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Blue Jays-Yankees Preview

Sep 4, 2010 - 10:45 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Toronto (69-65) at New York (85-50), 1:05 p.m. EDT

Despite having Alex Rodriguez on the disabled list, the New York Yankees have been winning at an exceptional rate.

Knotted in a tight race for the AL East lead, they now need to figure out how to win as often when their slugger returns.

Rodriguez is expected to be activated from the DL as the first-place Yankees look to extend their season-high winning streak to nine Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Rodriguez, sidelined with a strained left calf since Aug. 21, hit and ran the bases before Saturday's 7-5 win over the Blue Jays.

"Felt good," said Rodriguez, who is batting .265 with 21 homers and 97 RBIs. "It was an encouraging day. There was no setbacks."

Although the addition of a 13-time All-Star to any lineup sounds fantastic, New York (86-50) has been doing just fine without the newest member of the 600-homer club.

The Yankees, who own a slim lead over Tampa Bay in the East, are 11-3 since Rodriguez went on the DL and 22-3 without the three-time AL MVP this season.

New York, seeking its first nine-game winning streak since May 13-21, 2009, hasn't seemed to miss Rodriguez much offensively, averaging 7.1 runs while batting .310 in the last eight.

Marcus Thames has helped the offense the most in Rodriguez's absence. He hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to break a 5-all tie Saturday and has seven home runs and 13 RBIs in his last 10 games.

"Marcus has been a huge addition to this club," said manager Joe Girardi, whose team has won 11 of 12 at home and 14 of 18 overall.

Rodriguez has had limited success in nine games against the Blue Jays (69-66) this season, batting .154 with 11 strikeouts, but he does have eight RBIs. He's 2 for 8 with a double lifetime against Brett Cecil (11-7, 3.74 ERA), Toronto's scheduled starter.

Cecil is coming off a tough outing against Tampa Bay on Monday, as a two-out error led to three unearned runs in the third inning. He allowed five runs - two earned - and five hits in seven innings of a 6-2 loss.

The left-hander has yielded two earned runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts - including against the Yankees just over a week ago when he outpitched Phil Hughes (16-6, 4.10), who will take the mound Sunday.

Cecil limited the Yankees to two runs and seven hits in eight innings of a 6-3 home win Aug. 25, improving to 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA in three starts against them this year. Hughes didn't have his best stuff, giving up five runs, six hits and five walks in a season-low 3 2-3 innings to take the loss.

Coming off that disappointing outing, Hughes gave up two runs and four hits in five innings of Tuesday's 9-3 win over Oakland. The right-hander again had some command problems, though, with another five walks. He has walked 10 in his last two starts after issuing nine in his previous eight.

"I'll try to fix whatever's going on right now," Hughes told the Yankees' official website.

Jose Bautista is 3 for 7 with two walks but hasn't homered off Hughes this season.

Bautista, who has hit six of his major league-leading 43 home runs against the Yankees, was ejected for arguing a called third strike Saturday.

The Blue Jays, the big league leaders with 205 homers, have lost three straight and five of six.