M's Ace Makes Bats Sick-Lee

Cliff Lee's days in a Seattle Mariners uniform may be numbered, but he's making the most of it. And so is the M's front office, licking their chops at the possible prospects they could get back for the 2008 AL Cy Young winner.

Lee wasn't at the extreme top of his game last night, but he still threw his third straight complete game to beat the Yankees 7-4 at the Stadium last night. In doing so, Lee became the first pitcher to accomplish that feat since Randy Johnson in 1998.

Nick Swisher hit a pair of solo home runs and the Yankees rallied for a pair of runs in the 9th when Lee tired a bit, but for the most part the Yankees went down pretty meekly. The normally inoffensive Mariners also gave him plenty of run support, knocking starter Phil Hughes out of the game with two outs in the 6th inning.

Hughes, whose last start was skipped to slow his innings progression, wasn't sharp from the start. He had plenty of life on his fastball, but left it and his breaking pitches up in the zone.

The M's scored single runs in the 2nd thru 5th innings before breaking the game open with three runs in the 6th. Franklin Gutierrez homered and he and Ichiro Suzuki drove in two runs each.

Until the 9th inning the Yankees only legitimate threat was in the 2nd when they put two aboard with one out. But Lee got rookie Chad Huffman to bounce into an inning ending double play.

Notes

Lee, who beat the Yankees twice during last year's World Series, lost (3-1) to the Bombers during interleague play like season and is 5-4 lifetime with a 4.72 ERA in 10 career regular season starts against the Pinstripes.

Marcus Thames is getting closer to returning to the Bronx. He'll start a rehab stint at Scranton on Wednesday.

Dave Eiland was back with the team last night, with Mike Harkey resuming his bullpen duties. Eiland is still staying private about what kept him away.

Joe West was the home plate ump last night and was soundly booed about his Yankees-Red Sox slow play comments earlier this year. West really deserves to be booed in general.