Adrian Beltre is home in Los Angeles, recuperatng from shoulder surgery, Chris Woodward is at thid base and the Seattle Mariners have all but cancelled the Wladimir Balentien-is-the-regular-left fielder experiement.

Ken Griffey Jr. is out there tonight, with Mike Sweeney the designated hitter.

With Endy Chavez on the disabled list, the Mariners brought in left-handed hitting Ryan Langerhans as a defensive replacement. Balentien's future with the franchise is now behind him.

By next week, the Mariners might be using a new-look infielder of 1B Russell Branyan, 2B Yuniesky Betancourt, 3B Jose Lopez and SS Ronny Cedeno.

Tonight, it's Brandon Morrow vs. Joba Chamberlain, and the Mariners are hoping their lineup and produce enough runs to give Morrow his third career win in ninth career start.

Chopping wood

Morrow's fastball on the hands has shattered two bats in the first inning, and one of those pitches became an out.

Johnny Damon pushed a ground ball double past first, holding a small piece of his bat as he began to run. And Mark Teixeira broke his bat in tapping back to the mound.

Oh, and Alex Rodriguez? Strike out, looking. A nice first inning for Morrow.

No score.

Oops and oops again

Beltre's fill-in for the night, Woodward charged a slow roller toward third and bobbled it, allowing Hideki Matsui to reach base.

Worse, Woodward then threw past Russell Branyan at first - allowing the Yankees to score their first run.

They got a second run on Melky Cabrera's sacrifice fly, although the runner was on third only because of Woodward.

If the Mariners are going to win this one, they'll have to come from behind. Both runs are unearned.

After two: Yankees 2, Mariners 0

Some unexpected help

Who's the last Mariner you'd figure would hit a home run here? No. 9 hitter Cedeno - .133 average as he stood in - hit his third of the season to lead off the third inning.

Ichiro singled, extending his latest hitting streak to 12 consecutive games, then stole second base as Branyan struck out. Lopez walked.

Griffey flied out. Sweeney grounded out.

In the third: Yankees 2, Mariners 1

Yikes! A bad inning

In his three previous starts, Morrow always ran into at least one inning where he stumbled out of control.

Welcome to the fourth: a bloop single and two walks had Chris Jakubauskas warming up in the bullpen and Yankees fans leaning forward in their seats.

Nick Swishr popped up. Cabrera rolled out to first base, with Robinson Cano scoring. Jeter struck out.

Not much damage, but a lot of pitches thrown - all under stress.

After four: Yankees 3, Mariners 1

Ichiro on the run

Ichiro beat out an infield roller, stole second base, stole third base, and scored on Branyan's single.

That's the kind of Mariner scoring that leaves opposing teams shaking their heads - and the kind Seattle must score to stay in games.

For the third time tonight, Griffey came up with at least one runner on base. As Junior worked the count, Branyan stole second base. Griffey patiently walked. Sweeney flied out.

Franklin Gutierrez broke his bat on an RBI single to tie the game, the ball falling into shallow right-center field.

Woodward flied out. Morrow headed back to the mound.

In the fifth: Yankees 3, Mariners 3

Goodnight, Mr. Morrow

Another long inning, and this time Morrow couldn't finish it, loading the bases with two outs and Hideki Matsui due up. After facing six men in the fourth inning, Morrow worked to five men in the fifth.

That was enough for Don Wakamatsu, who brought in Chris Jakubauskas.

Matsui grounded out.

After five: Yankees 3, Mariners 3

More small ball

Kenji Johjima's second hit, a single, opened the sixth inning and Cedeno promptly bunted him to second base.

That sent Chamberlain to the clubhouse and Phil Coke in from the bullpen, with Ichiro and Branyan given the chance to hurt New York.

Ichiro flied out. Branyan struck out.

In the sixth: Mariners 3, Yankees 3

Going, going, gone

A-Rod, the man Mariners fans most love to boo, hit a mammoth two-run home run in the seventh, the 565th of his performance-enhanced career.

How big do those two unearned runs in the second inning look now?

After seven: Yankees 5, Mariners 3

Who are these guys?

Playing in the House Next to the House That Ruth Built, the Yankees can't quite figure these Mariners.
Down two, singles by Gutierrez, Woodward and Johjima cut that deficit in half, and Cedeno bunted - again.

The Yankees walked Ichiro intentionally to get to Branyan with the bases loaded and one out.

Mariano Rivera was warming, the Yanks were pondering win No. 44, and Branyan's fly ball got Woodward home for the tie.

In the eighth: Mariners 5, Yankees 5

Watching it get away

With Sean White pitching, Matsui doubled, Swisher bunted for a hit and Cabrera doubled home the go ahead run - all in the span of five pitches.
Derek Jeter singled home two more, and if the Mariners are to come back again, it will be against the man with 500 saves, Rivera.

After eight: Yankees 8, Mariners 5

And in the end

The rallies ended against Rivera, who made quick work of Seattle in the ninth inning to seal the win.

For all the effortd, all the comebacks, the Mariners never got the hit that put them ahead.

That, as much as the Yankees, beat them.

The final: Yankees 8, Mariners 5

The Seattle Mariners have come up with an intriguing possibility to rework their patchwork infield next weeek - make a second baseman of Yuniesky Betancourt.

With that one move, they could free Jose Lopez to play third in the absence of Adrian Beltre and keep Ronny Cedeno at shortstop.

Betancourt is due off the disabled list (hamstring) next week, and manager Don Wakamatsu and his staff have discussed the possibility of moving him from shortstop.

"There's a defensive energy with Cedeno at shortstop, and he's made the plays," Wakamatsu said.

Lopez is fine with playing third base and, despite an alarming slump at the plate, Cedeno is playing well at shortstop.

That leaves one man - Betancourt - to accept the decision.

If the Mariners go with that infield allignmnet, Chris Woodward would be the reserv infielder off the bench, and Josh Wilson or Mike Carp would be sent to the minors once Betancourt returns.

It's raining in New York, so no batting practice on the field for the Mariners - but lots of tidbits fromt the clubhouse.

The game is now scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. (EST).

Outfielder Ryan Langerhans, as expected, is here and in uniform, taking the roster space of Adrian Beltre.

Beltre underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his left shoulder, and the team was told there was no damage to the rotator cuff - just plenty of inflammation caused by the spur.

Erik Bedard could start in Boston on Saturday, but he's not certain he's ready and the team may have to talk him into it.

Catcher Jamie Burke cleared waivers and, for the third time this season, was assigned to Tacoma. He'll report Wednesday.

Rookie reliever Shawn Kelley will join Tacoma tomorrow, as well, and if he pitches on schedule could rejoin the Mariners bullpen this weekend in Boston.

Yuniesky Betancourt's return may be moved up, too. On the disabled list with a strained hamstring, he's now out of pain and could rejoin the team next week at home.

Look we all know about the greatness of Felix Hernandez. And we've seen him make the leap to another level this season. But of course, this being the Northwest and the fact that the four-letter network seems to think the world revolves around the American League East, Felix can get kind of lost in the hype. Think about how much we had to listen to the transition of Joba Chamberlain from reliever to a starter.

But the King is starting to turn some heads. ESPN's Buster Olney wrote the top of his blog post today on Felix.

Here's the part I thought was interesting ..

But so long as Hernandez remains healthy, he will continue to climb toward what figures to be a monster contract. He is still just 23 years old, and he is on track to become a free agent after the 2011 season. CC Sabathia got a six-year, $161 million contract when he was 28 years old. Johan Santana got his record deal when he was 28 years old.

Just imagine what the Mets, Angels, Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox or Cubs might be willing to pay Hernandez, as a healthy, elite pitcher at age 25. The economy will have no impact on a 25-year-old who can throw two types of fastballs, his curve and changeup for strikes at any point in the ball-strike count, with conviction and dominance.

We all know they need to sign Felix to an extension before he becomes a free agent.

But ask yourself, if you were in his place, would you sign an extension or would you wait and test the market?