Banged-up Brendan Ryan might need 'body armor' | Mariners Notebook

NEW YORK — Mike Carp is expected back in the Mariners' lineup on Monday. Whether Brendan Ryan will be in there with him remains an open question.

Asked Sunday if Ryan's return would take place in Baltimore, manager Eric Wedge replied, "Yeah, it'd better be. I'm hoping he's ready tomorrow."

Ryan's left elbow remained sore and stiff after being hit by a Hiroki Kuroda pitch on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

"I thought it might be a little bit better," Ryan said before Sunday's game against the Yankees. "I guess the pain is down a little. If I'm sitting still, it doesn't really hurt. But I can't bend it much."

Ryan said he hopes to play Monday in Baltimore, but added, "I just don't think it's that realistic. There's too much swelling. I'm going to have to get some range of motion first. That might be a couple days away."

Ryan said he might start wearing the "body armor" that a lot of players don to protect their elbows and forearms.

"I might have to," he said. "I'll have to wear it in BP to get used to it. I used to wear it after I got hit in high school, but my college coach didn't want us wearing that. So I stopped wearing it my freshman year."

Besides Ryan, the only position players on the bench Sunday were Casper Wells and Miguel Olivo. Carp flew to California after Saturday's game after becoming the father of a baby girl.

Iwakuma labors

Coming off a game in which he struck out 13 while allowing just four hits and one run, Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma labored in comparison against the Yankees. In five innings, he gave up seven hits, walked two and hit a batter — Ichiro, who has been hit twice this year in 471 plate appearances, both by Mariners pitchers in six games since the trade.

The Yankees scored four runs off Iwakuma, three earned.

"I struggled with my control, Iwakuma said through an interpreter. "I didn't have good command. That's the biggest difference between this time and last time I pitched."

Wedge said, "Iwakuma went out there and battled," he said. "He gave us a chance to win the ballgame, kept us in the ballgame and had to work really hard. He's faced these guys twice now and he's given us a chance to win both times. It's a tough lineup."

More on Felix

Additional notes on Felix Hernandez's brilliant Saturday performance, compiled by the Mariners' public relations staff, with help from ESPN, Elias and baseball-reference.com:

• He joined Jim Palmer and Billy Hoeft as the only pitchers since 1930 with two shutouts allowing two hits or fewer at Yankee Stadium.

• Led the Mariners to their first 1-0 win against the Yankees in New York since May 17, 1991.

• Became the first visiting pitcher to throw a 1-0 shutout at Yankee Stadium (new or old) since Greg Swindell of Cleveland on Sept. 6, 1988.

• His third shutout tied former teammate Brandon Morrow for the MLB lead.

• Became the 10th pitcher in club history to record three-plus shutouts in a season, joining Randy Johnson (three times), Mark Langston (twice), Jason Vargas, Freddy Garcia, Jamie Moyer, Dave Fleming, Brian Holman and Floyd Bannister. His seventh career shutout tied Bannister for fourth-most in club history.

• His fifth career win in a 1-0 game set a club record, surpassing Johnson's four. It was his second complete-game, 1-0 shutout, both this season.

By Larry Stone Seattle Times staff reporter

By Larry Stone
Seattle Times staff reporter