The Final Score: Yankees Kick Mariner Butt!

With both teams coming off extra-inning pitching duels, you'd excpect a low scoring game, right?  Wrong.  The Yankees really put the plug in it, crushing the Mariner's and Ian Snell, 11-1.

The only Mariner run came from an ususpecting criminal in the fifth inning:  Josh Wilson homered off a C.C. Sabathia hanging slider, just barely punching it over the busy Johnny Damon's head into the seats, a solo shot.  

C.C. won his third consecutive start and 13th of the season.

The Yankees, however, got to work much before the fifth.  In the second, death's row struck for two runs on a Jerry Hariston, Jr. one run double, and moved Nick Swisher to third.  (A-rod sat out this game, along with Jorge Posada who's nursing a sore hand.)  Moments later, Snell uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Swisher.

In the third, Snell surrendered a first-pitch home run to Derek Jeter and first-pitch two-run dinger to Matsui as the Yankees built a five-run lead.  

And then the game got crazy:

Jeter finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Jerry Hairston Jr. drove in two runs and Mark Teixeira scored twice for the Yankees, who won for the seventh time in eight games and pushed their lead in the American League East to 6 1/2 games over the Red Sox.

And my choice as player of the game, Hedeki Matsui, was a four-hit, five-RBI game from the New York DH.

Tomarow, same time same place, the Yankees lead by Andy Pettite will face off against the Mariner's and Ryan Roland-Smith.

The box score courtisy of MLB.com: 

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Jeter, SS 4 2 2 1 0 2 0 .319   a-Pena, R, PH-SS 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .267 Damon, LF 4 2 2 0 0 0 1 .289   b-Hinske, PH-RF 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .250 Teixeira, 1B 4 2 2 1 1 0 1 .288 Matsui, H, DH 5 4 4 5 0 0 1 .269 Swisher, RF-LF 3 1 0 0 2 1 0 .242 Cano, 2B 5 0 2 0 0 1 5 .318 Cabrera, Me, CF 4 0 0 1 1 0 5 .272 Hairston, J, 3B 5 0 2 2 0 0 3 .262 Molina, J, C 5 0 1 0 0 1 3 .239 Totals 42 11 15 10 4 6 21   a-Grounded out for Jeter in the 8th. b-Struck out for Damon in the 8th. BATTING 2B: Hairston, J (19, Snell), Damon 2 (28, Snell, Snell), Teixeira (32, Snell). HR: Jeter (14, 3rd inning off Snell, 0 on, 0 out), Matsui, H 2 (19, 3rd inning off Snell, 1 on, 1 out; 8th inning off Olson, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Jeter 5; Damon 4; Teixeira 3; Matsui, H 10; Cano 2; Hairston, J 3; Molina, J. RBI: Hairston, J 2 (32), Jeter (49), Matsui, H 5 (58), Teixeira (85), Cabrera, Me (46). 2-out RBI: Hairston, J 2; Teixeira; Matsui, H 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Molina, J 2; Hairston, J; Matsui, H; Pena, R. Team RISP: 4-for-14. Team LOB: 8. FIELDING DP: (Jeter-Cano-Teixeira).		Seattle AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Suzuki, I, RF 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .358   Langerhans, RF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .225 Gutierrez, F, CF 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .293 Lopez, J, 2B 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .274 Sweeney, M, DH 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .228 Branyan, 1B 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 .255 Johjima, C 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 .242 Hannahan, 3B 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 .220 Wilson, Jo, SS 3 1 1 1 0 0 3 .159 Saunders, LF 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 .250 Totals 29 1 3 1 2 10 8   BATTING HR: Wilson, Jo (1, 5th inning off Sabathia, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Suzuki, I; Hannahan; Wilson, Jo 4. RBI: Wilson, Jo (4). 2-out RBI: Wilson, Jo. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Wilson, Jo. GIDP: Gutierrez, F. Team RISP: 0-for-1. Team LOB: 3.
NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Sabathia (W, 13-7) 8.0 3 1 1 2 10 1 3.64 Bruney 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.11		Seattle IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Snell (L, 2-9) 6.0 9 8 8 3 4 2 5.84 Olson 3.0 6 3 3 1 2 1 5.88
Snell pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. WP: Snell. Pitches-strikes: Sabathia 105-74, Bruney 8-6, Snell 109-68, Olson 52-34. Groundouts-flyouts: Sabathia 8-6, Bruney 1-2, Snell 7-7, Olson 3-4. Batters faced: Sabathia 28, Bruney 3, Snell 30, Olson 16. Inherited runners-scored: Olson 2-2. Umpires: HP: Brian Gorman. 1B: Gerry Davis. 2B: CB Bucknor. 3B: Mike Everitt. Weather: 62 degrees, roof closed. Wind: 0 mph, None. T: 2:42. Att: 33,585. August 13, 2009 Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner