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Giambi, Yankees rout Blue Jays for sixth straight win

Sep 12, 2007 - 4:29 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Alex Rodriguez didn't need to hit another home run on Tuesday night. Jason Giambi provided the power.

Giambi broke open the game with a grand slam and rookie Phil Hughes tossed six effective innings as the red-hot New York Yankees won their sixth straight game with a 9-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Jorge Posada also homered for the Yankees (82-62), who trail the rival Boston Red Sox (87-58) by 4 1/2 games in the American League East. New York and Boston face off in a crucial three-game set at Fenway Park this weekend.

"We're starting to feel closer to a playoff spot, but we know things can change in a hurry," center fielder Johnny Damon said. "We have to grind it out, we can't take anything for granted."

New York manager Joe Torre agreed.

"At 20 (games over .500) you can seriously consider playing in October," Torre said.

The Yankees are atop the wild card standings - four games ahead of the Detroit Tigers (79-67) and six in front of the fading Seattle Mariners (75-67), who face the Oakland Athletics later Tuesday night.

Their ascent to the brink of the postseason is mainly due to their slugging third baseman.

The leading AL MVP candidate, Rodriguez leads the majors with 52 homers, 140 RBI and 132 runs. He belted seven homers in his last five games - becoming the first Yankee to hit 50 in a season since Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in the fabled 1961 campaign.

He went 2-for-4 with two infield singles and no homers on Tuesday night.

"They're a tough lineup to face, they really are," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "They keep coming at you one through nine and sometimes you have to be perfect."

But leading, 4-2, in the fifth, the Yankees turned to Giambi, who cleared the bases with a deep homer to right field off Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum (12-6) to give New York a six-run advantage.

"(Marcum) just left a fastball up and out over the plate and I was able to put the bat-head to it," said Giambi, who recorded his 12th career grand slam. "That was a big one to get off my back. It was nice, in a big situation." Bobby Abreu led off the inning with a double and moved to second on Rodriguez's first infield hit. After Hideki Matsui flied out, Posada walked to load the bases - setting up Giambi's shot.

"It was huge for him," New York manager Joe Torre said. "He didn't want to come back to the bench not doing the job, especially with one out."

Hughes (3-3) allowed two runs - one earned - and three hits while walking three and striking out two. Edwar Ramirez hurled the seventh and eighth and rookie Ross Ohlendorf pitched the ninth to finish out the game.

"I didn't have a swing-and-miss fastball, but I battled through it," said Hughes, who snapped a five-game winless streak.

Making his major league debut, the highly touted Ohlendorf retired all three batters he faced.

New York started the scoring in the second. Posada led off with a double and Jason Giambi followed with a walk. Robinson Cano ripped a single to right, which was hit so hard that Posada had to hold up at third.

With Melky Cabrera up, Marcum then threw a wild pitch, allowing Posada to score from third to make it 1-0. After Cabrera struck out, Damon delivered a two-run single to give the Yankees a three-run cushion.

"Marcum's sinker might have been sinking too much and we were able to lay off of it," Damon said. "We were able to get a few runs off him early, but the big hit was by Jason - it gave us some breathing room and came at the right time."

Toronto got two back in the bottom of the frame. Lyle Overbay led off with a double and Gregg Zaun walked to put runners on first and second.

John McDonald then lofted a soft fly ball to center that fell in front of Cabrera, who forced out a hesitant Overbay at third for the first out of the inning. Vernon Wells then was robbed of a run-scoring, extra-base hit thanks to Damon, who made a spectacular diving catch in the left-center field gap.

"I just happened to get a good jump and fortunately it stayed in my glove," Damon said. "It came at the right time. Who knows how big an inning they would have had."

But Hughes could not escape the damage all together. Russ Adams lined a single to center, scoring Zaun and sending McDonald to second.

However, Cabrera's throw behind McDonald was wild and trickled into the Yankees' dugout, plating McDonald to make it 3-2.

Posada gave New York an insurance run with a line-drive homer in the third.

Marcum yielded eight runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 frames. He struck out five and walked four for the Blue Jays.

"I just made a couple pitches that got up in the zone and they made me pay for it," Marcum said. "It was just one of those days, just bad pitch selection."