on it and sent a high arcing shot about 15 rows back in the right field stands.  The Yankees then gave Mariano Rivera some breathing room with an insurance run.  Robinson Cano reached on a 2-out ground rule double and scored on Nick Swisher’s single to right for a 4-2 lead.

Rivera who sat out Wednesday’s game with a sore shoulder and wasn’t needed Thursday night, got three ground ball outs in the bottom of the 9th for his league leading 34th save.  Phil Hughes worked out of a 2-on, 2-out jam in the 8th to pick up his 5th win of the season and first since July 17.  He’s allowed just 3 earned runs in his last 28.2 innings pitched.

Pettitte went deep in the count most of the night and ran into immediate trouble in the 1st inning.  He allowed consecutive singles to Ichiro Suzuki and Franklin Guitierrez to start the game and an RBI double to Jose Lopez.  Ken Griffey Jr. drove in the M’s 2nd run of the inning with a ground out to Cano, but Pettitte stranded Lopez at 3rd by striking out Russell Branyan and Jack Hannahan.

The Yankees got a run back in the 2nd on Jorge Posada’s near-home run double off the yellow stripe in right-center field and an RBI ground out by Jerry Hairston Jr., and tied things up in the 5th on 2-out singles by Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon, sandwiched around a wild pitch.

Game Notes

Mariano Rivera became the 22nd pitcher in MLB history with 900 appearances.

Johnny Damon reached 600 hits as a Yankee, becoming just the third player to accomplish the feat with three different teams.  The others were “Wee” Willie Keeler and Doc Cramer.

Damaso Marte is nearing the end of his rehab assignment, but Joe Girardi said the left-hander’s fastball is still not up to par.

Alex Rodriguez sat out again with a sore elbow and his 50/5o to play on Saturday.

WP – Batista (5-2)  LP – Sabathia (7-5)

The Seattle Mariners couldn’t come up with clutch hits in the first two games of their first series at the new Yankee Stadium, but last night they smacked CC Sabathia around en route to an 8-4 win over the Yankees.  The loss snapped the Bombers’ 7 game winning streak and dropped them 3 games behind idle Boston in the AL East.

Although he allowed a lead off, frozen rope double to Ichiro Suzuki to start the ball game, Sabathia looked dominant in the 1st inning.  But a mid-90s fastball, up in the zone with no movement can get you in trouble fast and that’s what happened to the Yankee ace.  Franklin Gutierrez belted a solo home run off Sabathia in the 2nd inning for a 2-0 M’s lead.  Back-to-back singles by Kenji Johjima and Ryan Langerhans followed and Chris Woodward came through with a run-scoring sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead after two.

The Yankees kept rallying against Mariners starter Jason Vargas, but couldn’t completely erase the deficit, thanks to Sabathia’s ineffectiveness.  With his team back in the game at 3-2, Sabathia gave up four hits in the 4th inning, including RBI-producing base knocks by Woodward and Ichiro.  Melky Cabrera nearly made a long running catch of Ichiro’s fly ball, but it ticked off the top of his glove for a 2-run double that pushed the Mariners’ advantage to 6-2.

Ichiro’s countryman, Hideki Matsui, answered with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 4th, but the Yankees couldn’t solve the Mariners’ bullpen.  Miguel Batista, Mark Lowe, and David Aardsma scattered three hits over the final five innings, and a potential Yankees’ rally fell short in the 9th.

Russell Branyan, who had struck out 7 times, combined in Wednesday and Thursday’s games, extended the M’s lead with a titanic 2-run blast off the facing of the restaurant in dead center field in the top of the 9th.  In a non-save situation, Aardsma gave up back-to-back singles to Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher to start the Yankees’ last licks, but retired Matsui and Cabrera on fly balls, and struck out pinch-hitter Jorge Posada to preserve the lead.

Game Notes

Not counting his start in Florida when he left the game early due to bicep tightness, last night marked the first game since April 16 that Sabathia didn’t pitch into the 7th inning.

Jose Molina’s rehab stint will conclude with four games with the Scranton Yankees.  He’s expected to be activated for Tuesday night’s game in Minnesota.

Mark Teixeira’s throwing error in the 9th inning was his first miscue in 107 games.

The Yankees begin a 4-game holiday series with the Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon (1:05 p.m. ET).  A.J. Burnett makes his 2nd start against his old teammates and will face lefty Brian Tallet.

WP – Bruney (3-0)  SV – Rivera (19)  LP – White (2-1)

Jorge Posada congratulates Mo Rivera after ceremonial 1st pitch

Joba Chamberlain and Brandon Morrow have both heard the debates.  Should they be closers, future closers, set up men, starters (though we’re sure that Morrow has no equivalent of the bag of hot air that is debating it onJoba’s behalf.)?  Last night’s Yankees-Mariners game was a good fodder for throwing them both back in the pen.  Both starters were mediocre, but the Seattle bullpen did a worse job than the Yankees’ relief corp.  The end result was an 8-5 Yankees win that moved them to within 2.5 games of Boston in the AL East.

Brian Bruney had just blown a two run lead when the Yankees came to bat in the bottom of the 8th against Sean White.  Hideki Matsui greeted him with a double up the alley in right-center and the Yankees had an instant rally.  Nick Swisher ill advisedly laid down a bunt, but it was a perfect one.  Pinch-runner Brett Gardner moved to 3rd base and Swisher reach 1st base safely for a base hit.

Melky Cabrera’s double to center put the Yankees ahead 6-5 (the Melkman’s 3rd Ribbie of the night) and Derek Jeter followed with a 2-run single to give Mariano Rivera plenty of breathing room in the 9th.  Rivera had the honor of throwing out the game’s first pitch in commemoration of his 500th save and then had the opportunity of throwing the night’s last pitch as well.  He cruised through a 1-2-3 9th inning for the 501st save of his illustrious career.

Things weren’t so illustrious for Chamberlain, who reverted back to “the nibbler” after his excellent start against the Braves his last time out.  He couldn’t hold the 3-1 lead his teammates had given him and lasted just 5 1-3 innings.  Of his 96 pitches, just 55 were strikes.  He allowed 9 hits, 3 walks, and went deep into counts all night.

Morrow’s night was worse (98 pitches, 58 strikes)- 4.2 IP, and although just 1 of the 3 runs he allowed were earned, he issued 5 walks and gave up 5 base hits.  Both teams failure with runners in scoring position is the only thing that kept the game from being a 14-12 shootout.

Alex Rodriguez belted a long 2-run home run off of Chris Jakubauskas in the 7th to put the Bombers back on top 5-3.  But Joe Girardi pulled Phil Hughes, who had pitched a dominant 9-pitch 7th inning, in favor of his 8th inning “follow the script” guy.  It backfired as Bruney allowed 3 hits and a walk.   Russell Branyan’s bases loaded sacrifice fly tied the game before Bruney finally got Jose Lopez to ground out to end the inning.

Game Notes

The Red Sox have had their way with the Orioles all season, but last night the O’s suddenly woke up.  Boston built a 9-1 lead before the rains came to Camden Yards and delayed matters.  Down 10-1, the Orioles rallied late and pulled out a stunning 11-10 victory.

Eric Hinske’s flight out of Pittsburgh was delayed by the weather and he wasn’t able to get to the game in time.  Ramiro Pena is expected  to be sent down to learn to play the outfield.  The Yankees envision a Mark Mclemore type of player.

Telling stat from mlb.com’s Noah Coslov – 12 of Melky Cabrera’s 29 RBI have came in the 7th inning on and have tied the game or given the Yankees the lead.

Mariners 3rd baseman Adrian Beltre is expected to miss 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery Tuesday to remove bone spurs in his shoulder.

The Yankees-M’s series continues tonight with Andy Pettitte facing Jarrod Washburn (or is that Keifer Sutherland?).