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The Mariners and Julio Rodríguez needed a momentum shift. They may have gotten it in New York

Last year, it might have been Mitch Haniger, then the Mariners’ longest-tenured player. Or later in the season, maybe Carlos Santana, who only spent a few months in Seattle after coming over at the deadline but who arrived with postseason experience and the personality to command a clubhouse while serving as a conduit from the coaches.

Both those guys are gone now, leaving behind a young team in Seattle with plenty of dynamic potential and players who could get there eventually, but no current clear leader in the locker room.

So when the Mariners lost a lackluster game to a short-handed Yankees club to fall to 35-37 and 10 back in the division, it wasn’t a player who finally decided enough was enough.