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Blue Jays-Yankees Preview

Sep 15, 2009 - 9:39 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Toronto (65-79) at New York (93-52), 7:05 p.m. EDT

Roy Halladay has seven career complete games against the New York Yankees - five of them coming in the last nine times he's faced them.

The Toronto Blue Jays ace looks to turn in another big effort when he faces New York on Tuesday night in the opener of a two-game set at Yankee Stadium.

Halladay (14-9, 3.03 ERA) is 7-1 with a 2.38 ERA against the Yankees (93-52) in his last nine outings, finishing five of them. He's 2-1 with a 2.65 ERA in four starts - three of them complete games - versus New York this year.

The right-hander's only victory in his last five outings overall was a one-hitter in a 6-0 home victory over New York on Sept. 4. He's 0-4 with a 6.58 ERA in the other starts during that span.

Halladay recorded his major league-leading seventh complete game Wednesday as he scattered nine hits in a 4-1 loss to Minnesota.

Yankees all-time hits leader Derek Jeter has just eight hits and 12 strikeouts in his last 48 at-bats against Halladay. Teammates Robinson Cano and Hideki Matsui are batting .200 and .220, respectively, versus Halladay since 2005.

New York is 11-5 against Toronto (65-79) this year. Although Jeter hasn't fared well against Halladay, he's batting .385 against the Blue Jays this year, while Matsui is hitting .349 and Johnny Damon .333 versus Toronto.

The Yankees enter with a 7 1/2-game lead over Boston in the AL East after beating the Angels 5-3 in a makeup game Monday. New York moved six games ahead of the AL West-leading Angels in the race for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

New York scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning when pinch-runner Brett Gardner took third as part of a double steal and came home as Los Angeles catcher Mike Napoli bounced the throw past third baseman Chone Figgins.

"I like the options that we have," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We don't always want to be a club that has to hit the ball out of the ballpark to score runs."

Mark Teixeira hit a two-run triple and finished with three hits to help the Yankees win for the 14th time in 18 games. Teixeira is batting .400 with two homers and nine RBIs in his last eight.

Toronto has lost 10 of 13 on the road after a 6-5, 10-inning defeat at Detroit on Monday. Closer Jason Frasor allowed a tying three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to pinch-hitter Aubrey Huff.

Matsui is 8 for 13 (.615) against Frasor in his career, while Alex Rodriguez is 6 for 13 (.462).

New York will give Sergio Mitre (3-2, 7.02) his ninth start of the season. Both of the right-hander's losses have come against the Blue Jays, as he's 0-2 with a 9.88 ERA in three outings versus Toronto in 2009. In his last start, Mitre surrendered a career-high 11 runs over 4 1-3 innings in a 14-8 loss in Toronto on Sept. 6.

Blue Jays first baseman Lyle Overbay is 4 for 4 with a solo homer off Mitre this season.