Ichiro gets Hit in his First Yankee Win

The story of the day came at around 6:30 last night, when Jack Curry tweeted that the Yankees acquired Ichiro Suzuki from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for two minor league pitchers. The four game sweep the Yankees had suffered just one day earlier meant absolutely nothing and was swept under the rug. The Yankees were suddenly in panic mode after the sweep, prompting Cashman to make a move to obtain the fading star from the Mariners.

Ichiro did not skip a beat when he lined a sharp single into center field in his first Yankee at-bat. He then stole second base and reached third on a ground out and was left stranded there. Although Suzuki did nothing else in the game, his presence alone gave the Yankees an additional burst of energy because they knew that they received something they have been missing almost the entire season. The Yankee offense managed to string together a few hits in the fourth inning to give Kuroda a two run lead. Kuroda would never relinquish the lead after the Yankees offense scored for him. Alex Rodriguez added to the Yankee lead in the eighth with a solo home run to left-center field. The Yankees could have easily won this game without A-Rod's home run because of the mini-breakout they had against opposing starter Kevin Millwood in the fourth inning.

Kuroda shined in his start last night against a struggling Mariners offense at home. He would only allow one run in seven innings pitched and struck out nine batters in the 4-1 Yankee victory. In recent months, Kuroda has been a godsend for the Yankees. He has now won ten games for the Bombers in twenty starts, putting him at about 15 wins for the season if he continues this run of his. If Kuroda will continue to pitch like he did last night, another Yankee contract beyond this season would not be difficult to imagine. The Yankee bullpen did their job and Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect ninth inning to notch his twenty-fifth save of the season after blowing a save on Sunday in Oakland.

Tonight, former Mariner Freddy Garcia goes against Seattle ace Felix Hernandez in the second of three games in Seattle. King Felix has made it known that Garcia is his idol after the two spent time each other in Garcia's Seattle days. The match up favors heavily in the Mariners direction, but the last two times the Yankees met up with King Felix, they smacked him around.