YANKEE NOTES

SEATTLE – Bernie Williams’ third-inning, two-out grounder didn’t sneak through the left side of the Mariners’ infield yesterday and his consecutive- hit streak was snapped one short of the record.

As he waited for his glove to be delivered by Raul Mondesi, Williams had a smile on his face because he thought the huge Safeco Field crowd was enjoying his run of 11 hits in 11 at-bats being snapped. However, you could have made a strong case the crowd was applauding Williams’ hot streak.

“I was smiling because the crowd seemed to be happy,” said Williams, whose first-inning ground single to left moved him to within one hit of the major-league record shared by Pinky Higgins and Walt Dropo. “It was fun.”

Williams, who went 2-for-4 and is batting .339 to AL leader Ichiro Suzuki’s .344, knew his improbable streak was eventually going to end. Still, he was a bit upset he didn’t at least tie the mark.

“Somewhat,” Williams said when asked if he was disappointed. “I was so close. It was a great run I had and I had a lot of fun with it. You don’t expect it to last and the best thing is that we won the game.”

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David Wells‘ love for music has enabled him to meet a lot of big names in the industry and he has grown close to some. One of them was Dave Williams, the lead singer of Drowning Pool, a Dallas heavy metal band.

Williams, who was Wells’ guest at Yankee Stadium on July 24 and played catch with Wells on the hallowed ground, was found dead earlier this week on Drowning Pool’s tour bus, and it bothered Wells.

“This game was for him,” Wells said after Friday night’s 9-3 victory over the Mariners, a win that hiked Wells’ record to 13-6. “He was a good friend. It was hard to take.”

Wells watched Williams run into an outfield wall and asked him, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I always wanted to run into a wall in Yankee Stadium.’ “

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Rondell White started for the first time in three games and broke a 0-for-27 slump with a single in the second inning.

“I was relieved,” said White, who went 1-for-4 and moved a runner from second to third with a well hit fly ball to center with no outs in the ninth.

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Utility infielder Alex Arias joined the Yankees in time for yesterday’s game and wore No. 17. To make room for Arias, who was promoted from Columbus (Triple-A) the Yankees sent reliever Mike Thurman to Columbus.

Arias, 34, is an alumnus of George Washington High School who grew up in Washington Heights and has played in the majors parts of 10 seasons. He was batting .240 with one homer and 25 RBIs at Columbus.

“For me, it was the Yankees,” Arias said of his favorite team as a kid. “I was in the minors trying to play good and get a shot at the big leagues. This is overwhelming right now.”

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Jeff Weaver had the lineup card from Friday night’s win given to him because it marked his first big-league save. While Weaver acknowledged the occasion, it wasn’t something he wanted to get used to since he still believes, as do the Yankees, that he is a starter who happens to be working in the pen these days.