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Yankees-Mariners Preview

Aug 15, 2009 - 6:50 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

New York (73-43) at Seattle (60-56), 10:10 p.m. EDT

The New York Yankees are hot. The expected return of Alex Rodriguez will only serve to make their potent lineup more fearsome.

The superstar third baseman looks to put a pair of nagging injuries behind him Saturday night when the Yankees try to continue their success against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.

Owners of baseball's best record, the Yankees (73-43) defeated Seattle (60-56) 4-2 on Friday, one night after they slugged their way to an 11-1 victory in the opener of this four-game series.

Both of those victories came without Rodriguez, who is battling both swelling in his left elbow and back spasms.

The three-time AL MVP was hit in the elbow by a pitch from Toronto's Shawn Camp in the 11th inning of Wednesday's 4-3 win, and that appears to have also caused the spasms in his back.

"I kind of went down and kind of went dizzy a little bit. (Had) some numbness in my finger - I didn't feel that until like an hour later," said Rodriguez, who is planning to test the elbow in batting practice Saturday. "I was thinking more about this (back). I went down and braced myself."

Rodriguez was struggling at the plate before getting hurt, hitting .176 with one homer and one RBI in his last five games. He has 21 homers and 63 RBIs on the season, but his .257 average is his lowest since 1995, when he batted .232 in 48 games for Seattle. The following year, he became a regular for the Mariners and hit .358, still a career high.

New York has won 11 of its last 12, hitting .300 with 26 homers - four in this series - during that span.

"We expect this of ourselves," said first baseman Mark Teixeira, who hit the go-ahead solo homer in the ninth inning Friday. "I've been on teams that are happy and surprised to win. We expect to win every game."

Robinson Cano is also playing a key role with a .415 average during a 12-game hitting streak. The second baseman is batting .318 - his best since a career-high .342 average in 2006.

He's certainly enjoyed facing the Mariners, hitting .474 in five games.

The Yankees, who have won 13 of their last 16 meetings with Seattle, will turn to Sergio Mitre (1-1, 7.04 ERA), who is searching for his first win in five starts.

The right-hander is 0-1 with a 7.79 ERA in four starts since winning his season debut 6-4 over Baltimore on July 21. Mitre allowed four runs in 5 2-3 innings in that outing, but hasn't lasted that long since.

Mitre was pulled following the fifth inning Monday, when he gave up five runs with a season-high six strikeouts while committing a costly throwing error that led to three runs during a 5-4 loss to Toronto.

The Mariners have dropped three of four and are 4-4 during their 10-game homestand. They trail Boston by 6 1/2 games for the AL wild card.

They'll turn to rookie Luke French (2-2, 4.31), who is getting his third start since being acquired from Detroit for left-hander Jarrod Washburn at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

French was impressive early in Monday's 6-4 win over Chicago, allowing two hits and holding the White Sox scoreless through the first 4 2-3 innings. However, he gave up four runs before getting pulled with one out in the sixth, and wound up without a decision.

The 23-year-old left-hander was solid against the Yankees on July 17 in New York, yielding two runs - one earned - in five innings while not receiving a decision in the Tigers' 5-3 victory.