Seattle Rocks New York to End 9-Game Slide

Felix Hernandez inches Mariners closer to Yanks.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

NEW YORK - The ace of a starting rotation is more than a big winner. He stops his team's losing streaks.

Inside and outside the Mariners organization, teammates and opponents envision 22-year-old Felix Hernandez as the next Seattle ace, and performances like the one he came up with on Monday afternoon at Yankee Stadium provide more evidence why the expectations are so high.

With the Mariners riding a season-high nine-game losing streak, basically out of the American League West race and showing signs of falling out of the Wild Card race as well, King Felix took the ball against the Yankees on Labor Day and stopped the skid.

He held the Yankees in check for seven innings, and the Mariners snapped their 10-day victory drought with a 7-1 win in front of 54,522 at Yankee Stadium, a triumph that moved Seattle (74-62) to within one game of New York (76-62) in the AL Wild Card race.

"I think this is the most important win I've ever had," Hernandez said. "The only thing on my mind today was win. No matter how, no matter what. Just win."

On a day that Ichiro Suzuki reached 200 hits for the seventh consecutive season -- he did it with a home run off Roger Clemens in the third inning -- and every starter in the lineup had at least one hit, it was the pitching of Hernandez that stood out.

The Mariners needed a performance like this, and he responded.

"Felix did real good on the big stage," manager John McLaren said. "It didn't look like the Big Apple bothered him. He met the challenge, which is what we needed him to do. That's what a No. 1 is supposed to do, stop losing streaks. To me, it's not winning 20 games, but stopping losing streaks."

The Mariners have had a few aces up their sleeves over the years. The short list includes Randy Johnson, Freddy Garcia and Jamie Moyer.

Hernandez looked every bit the part of a No. 1 on this sunny day in the Bronx.

Hernandez (11-7) threw 114 pitches over seven innings and surrendered a run in the first inning, but nothing after that. He struck out five and walked four -- two of them in fifth inning, when he threw eight consecutive pitches out of strike zone to Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter.

But there were two outs before the little wild streak started and after a visit from pitching coach Rafael Chaves; Hernandez retired Bobby Abreu on a ground ball to maintain a four-run lead.

"I told him he had a [four-run] lead, so chill out and relax," Chaves said.

Whatever works.

Hernandez followed his coach's advice, retired seven of the last eight batters he faced and turned the game over to the Mariners bullpen. Sean Green, George Sherrill and J.J. Putz recorded the final six outs to bring some smiles to a group of players who have had nothing to smile about for a long time.

"Look at everyone's faces compared to the last five or six games," Putz said. "Felix really stepped up and carried us."

But he had some help along the way, and he made a point to praise his defense and offense, which produced two double plays and 16 hits.

The Yankees, who lost two out of three to the Devil Rays preceding this series, presented Clemens with a quick lead, scoring once in the first inning off Hernandez.

Jeter singled to right-center field with out, stole second and scored when Alex Rodriguez dumped a single into left-center, just out of the reach of shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt.

One of those "here we go again" moments could almost be sensed in the visitors' dugout. Bad luck was only one of the factors involved in the nine-game skid, the longest since an 11-game losing streak in August last year.

But the Mariners answered quickly, getting even in the second inning when Jose Lopez drove in Adrian Beltre from third base on a two-out slow roller between the mound and the third-base line. Clemens fielded the ball while doing a split and could not make a throw.

The Yankees threatened to regain the lead in the bottom of the second, when Jorge Posada singled to center and Jason Giambi walked, putting runners on first and second with none out.

A nifty Betancourt-to-Lopez-to-Ben Broussard double play took most of the heat off Hernandez, who retired Melky Cabrera on a routine fly ball to left field for the final out of the inning.

"Those guys play unbelievable defense," said Hernandez of Betancourt and Lopez.

Ichiro put Seattle ahead in the third inning with his sixth home run of the season and his 200th hit of the season. The Mariners tacked on three more runs in the fourth, a rally that included the first of two Betancourt doubles, and that was all for Clemens.

The last time the Mariners were in New York, Clemens announced on the big-screen matrix board that he was returning to the Yankees. That was a Kodak moment, for sure.

He shared the big stage with someone half his age on Monday and came away with his sixth loss.

The Mariners came away with hopes of coming out of their latest extended losing streak the way they did the previous three -- embarking on a hot streak.

• After losing six straight from April 17-22, they won eight of their next 10 games.

• After losing six straight from June 13-19, they won 10 of their next 11 games.

• After losing seven straight from July 21-26, they won 12 of their next 16 games.

"That was big, to say the least," McLaren said of Monday's win. "Hopefully, we'll start that streak we've been talking about the other way. We've talked about it before. We've had four bad streaks, and during those streaks, there are a lot of reasons why we didn't win.

"For us to be a good ballclub, we can't have these streaks."

And now that this latest one is behind them, McLaren said, "I can sleep tonight. That's a start."

Story by: Jim Street

Courtesy: MLB.com

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