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Toronto ace Halladay happy to see Yankees in town

Aug 21, 2008 - 10:17 AM Ny Yankees (67-59) at Toronto (65-61) 7:07 pm. EDT

TORONTO (Ticker) -- Roy Halladay is a perennial Cy Young Award candidate, and the New York Yankees know first-hand how dominant he can be.

The Blue Jays' ace aims to shut down the Yankees -- once again -- when the teams meet on Thursday.

Halladay (14-9, 2.64 ERA) won the American League Cy Young in 2003, and is making a strong push for another. The righthander is 6-3 with a 1.81 ERA and three complete games in his last nine starts. Halladay tossed a two-hitter in a 5-0 win over New York on July 11.

That was a continuation of his dominance over the Yankees. The 31-year-old is 9-2 with a 2.04 ERA in his last 15 starts against them, and 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA in his last seven starts against the Yankees at Rogers Centre.

On Saturday, Halladay tossed a seven-hitter in a 4-1 win over Boston for his major league-leading eighth complete game. He will try and help the Blue Jays rebound after their three-game winning streak was snapped in a 2-1 loss on Wednesday.

The Yankees, who trail the Boston Red Sox (73-54) by 5 1/2 games for the wild card, send Sidney Ponson (7-3, 4.19) to the hill. Ponson allowed two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings of a 3-2, 13-inning win over Kansas City on Saturday.