Yankee doodle Randy: Johnson aces out Hernandez

They came, a sellout 46,240 at Safeco Field, to see a great matchup, the Big Unit versus the New Unit, and they got a great matchup.

On a night of baseball at its best, Felix Hernandez again gave the fans a glimpse of what the future holds. But Randy Johnson gave them a peek into the past, into what were of the glory seasons of Seattle baseball.

The teenager pitched very well, allowing only four hits in eight innings, although two of them were solo homers, to Robinson Cano and Gary Sheffield.

But the old warhorse pitched very, very well, allowing only three hits, none for six innings, and no runs as he and the Yankees won 2-0.

"When we knew this game was coming we thought it would be something special, and it was," said Adrian Beltre, who had one of two hits in the seventh off the original Unit. "You have a Hall of Famer against a young pitcher who is something special. In 10-15 years we may look back at this game and say it was a Hall of Famer against a future Hall of Famer."

After the finish, on a Mariano Rivera save, Hernandez seemed willing to give up all the fame to have a different outcome.

"I don't feel good, because we lost," the 19-year-old said. "But I feel good about the way I pitched."

He was two pitches from even against a winner of five Cy Youngs. And make no mistake: Randy may not be having a Randy year, but he was good as ever last night.

"That's as good as I've seen Randy pitch in a long time," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "We hit a few balls hard, and they made good plays. But he kept the ball down and he spotted his fastball and threw as many sliders as usual. When he needed an out, he went to his slider."

That's what Raul Ibanez saw from the left side of the batter's box.

"I heard where he hadn't been all that sharp this year," said Ibanez, the Mariners' designated hitter. "Well, he was sharp tonight. When he wasn't throwing slider he pounded fastballs in."

With the crowd filled up like when Johnson was in Seattle blues, the night was full of expectation. So was Felix.

Like Jeff Harris the night before, Hernandez was pumped to face the Yankees. After walking only three batters in his previous three starts he walked two in the first inning last night.

He eased out of it on ground balls, but admitted, "I was trying to hit corners instead of pitching my usual game of throwing strikes, and I was missing."

Catcher Yorvit Torrealba reminded him, "You're just excited. There's no reason to be fine when you throw 97-98. Just relax and hit my glove."

So Hernandez relaxed, and but for two pitches — his only two mistakes, Torrealba said — he hit the glove.

Of course, no stranger to big games and notable matchups, Johnson did the same and breezed through the first six innings before Seattle got a hit or a runner into scoring position.

By that time, the Yankees led on the two solo homers — two reminders that not even Felix the Phenom can miss the glove by a foot or more and get away with it when you miss up and over the plate.

"I tried to make the pitches too good, throw too hard," Hernandez said. "The first was a changeup to Cano, the other was a fastball to Sheffield. Both pitches were up."

If there is a saving side to the mistakes, it is that the kid recovered as beautifully as he had off his two walks in the first. He fanned Derek Jeter after Cano's shot and Alex Rodriguez after Sheffield's. Both at-bats ended on fastballs down and away that were as flawless as the gopherballs were flawed.

The Yankees' only edge was Johnson. While Hernandez picked up well after the homers and allowed only two singles his last four innings, Johnson did the same the only times Seattle stirred.

After Yuniesky Betancourt led off the sixth with the Mariners' first hit, he got Ichiro on a grounder, fanned Jamal Strong and got a nice play from A-Rod, moving left to cut off Ibanez's hit bid in the hole.

After the one-out singles in the seventh, Mike Morse put a well-struck ball into center, but where Hideki Matsui could run it down, and Torrealba grounded out.

Loss or not, it was a game worthy of its billing. As Hernandez called it, "an honor and a great joy" to have pitched against the great Johnson, the man turned around and said of Felix, "He's a lot further along than most pitchers at 19. He has a great pitching coach in Bryan Price and a bright future."

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