If it appeared Carl Pavano took the feistiness out of the Mariners last night, that was only during the game.

But there was plenty of game in the Seattle clubhouse later in the person of Adrian Beltre, who was removed in the sixth inning of a 6-0 loss to the New York Yankees with a dubious left hamstring. He wasn't happy about it.

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said Beltre's hamstring had bothered before last night, and appeared to affect him on the basepaths and in the field.

"He wanted to stay, but he's really important to this team," Hargrove said. "I'd rather have him out for a day and a half than a month and a half."

Beltre, especially with his team falling in 13 of its last 16 outings, doesn't want to be out a minute and a half. Not only didn't the third baseman appreciate the precaution, he positively bristled at the idea he might be held out tonight as well.

"I'm fine," Beltre said. "He's [Hargrove] the boss. He makes out the lineup. I wanted to play tonight, I want to play tomorrow. I can't stand sitting on the bench."

"I pulled it in 2000 and missed 20-something games then, and have played with it every year since, including last year," Beltre said. "This year, I've had it since spring training. I know how to play with it. I play smart.

"For me, it's not a big deal so I don't know why it is for anyone else. I understand they are trying to be careful with me, but I don't need that.

"If anyone wants to ask me if I can play — yes, I can play."

Yes, it was that kind of night. Pavano featured a split-finger pitch that was missing when the Mariners battered him last week in Yankee Stadium. There was little for the crowd of 33,549 to do but wonder what happened to Beltre or to Julio Mateo, in his first big-league start after 118 relief appearances.

Or what happened to Ichiro, when plate umpire Doug Eddings put on a little theater of the absurd in the sixth inning. When the Mariners right fielder asked for a timeout and stepped back from the plate, whole seconds before Pavano went into his windup, Eddings didn't grant it.

"It seemed like Ichiro asked a reasonable time before the pitch," said Hargrove, who argued and got nowhere.

"I'd never seen that before," Hargrove said.

Ichiro just smiled and said, "Did you see it? I don't understand."

He sounded like the hitters trying to figure out Pavano, who allowed just five singles and just two runners as far as second base.

"Pavano located the ball really well, especially the split," said Richie Sexson, who had two of the five hits. "He did a great job of keeping us off-balance."

Boone also lauded Pavano's split-finger.

JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Mariners second baseman Bret Boone reacts after being hit by a Carl Pavano pitch in the second inning last night at Safeco Field.

"He was far different than last time," Boone said, referring to the start on May 11 in which Seattle got 10 hits and nine runs off the right-hander in four innings. "He didn't throw that split in New York, and he threw a ton of them this time. It was tough to commit to a pitch when he was throwing that many, so we fouled off fastballs that might have been hittable."

At first, Mateo looked like he might be an answer to Seattle's ragged rotation, with the staff's first 1-2-3 first inning in 10 games.

In the second inning, however, the Yankees touched Mateo for four singles and two runs, one more than he had allowed in 22 relief innings.

With two on and one out, Jorge Posada grounded a single up the middle for New York's first run. Jason Giambi, slumping at .204, blooped a single to left with Alex Rodriguez scoring to make it 2-0.

Mateo settled down in the third and got Rodriguez to foul out to open the fourth, and walked Tino Martinez on what appeared strike three. Catcher Miguel Olivo then committed a passed ball, mishandling a moving sinker that cost a run on a night when every one was precious.

With the runner on second and two outs, Giambi grounded a single to center, and third-base coach Luis Sojo got greedy. With slog-footed Martinez barely around second and Ichiro charging the rolling ball, it appeared the runner could be out by 20 feet or more.

But the ball eluded Ichiro, who may have sneaked a peek to see if Martinez was going home, and Sojo had stolen a run from a ruin.

That made it 3-0 for the visitors, and with the way Pavano was dealing, it looked like more than enough. Rodriguez tacked on a two-run homer in the fifth, and Giambi hit a Matt Thornton mistake out in the sixth.

"They got their first three runs on two broken bats and a passed ball," Hargrove said. "For a first start, I thought Mateo did well until that bad pitch to Rodriguez."

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com