M's Notebook | Ichiro nets 200th hit, beating all the odds

NEW YORK — This didn't start off like a day in which Ichiro figured he'd notch his 200th hit.

Ichiro hadn't faced Roger Clemens all that often and came in with a .100 average against the seven-time Cy Young Award winner.

The Japanese leadoff man for Seattle figured he'd better do some video research on the pitcher, only to be shut down in a way he's rarely been — at least at the plate — all year.

"The video system here wasn't working very good today, so I couldn't watch his video," Ichiro said through an interpreter. "So, I was very anxious.

"It was the first time in my seven-year career that I thought I might say something mean to Carl Hamilton, our video coordinator."

It didn't seem to matter much. Ichiro produced three hits in his first three at-bats off Clemens — one more than he'd managed in going 2 for 20 lifetime off him before Monday.

After a single to right in the first, Ichiro led off the third by blasting a 2-0 pitch from Clemens just over the wall in right center for hit No. 200 on the season. The only other players to reach that milestone in seven consecutive seasons have been Wade Boggs and Willie Keeler, the latter doing it eight times in a row from 1894 to 1901.

This is Ichiro's second-fastest trip to the 200-hit plateau, having done it by Aug. 26 in his record-setting 2004 season. That milestone hit also was a home run, off Kansas City Royals left-hander Jeremy Affeldt, another pitcher Ichiro had struggled against.

Last year, Ichiro didn't collect hit No. 200 until Sept. 16.

The home run Monday put Seattle ahead 2-1. His third hit of the afternoon, however, might have been even bigger, a single up the middle to score Yuniesky Betancourt and cap a three-run fifth inning that made it 5-1 Seattle and gave the Mariners room to breathe.

Ichiro took a wide turn at first base on the play and was caught in a rundown as the throw from the outfield was cut off. Rather than keep running back and forth, Ichiro merely turned and headed toward the dugout.

The Yankee Stadium crowd laughed as Ichiro was ruled out for leaving the baseline.

"I hate being touched by other people," Ichiro said. "So, rather than being touched, I'd rather run away from them."

Youthful naiveté

Felix Hernandez had faced the Yankees two other times in his career, but never in the House That Ruth Built. The 21-year-old claimed afterward that it wasn't much different than pitching anyplace else.

"Actually, it's my first game here and it's like at any other park," he said with a shrug. "You've got the same plan, it's the same game. You've got to try to throw a strike if you want to win the game."

Hernandez was 0-2 with a 6.94 earned-run average against the Yankees heading into the contest.

Mariners manager John McLaren said there was nothing ordinary about how his young hurler held New York to a run on five hits over seven innings to help snap a nine-game losing streak in what might have been the team's biggest contest all year.

"It didn't look like the Big Apple bothered him," McLaren said. "He fit right in. I'm extremely proud of him. He met the challenge when we needed him to.

"That's what a No. 1 is supposed to do, is stop a losing streak. That's a No. 1 for me. It's not winning 20 games. It's stopping losing streaks."

Just getting it done

Jose Lopez managed to have a productive day at the plate, despite the unorthodox way he went about it. A swinging chopper to the third-base side of the mound in the second inning proved too much for Clemens to handle and became a run-scoring single.

Lopez later got hit by a fourth-inning pitch to prolong a Seattle rally and wound up scoring all the way from first base on a double to the left-field corner by Yuniesky Betancourt.

A sixth-inning bunt by Lopez didn't work out so well, as he grounded into a 1-5-4 double play. But he helped make up for that in the eighth with a run-scoring double.

NOTES

• Clemens left after just four innings, having given up five runs on eight hits. Clemens had been 4-1 with a 2.63 earned-run average at Yankee Stadium heading into the contest.

• Clemens' early departure brought demoted starter Mike Mussina into the contest for only the second relief outing of his career. The first came during Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against Boston, when he also relieved Clemens with three scoreless innings. Monday, Mussina worked 3-2/3 innings and allowed a pair of runs.

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 41-27

Road: 33-35

vs. AL West: 22-22

vs. L.A.: 4-11

vs. Oakland: 10-3

vs. Texas: 8-8

vs. AL East: 23-15

vs. AL Cent.: 20-16

vs. NL: 9-9

vs. LHP: 24-9

vs. RHP: 50-53

Day: 20-20

Night: 54-42

One-run: 21-19

Extra innings: 4-1