Rivera shines above the King

The Mariners looked to take not only even up the series against the Yankees but also win the season series against them. King Felix looked to dominate the Yanks in today's game in front of a crowd of 43,389 fans. Felix had a rough first inning as he threw 26 pitches, 15 for strikes and 11 for balls. Brett Gardner would only need to look at two pitches before he lead off the game with a single and then later stole second base with Mark Teixeria up. Felix was able to strikeout Teixeria but then walked two straight batters in Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner. With former Mariner Ichiro Suzuki up Felix knew he had to throw his best stuff to him, Felix was able to strikeout the aging Ichiro on a curveball that he cased in the dirt.

The Mariners would get Jason Bay to lead off with a single to extend his small hitting streak to 3 games but was caught napping on first and was picked off by pitcher David Phelps. The Mariners would get Kyle Seager on with a walk but couldn't do anything to get him home and the inning ended. Felix in the top of the second would give up another lead off single this time to Jason Nix. After striking out Reid Brignac, Chris Stewart singled on a bunt that allowed Brignac to get to third. Gardner would single in the first run of the game on his line drive single to center but Felix recovered and was able to get Robinson Cano to ground into the inning ending double play.

With one out in the bottom half of the second Kelly Shoppach was able to line one down the left field line and allowed him to easily get to second base. With a runner in scoring position Michael Saunders grounded out to Cano that allowed Shoppach to move over to third, Alex Liddi, who was filling in for Kendrys Morales on account that Morales's back stiffness was bothering him, was able to draw a two out walk which brought up the hot Brendan Ryan. Ryan hit a soft ground ball to Brignac and on the throw to second Liddi was able to slide in safely and on the play Shoppach scored to tie the game at 1-1.

Felix would then pitch a brilliant game as he went 1-2-3 in the third and the fourth. In the bottom of the seventh inning Felix would start the inning out by getting Brignac to ground out, he then struck out Chris Stewart, on the pitch he got to strikeout Stewart there was a injury delay as Felix's back started to tighten up. Both manager Eric Wedge and head trainer Rick Griffin came out to check on Felix, not only the fans but I was scared at the fact that the Mariners ace was being looked at. Felix waved both Wedge and Griffin and told them to let him finish the inning off. Felix would finish the inning off in style as he got Brett Gardner on three straight pitches including a 93 mph fastball on the final strike. Felix would not return after that as he finished the day striking out 7 batters while throwing 108 pitches. 

Charlie Furbush would come in to replace Felix in the eighth inning. Furbush would hit the first batter he saw but was able to strikeout Teixeria and get Hafner to pop out to Seager. Eric Wedge would then come and make one of his usual quick pitching changes as he brought in Yoervis Medina for Furbush to face Vernon Wells. Medina was able to get Wells to ground out to Liddi to end the Yankee eighth inning. The bottom of the eighth started off right for the Mariners as Liddi lead off with his first double and hit of the season. Brendan Ryan moved Liddi over with his fourth sacrifice bunt of the season, but unfortunately the Mariners woes of being unable to hit with runners in scoring struck again as both Jason Bay and Nick Franklin struck out to end the threat for the Mariners and it would cost the Mariners the game as well.

 Ichiro lead off the ninth inning by drawing a walk, following the walk Jason Nix advanced Ichiro to second by laying down a bunt. Medina was able to get Stewart to fly out to Raul in left but the next batter would be Gardner who before the at bat was batting 8-18 in the series. Gardner would hurt the Mariners again by singling to left driving in Ichiro and giving the Yankees the 2-1 lead. After Oliver Perez came in and got the final out of the inning Mariano Rivera made his final trip to the mound at Safeco Field to a standing ovation not only from the Yankee fans that made the trip to Seattle but the Mariner fans as well. Kyle Seager lead things off by extending his hitting streak to 13 games with a single but Morales then erased the threat by grounding into a double play. Raul was able to draw a two out walk and Endy Chavez was able to line a single to extend the inning but Michael Saunders would end the rally on one pitch as he popped out to end the game and secure Rivera's final save against the Mariners and at Safeco Field.

The Mariners record stands now at 27-37 and will now play the Houston Astros for three games. The Mariners haven't had a hole lot of success against the Astros this year only winning 2 out of the 6 games that they have played against them. So the Mariners are looking for some payback after both their pitching and hitting has been pathetic.

NOTES: Kyle Seager and Jason Bay both extended their hitting streaks to 13 and 3. Michael Saunders went 0-4 to drop the struggling Canadian slugger batting average to .203.