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Damon makes history, helps Yankees snap skid

May 31, 2007 - 5:06 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- The 1,999th hit of Johnny Damon's career snapped the New York Yankees out of their offensive funk.

Damon led off the game with a homer and Josh Phelps drove in a pair of runs as the Yankees earned a 10-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.

Cano, who had been mired in a 2-for-16 slump, went 4-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI for New York, which had lost five straight games after a 3-2 setback here on Tuesday. The Yankees avoided being swept in consecutive series since 2000, when they dropped sets to Tampa Bay and Baltimore from September 26-October 1.

Damon, who has been battling leg cramps all season, singled in the second inning to push his career hit total to 2,000.

"I'm very proud I got to do it with the Yankees," Damon said. "I wanted to do it last year because there were two other guys who accomplished that feat, (Alex Rodriguez) and Derek Jeter. I wanted to be the third."

New York piled five runs on Blue Jays rookie Jesse Litsch in the first, chasing the rookie hurler after just two-thirds of an inning. The 22-year-old righthander was charged with all five first-inning runs after yielding four hits and issuing two walks.

"It seems it's been that way with every team I've been on, when I go things seem to be easier," Damon said. "When I start off with a hit everybody on the team kind of says, "If Johnny gets a hit so can we.'"

After Damon's leadoff blast, Litsch struck out Derek Jeter before allowing a single to Hideki Matsui and issuing a walk to Alex Rodriguez. After Jorge Posada walked, Jason Giambi drove in New York's second run with a sacrifice fly to right-center field.

"I was falling behind in a couple of at-bats and they just hit a couple of good pitches," Litsch said. "Damon hit a down-and-in fastball over the fence and that kind of got things jump started. I walked two batters and that's not what I usually do, I'm not a walker and it got to me a little bit."

Posada then stole second base, setting up Phelps with runners on second and third. The backup first baseman delivered, singling up the middle to bring home Rodriguez and Posada. Cano followed with a double, plating Phelps and chasing Litsch from the game.

Rookie Tyler Clippard (2-1) started for New York and battled Toronto for five innings, holding the powerful lineup to three runs and four hits. The 22-year-old righthander issued five walks and struck out three to earn his second major-league win.

"You're not going to have your best stuff everytime out, I battled and was able to make the pitches when I needed to," Clippard said. "I was able to get us five innings and get the win."

The Blue Jays battled back to make the score 6-5, when Brian Bruney surrendered a two-run blast to veteran utilityman Matt Stairs in the seventh, but Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth combined to throw a scoreless inning of relief.

"You get down 5-0 in the first inning, that's the kind of a game that ends, 12-1, but we battled back and threw some good at bats against them," Stairs said.

All-Star closer Mariano Rivera picked up a four-out save to clinch the win and notch his fourth save.

Rivera, pitching in his first save situation since May 3, came in with a pair of runners on and two outs in the eighth and escaped the jam.

"I believe it (has been that long for a save opportunity) because I'm living it," Rivera said. "This is baseball and things like that happen. It has never happened before, but it happened now, you just have to deal with it."

The Yankees added four runs in the ninth, the last two after a controversial play in which Rodriguez - running between the third baseman and the shortstop on an infield pop-up - appeared to call for the ball, causing the fielders to back off as the ball dropped to the turf.

"It's a kind of situation where you might not see it again for 20 years, hopefully because it was (garbage)," Stairs said.

"I said, 'Ha' and that's it," Rodriguez said. "I was surprised when the ball bounced."

Rodriguez and Blue Jays shortstop John McDonald shouted back and forth for a few moments before being separated by the umpires.