NEW YORK — Ricky Romero kept
pounding the strike zone, the New York Yankees kept making contact and
the ball kept finding the gloves of the Toronto Blue Jays.
When you put it like that, baseball sure does seem like an easy game.
Romero baffled the highest-scoring
team in the majors over nine innings Tuesday night, and the
free-swinging Blue Jays belted out four home runs during an 8-2 romp
that sent the Yankees to their third consecutive loss and dropped them
into second place in the AL East.
"I didn't let anything rattle me,"
said Romero, who also prevented Alex Rodriguez from hitting home run No.
600. "The defense played tremendous, the offense did their job and to
be able to get through that lineup at Yankee Stadium is phenomenal."
A-Rod failed to homer for the 12th
consecutive game, extending the longest stretch before reaching the
milestone of the six players to have done it. New York's third baseman
went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, and is 9 for 46 since his last home run
on July 22.
"It's hard to tell if a guy is
pressing," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Right now, he's in a
little funk. Like I've said, sometimes these milestones are hard."
The Yankees have more to worry about
than when A-Rod will finally connect. They've lost three straight for
the first time since June 16-18, and dropped a game behind Tampa Bay in
the division after the Rays beat Minnesota. New York had been in first
place since June 13.
"No one ever said this was going to be
easy. We're in a tough division and there are going to be bumps in the
road for every team," Girardi said. "We all have to go through it."
The biggest bump in the road Tuesday
night was Romero, who allowed just two hits – a two-run homer by Mark
Teixeira in the first and an infield single by Marcus Thames in the
fifth – in his third career complete game.
Romero retired the final 15 batters he faced and 26 of the last 27.
"That's probably one of the better
teams in baseball," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "When you beat
them and pitch the way he did, that's really an outstanding job."
Travis Snider and Jose Bautista hit
two-run homers, and Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill also went deep for the
major league's top home-run hitting team. Bautista's homer was his ninth
since the All-Star break and his 33rd of the year, by far the most in
the majors.
John Buck also drove in two runs as
the Blue Jays took advantage of a couple of hanging sinkers from Dustin
Moseley (1-1) and every minor miscue by the New York defense.
"We're doing a good job offensively,"
Bautista said. "We're coming up with big hits when we need them and
solo shots here and there. That's been the recipe for success lately."
The only blemish against Romero (9-7)
came in the first inning, when he walked Derek Jeter and served up a
fat 1-2 pitch to Teixeira, who sent it screaming into the seats in left
field for his third homer in four games.
"He was really good after that first
inning. He gave up a homer on his change-up, it looked like, and then he
seemed to go to more curveballs," Girardi said. "He didn't walk people,
his defense played behind him and he pretty much shut us down."
The Blue Jays got one back in the
second when Buck drove in Adam Lind with a single through the right
side, then took the lead for good with three two-out runs in the fourth.
Moseley hit Hill near the left
shoulder, and Buck made him pay for it with a double into the left-field
corner. The Yankees might have had a chance to get Hill at the plate,
but Jeter struggled to fetch the ball from his glove on the relay and
his one-hop throw from the edge of the outfield was cut off by Teixeira
without a play.
The seemingly minor mistake was
costly when Snider homered into the bullpen in right field, staking the
Blue Jays to a 4-2 lead. Wells cracked his solo shot in the eighth
inning and Hill added his moments later, before Bautista's two-run shot
in the ninth.
When the Blue Jays weren't beating up
on Yankees pitching, they were doing their best to get A-Rod and the
folks down the third-base line hopping.
Buck let his bat fly that direction
in the second inning, and Edwin Encarnacion let go while striking out in
the fourth. His bat had far more distance, though, clattering among the
video cameras stationed beyond the visiting dugout about 90 feet away.
Notes
The Blue Jays have hit 167
home runs this season. … The game took a tidy 2 hours, 21 minutes. …
Yankees LHP Andy Pettitte (groin strain) threw a half-side session
before the game and could throw a full side session Friday. … Former
President Bill Clinton was on hand and nearly caught a foul ball from
his seat outside a luxury box above the Blue Jays' dugout.