Yankees tumble

SEATTLE – The Yankees just found out what $209 million can buy: fourth place.

Jose Lopez hit two homers, Ryan Feierabend went from idle to impressive and the Seattle Mariners sent the New York Yankees tumbling into fourth with a 5-2 victory on Sunday.

“It’s not something we imagined,” leadoff man Johnny Damon said after he went 0-for-4. “The only way for us to deserve to move up in the standings is to play better. And we have not done that.”

The team that has made the postseason for 13 consecutive years trails the Red Sox by 8 1/2 games in the AL wild-card race with 19 games remaining. More tellingly, they fell into fourth in the AL East behind Toronto, which beat Tampa Bay 1-0.

The Yankees, again owners of baseball’s highest payroll on opening day this season, haven’t been this low in the division after an All-Star break since 1995. That was the last time they were home for the playoffs.

Lopez’s liner just over the wall in left field gave the A.L.’s worst team a 3-2 lead in the fourth off Mike Mussina (17-8). Mussina allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings and made a key error – his first in three years – that led to the Mariners’ fourth run.

Lopez added another homer in the eighth off Jose Veras for his first multi-homer game.

The Yankees were done in by the 23-year-old Feierabend. He showed up to work Sunday, ate an early breakfast and was headed to the bullpen for a between-starts session, thinking he wasn’t going to pitch until Wednesday. Then Carlos Silva told the Mariners he couldn’t start because of sharp pains in his upper back.

After a rushed review of a scouting report, Feierabend (1-2) allowed just five hits – including solo home runs by Derek Jeter and Xavier Nady early – in seven innings for his second win in 11 career decisions.

Alex Rodriguez was 0 for 10 with two walks in this series, which New York lost to keep them without a series win in Seattle since Aug. 13-15, 2004.