Yankees hand Mariners their fourth loss in a row with 13-2 wipeout

NEW YORK — It wasn't until safely ensconced in the tomblike silence of another losing clubhouse that Ichiro finally made an argument he could win.

He'd lost two of them on the field already, taking called third strikes in the first and second innings and letting plate umpire Mike DiMuro know both times — in English — exactly what he thought of the rulings. The only good that came out of that was Mariners manager John McLaren getting ejected for taking over Ichiro's second fight and not having to witness another miserable night firsthand.

By the time this latest wipeout was done, a 13-2 loss to the New York Yankees on Friday night only adding to a week of woe, Ichiro put forth some thoughts that even the strike-calling DiMuro couldn't disagree with.

"Playing on this team and seeing what is happening around me, I feel that something is beginning to fall apart," Ichiro said through a translator. "But, if I was not in this situation, and I was objectively watching what just happened this week, I would probably be drinking a lot of beers and booing."

Safe to say, the center fielder is not pleased. He declined to go into detail on what exactly is "beginning to fall apart" but invited reporters to draw their own conclusions.

The starting pitching would be a good place to begin, because it's supposed to be the foundation of this collapsing house of cards. Right now, that foundation appears cracked to the tune of a team outscored 43-16 by opponents the past four days.

Erik Bedard made it through 4-1/3 innings — the most any Seattle starter has accomplished this trip — and got shelled for nine runs. A three-run homer by Shelley Duncan in the second inning and an eight-run fifth by the Yankees helped bury Bedard and saddled the Mariners with their fourth consecutive blowout loss.

The future of McLaren as manager is a day-to-day conversation piece around this team after losses of 12-8, 9-4, 9-2 and now 13-2 against a pair of clubs that began the week in last place in their respective divisions. In desperate search of something different to say after this one, and left weary from explaining away the failures of his players, McLaren offered up a nugget of hope.

"We've seen it with some other teams," he said. "We saw it with Detroit, we've seen it with Baltimore, we've seen it with the Yankees one time. And some other teams. They're not going good and all of a sudden, they win three in a row and they're off to the races. We need something like this."

Only problem with that is, the Mariners can't play against themselves.

All those other teams used the Mariners for target practice in order to cure them of all that ailed. Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte took a dose of the Mariners in this one and struck out more batters than he had in two years.

Pettitte was up to nine strikeouts by the time he was pulled after six innings, surviving a shaky start and cruising after the fifth-inning run explosion. Bedard was handed a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Yuniesky Betancourt singled home a run.

But the Mariners failed to add more that frame when Ichiro was rung-up with two on and two out. McLaren was ejected between innings and Bedard began falling apart in the bottom of the second.

He appeared to have Jason Giambi struck out on a full-count pitch that DiMuro ruled a ball. The Seattle dugout was livid, but Giambi was awarded first base, putting two on for Duncan, who promptly crushed a low curveball from Bedard into the cheap seats in left.

Bedard insists he put the Giambi walk out of his mind before the Duncan at-bat.

"You have to," Bedard said. "If you let them get in your head, you might have a bad inning."

That came later, in a fifth inning that saw the Yankees, already up 5-2 after Robinson Cano doubled home a pair in the fourth, string together eight singles, a walk and a hit batsman to chase Bedard. Sean Green came on in the fifth but couldn't stop the bleeding as another semi-competitive night for Seattle quickly went down the drain.

Bedard insists all the starters are trying to do a better job. McLaren insists all of his players are trying to work their way out of a slump that has seen them lose 17 of 22 games overall and 11 of their last 12 on the road.

But trying isn't enough.

"None of us are happy about this," McLaren said. "I really don't know what to say about it. We're in a funk, and we can only get out of it ourselves. We've had a lot of meetings, and I don't think meetings are the answer right now."

The Mariners should grab some shovels in their search. Those answers are likely buried under the ruins of this season.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com