Yankees Lead series 1-0; Game Preview

SEA 0 @ NYY 0
@Yankee Stadium

preview
1:05 PM ET

Pitching matchup
SEA: RHP Felix Hernandez (2-1, 2.22 ERA)
The Mariners' top right-handed starter is coming off his first loss of the season despite holding the Athletics scoreless through seven innings. He wobbled in the eighth, though, and absorbed the loss. Hernandez is one of just three American League starters to pitch at least seven innings in five starts this season. Hernandez leads the Mariners' staff in strikeouts with 41, and his 459 career strikeouts are the third most by a pitcher not yet 23 years old. Only Dwight Gooden (892) and Fernando Valenzuela (584) had more, but Hernandez had his 22nd birthday last month. He is 1-2 with a 4.82 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees.

NYY: RHP Mike Mussina (3-3, 4.73 ERA)
The 39-year-old veteran is nearly twice as old as Hernandez and has had the kind of career the Mariners would like to get from their young star. Mussina, who made his Major League debut four months before Hernandez celebrated his fifth birthday, needs one more win to pass Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell on the all-time win list with 254 and tie Red Farber and Jack Morris for 40th place. Nine of the 18 runs Mussina has surrendered this season have come via home runs. He has a 17-5 career record against the Mariners and is unbeaten in his past eight starts.

Tidbits
It should not come as a surprise that Ichiro Suzuki had three hits on Thursday night in Cleveland and two more on Friday night -- it is May. Ichiro has a .371 career batting average in May, almost 30 points higher than during any other month. For future reference, he is batting .344 in June, .334 in July, .324 in August and .326 in September. Ichiro has a .294 career average in April, including a .252 mark this season. ... Ichiro enters Saturday's game with 2,903 career hits -- 1,278 with the Orix Blue Wave and 1,625 with the Mariners -- and moved into second place among Japan-born players. Katsuya Nomura had 2,901. Ichiro needs 182 more hits to move into first place, ahead of Isao Harimoto's Japanese record of 3,085. ... Right-hander Sean Green continues to be one of the busiest relievers in the Major Leagues, having pitched in 16 of Seattle's 30 games.