ICHIRO AND THE YANKEES BEAT THE MARINERS 4-1

The story of the night, of course, was the Yankee debut of Ichiro Suzuki. The fact that his debut is taking place at the home field of his former team just added to the drama. He went to the batter's box in his first at-bat as a Yankee to a standing ovation, and he responded with a classy bow of respect.

He proceeded to line a pitch up the middle for a base hit, and followed it up with his 16th stolen base of the season. It was a great moment for him and for the Yankees.

Hiroki Kuroda looked strong as he struck out 9 and gave up a single run through 7 innings. He had location and he varied his pitches enough that batters couldn't quite connect. He handed the ball to David Robertson, keeping the long relief well rested for Freddy Garcia tomorrow night. He even flashed some glove, stabbing a liner from Jesus Montero to turn a 1-4-3 double play in the seventh.

Kevin Millwood started out well, with some good defense behind him, turning three double plays on the night. However, the bats eventually got to him in the fourth. Mark Teixeira has continued his hot hitting as he doubled down the right field line with two on to get the Yankees on the board. Raul Ibanez and Andruw Jones followed with back-to-back RBI singles give the Yankees the lead 3-1. Overall, the Yankees got nine hits, two walks, and three runs over 7 innings.  Tex got another double in the eighth.

Russell Martin, in a little bit of tit-for-tat, got his second stolen base of the year off of opposing catcher John Jaso, after Jaso got one on Martin earlier in the game.  Personally, when he got to third and they put the shift on, I would have taken an enormous lead and tried to steal home. But that's just me...

Alex Rodriguez, who has been tattooing the ball the last few games, finally got one over the fence in the eighth. His homer count now goes to 644 for his career. It would have been the second of the game if his double in the top of the fourth had been a little higher on the wall.

David Robertson gave us all a heart attack, as it looked like he might have hurt his leg pitching in the eighth. The pitch that followed was an inning-ending strikeout pitch, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Otherwise, he was lights out as he retired the inning in order, striking out two. That's 2 more bucks that we here at BYB will put into the pot to help out High Socks for Hope!

Rafael Soriano followed DRob, a night after blowing a save, to retire the side in order for his 25th save.

Final score: Yankees 4, Mariners 1. Nice win...Nice debut by Ichiro.

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