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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   ADDITIONAL ITEMS • Seattle Mariners (External Link)   Related Stories • In praise of the yurt 5/5/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, May 5, 2008 Mariners lose to Yankees, 8-2 By Kat O'Brien Newsday NEW YORK -- Darrell Rasner, step on up. The Yankees turned to Rasner on Sunday for pitching help since youngsters Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy were not getting the job done because of injury (Hughes) and ineffectiveness (both). Rasner came through with a strong performance in his first major-league start this year. Aided by Derek Jeter's four-hit day and back-to-back home runs by Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano, Rasner led the Yankees to an 8-2 win over the Mariners to complete a three-game sweep. The upside sweep followed the Yankees being swept at home by the Detroit Tigers. That prompted Hank Steinbrenner to tell The Associated Press on Friday: "I'm very disappointed with the way the season has gone, period." Steinbrenner did not return a phone call Sunday, but he's surely feeling a little better about his team, which improved to 17-16. Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said he wasn't sure of the specifics of Steinbrenner's comments, or if his players were aware of them, but said: "We weren't necessarily happy with what was going on ... We had a new kid start, Ras, and he just came in and did his job." The Yankees had already committed to keeping Rasner (1-0) in the rotation for at least one more start. He earned it by pitching as well or better than Hughes and Kennedy had all season. Rasner allowed just two earned runs and five hits in six innings. He would have gone out for the seventh if Girardi had not needed to get relievers work with a day off today. Rasner, whose major-league season was derailed last year by a broken finger, was among the final cuts in spring training. The Yankees opted to go without a long man, and he began the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. "He had a shot," Girardi said. "We didn't see the real Darrell Rasner in spring training. I mean, he threw OK, but he wasn't nearly as sharp as he was in spring training and here (Sunday)." Then Hughes went down with a fractured right rib. And Rasner, who was 4-0 with a 0.87 ERA in the minors, had earned the call-up. Only in the first inning did Rasner give any reason to doubt. That inning, he gave up a two-out single to Raul Ibanez, then a two-run homer to Adrian Beltre. The rest of the way, he allowed three hits. "I didn't want to change at all," Rasner said. "I wanted to continue to build on what I was working on (at Scranton)." Perhaps the most encouraging thing for the Yankees, who had watched Kennedy nibble at the edges of the strike zone for a month, was that Rasner did not walk anyone. Without free passes, he needed just 76 pitches to get through six innings. "It was everything," Rasner said. "That was my whole game plan, coming in, trying to get that first-pitch strike." The up-and-down Yankees lineup, which is missing injured Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, battered Mariners starter Carlos Silva for eight runs in three innings plus two batters. Silva has historically pitched poorly against the Yankees. Sunday, he was awful, raising his lifetime ERA against them from 7.59 to 9.62. Johnny Damon and Jeter began the offensive outpouring with consecutive singles to lead off the third. Bobby Abreu followed with an RBI single, and Hideki Matsui's ground-rule double to left field knocked in Jeter. A sacrifice fly to deep left by Jason Giambi knocked in Abreu. The front four of Damon, Jeter, Abreu and Matsui combined for 11 hits, six runs scored and four RBIs. Girardi said of Jeter: "He's so consistent that you know when it's all said and done, he's going to have hits and numbers." Then the Yankees really drilled Silva. Melky Cabrera mashed a two-run home run to right field, his team-leading sixth. And Robinson Cano broke his slump with a home run of his own. "Even if Alex and Jorge are here, we still need to get on base for them," Jeter said. "Solo home runs don't mean too much, usually." Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service

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