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GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- On a night when Andy Pettitte didn't have his
best stuff, he was fortunate that Jorge Posada did.
|  | | Yankees catcher Jorge Posada collects a hit in the seventh inning against the Seattle Mariners on Friday. Posada had four RBI to go along with his four hits. |
Posada broke out of a 1-for-15 slump with four hits and four
RBIs, including a go-ahead double in the seventh, and Paul O'Neill
went 4-for-4 Friday night to lead the New York Yankees past the
Seattle Mariners 13-6.
Pettitte (12-6) was not sharp, surrendering a season-high 11
hits and walking four. But he repeatedly got out of trouble,
stranding two runners in the first, third and fifth innings and
single runners in the sixth and seventh.
"I got some big outs," Pettitte said. "Otherwise I would have
been in big trouble."
Starting a stretch of 27 consecutive games against teams from
the AL West, the Yankees rapped out 16 hits and won for the eighth
time in 11 games to move a season-high 14 games over .500.
Bernie Williams added a three-run homer and Glenallen Hill had a
two-run shot for the Yankees, who broke open the game by scoring
five runs off three pitchers in the seventh and adding three more
runs in the eighth.
The late offensive outburst made a winner of Pettitte, whose
night couldn't have begun much worse as he allowed six of the first
seven hitters to reach base as Seattle took a 3-0 lead.
"The only thing you can do at that point is look at the score
and hope he settles in," manager Joe Torre said. "His experience
helped him to be patient at that point.
Pettitte got out of the first by getting David Bell to ground
out to first with runners on second and third, and the Mariners
went on to blow several opportunities to score.
"We left too many men on base (11)," manager Lou Pinella said.
"In this kind of a game, add a couple of runs here and there and
it makes a difference. It makes them go to their bullpen earlier.
As it was, we let them get into their game plan."
Seattle tied the game 5-5 against Pettitte in the top of the
seventh, but the game changed in the bottom of the inning.
Clay Bellinger started the seventh by reaching on a fielding
error by Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez, just his fifth of the
season. After Derek Jeter struck out, Posada lined a double past
Rickey Henderson in left to score Bellinger from first.
O'Neill then greeted reliever Arthur Rhodes with a run-scoring
single, David Justice had a two-out RBI single up the middle and
Hill hit Jose Mesa's third pitch of the evening into the
right-field stands for a 10-5 lead.
Posada added a two-run single in the eighth for his fourth
four-hit game this season. "It was just one of those games where you feel good," Posada
said. "Some days you feel bad, some days you don't -- and you try
to make the best of it."
O'Neill followed with an RBI double to drive in his third run.
O'Neill, who also had a walk, had his second four-hit game of the year. "They've got a good baseball team over there," Pinella said,
"and there aren't too many holes in it."
The Mariners got to Pettitte for three runs in the first on
Rodriguez' 26th homer, a solo shot, and a bases-loaded double by
Joe Oliver. New York got the runs right back in the bottom half on
Williams' homer, then took a 5-3 lead in the second on an RBI
single by Posada and a run-scoring double by O'Neill.
Seattle got another run in the third on an RBI double by John
Olerud, then tied it at 5 in the seventh on a two-out single off
the end of Olerud's bat that landed a few feet inside of the
third-base line, scoring Edgar Martinez from second.
Pettitte got out of the seventh by snaring Joe Oliver's hard
smash up the middle, and the Yankees got him the victory in the
bottom of the inning by scoring five runs.
Jeff Nelson and Jason Grimsley finished the pitching duties for
the Yankees, who are 15-6 in Pettitte's 21 starts. Jaime Moyer (11-4), who hadn't lost on the road since July 7,
1999, gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Game notes
Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez will come off the disabled
list to pitch Sunday, and Dwight Gooden will move to the bullpen as
a long reliever. ... Yankees reliever Ramiro Mendoza was placed on
the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his right shoulder.
Allen Watson was activated from the DL . ... Seattle's
cross-country trip to New York included an unscheduled 3{-hour
delay on the tarmac in Pittsburgh waiting out storms. ... The
Yankees won't play a team from the AL East until Sept. 8 against
Boston.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Seattle Clubhouse
NY Yankees Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 5
Kansas City 4
Cleveland 11
Anaheim 10
Minnesota 3
Detroit 1
NY Yankees 13
Seattle 6
Toronto 10
Texas 8
Baltimore 10
Tampa Bay 9
Oakland 5
Chi. White Sox 3
Florida 2
Cincinnati 1
Houston 7
Montreal 6
Atlanta 6
St. Louis 4
Colorado 8
Philadelphia 1
NY Mets 6
Arizona 1
San Diego 11
Chicago Cubs 9
Los Angeles 2
Milwaukee 1
San Francisco 5
Pittsburgh 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Andy Pettitte was glad the Yankees' bats came alive.
wav: 98 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Joe Torre and the Yankees battled back despite poor pitching.
wav: 84 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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