Bad calls and pitching cost Felix the win

Felix Hernandez entered tonight's having great success at Yankee Stadium and he hoped to continue his dominance in the Bronx. The first inning was a tough one for the Mariners hitters as C.C. Sabathia struck out 2 batters and got an easy 1-2-3 inning for himself. Felix though didn't have the easiest innings of his season, the inning started off with Brett Gardner singling and then stealing second. Felix then walked Robinson Cano, but as all Mariners fans know Felix always knows how to get himself out of those tough innings and he did just that by getting Vernon Wells to fly out to right and then getting Curtis Granderson to ground into an inning double play. The top of the third is when the Mariners got to Sabathia, Michael Saunders was able to get on first on an error then Kyle Seager came up with two outs and as we know Seager with 2 outs he manages to come through and he did again by doubling to right scoring Saunders all the way from first.

The bottom of the fourth saw the first of many bad calls by the home plate umpire as Lyle Overbay was granted first base after Felix was called for interference, though on the replay you clearly see that the first base umpire called Overbay out before he came close to touching the bag. Felix recovered from that though by striking out Jason Nix and Ichiro to end the inning. The top of the sixth inning for the Mariners started off well, as Kelly Shoppach was able to get the lead off single. Raul Ibanez came up and reminded Yankees fans of October magic he had in the playoffs as he hit a 2 run homerun and the Mariners took a 3-0 lead. The Yankees were able to strike for their first run in the bottom half of the sixth, Robinson Cano started things off by singling to lead off the inning but was erased after Curtis Granderson grounded into a fielder's choice. 

After the fielder's choice there was an injury delay as Felix seem to have tweaked the leg that Lyle Overbay bumped into on the collision back in the fourth but Felix was able to walk it off, Overbay then came up and was able to double home Granderson and the Yankees scored their first run of the ball game. Felix recovered and got Ichiro to line out to Michael Saunders to end the inning.

Felix didn't return and Yoenis Medina was brought in to try and hold the Yankees off. Medina gave a single to Chris Nelson and Nelson moved up on a wild pitch after that Medina got Austin Romnie to strike out swinging, Eric Wedge decided to play it safe and brought in Charlie Furbush to face the lefties. Home plate umpire Jerry Layne made some very questionable calls as Brett Gardner walked, Layne then made two more questionable calls as he called two balls that were in the strike zone balls, now if he would've called those strikes Furbush would have gotten Cano to strike out instead Cano drove a ball to deep right center field and both Nelson and Gardner scored and there went Felix's gem in one inning. The Yankees weren't done as Lyle Overbay was able to score Cano by hitting a fly ball to Saunders in center field and the Yankees now took the lead 4-3. Wedge then went out to get Furbush out of the game to bring in Carter Capps, Capps didn't have a problem as he was able to end the nightmare inning by striking out Jason Nix.

The Mariners now had some work to do, Dustin Ackley got things started in the top of the eighth by walking on four straight pitches. Brendan Ryan then laid down a bunt that went out only a few feet but thanks to Ackley's speed he was able to beat the throw by catcher Austin Romnie. Unfortunately the Mariners struggles with runners in scoring position, Michael Saunders failed to get the bunt down as he struck out then Justin Smoak lined into an inning ending double play. In the ninth inning Mariano Rivera came in to close out the game. Rivera got a 1-2-3 inning and earned his 16th save of the year and his 624 save of his amazing Hall of Fame career.

NOTES: Mike Morse went 3-5 in the game and was able to raise his average to .244. The Mariners went 2-11 with RISP and the Yankees went 1-11. Felix remains in second in the majors for ERA with a 1.53.