New York Yankees at Seattle Mariners
The Yankees won what turned out to be an entertaining, if somewhat one sided, game 7-1.
The first innings passed without much difficulty for either side, and the Yankees got up 1-0 in the second on a Nick Swisher home run, his third of the season. The problem for the Mariners was that, as ever, the Yankees were wearing out their starting pitcher (Jason Vargas), with long at-bats.
This was most evident in a big, and dramatic top of the third inning. Jeter worked out a walk from a longish at bat, then Granderson singled into right. Rodriguez, up with two on, and having received an epic ‘welcome’ from the Seattle crowd could do no more but ground into a fielder’s choice, and Jeter was tagged out at first. Olivo did an excellent job of blocking the plate with his shin guard. However, it was business as usual as Cano smashed a ball into right field bringing home Granderson, and moving Rodriguez to third.
As Cano stole second and with Swisher walking, the bases were loaded, and up came the veteran Andruw Jones. Down 1-2, with two out, and having fouled off a couple of tough pitches, he came through with another hit into right, That brought home Cano, Rodriguez and Swisher, and Jones himself reached third. This brought up the inexperienced Eduardo Nunez, who gave a glimpse of his immense talent with his first ever major league triple, a combination of good power, and awesome speed. His hat-flying, half collapse half fall into third base was more than a little amusing however. Congratulations to Nunez on his first triple. After Cervelli flew out, the inning ended with the Yankees 6-0.
From here the game meandered, with the Yankees driving in one more in the 4th while the Mariners managed to get one consolation run back in the 6th on a Justin Smoak home run. The Mariners at times threatened, they had runners on second and third in the 5th, but they were never especially in this game. Sabathia was just too good, going eight innings and giving up only five hits (striking out five), going to 6-3 on the season. On the other hand, the Mariners will be worried after the performance of Jason Vargas. After a decent start to the season he has been hit up first by the Twins, and now by the Yankees. This was a particularly devastating blow as he could only last three innings and threw over sixty pitches in those innings. That said it should be a consolatory thought for the Mariners that their bullpen, already fairly depleted after the first two games of the season, only gave up one further run.
The game was played in front of a virtual full house, and even via the joys of the internet, the atmosphere was palpable. Overall, I think it will be Seattle that will be happier after this series having won it 2-1 and having moved up to 2nd in the AL West. That said, the Yankees are showing formidable power – indeed the number of home runs hit through the first 50 games is second in club history – the record being in 2009. I would imagine that if there is a repeat of 2009, there will be a lot of very happy Yankees fans.
Content courtesy of CharlesJS