Yankees blast five homers in 11-5 romp in Toronto

TORONTO - The Blue Jays, baseball's top home-run hitting team, have flexed their muscles with regularity against the Yankees this season. The Yankees did some flexing of their own last night.

Bashing five home runs for the second time in 11 days, the Yankees battered the Blue Jays, 11-5, at Rogers Centre.

Five players homered - Mark Teixeira (his 28th), Marcus Thames (fifth), Jorge Posada (16th), Curtis Granderson (14th) and Derek Jeter (10th).

"It's not easy to do," Posada said. "We came swinging today. We got a lot of good pitches to hit and we didn't miss them."

The Yankees remained tied for first place in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays, who beat the Angels, 10-3, early this morning in Anaheim, Calif.

Teixeira, Thames and Posada went deep in a four-run third - Thames' was a two-run shot - that knocked out lefthander Marc Rzepczynski. Granderson's three-run homer and Jeter's solo shot off lefty Brian Tallet highlighted a four-run fifth that made it 10-1.

"We have power in our lineup and we had production from a lot of people tonight," Joe Girardi said. "Up and down the lineup. You want to try and spread the offense out and we did it tonight."

The Yankees are third in homers with 155, behind the Blue Jays (190) and the Red Sox (168).

The Yankees also hit five homers - three by Alex Rodriguez - Aug. 14 in Kansas City. They had 17 hits last night. Teixeira and Posada had four, with three apiece by Granderson and Thames, who came in hitting .316 against lefties this season.

The onslaught overshadowed Dustin Moseley's most impressive start since replacing injured Andy Pettitte. Moseley (4-2) retired the first eight batters and went six innings, allowing two runs and five hits. "Moseley did a hell of a job," Posada said.

Said Moseley: "I had all my pitches working, for the most part. I had a good changeup and good cutter tonight, and made pitches when I needed to."

There were only two lowlights for the Yankees. Nick Swisher had to leave the game after fouling a ball off his left knee in the seventh, and Chad Gaudin, with an 11-2 lead, allowed three runs in the seventh.

"Hopefully, tomorrow when I get up, everything feels better," said Swisher, whose knee was heavily wrapped in the clubhouse. "Whatever I can do to get back in that lineup tomorrow, I'm going to do."

In the first, Jeter, back in the lineup after not starting Monday, grounded out and Swisher doubled down the rightfield line. Teixeira singled up the middle for his 90th RBI, second on the team behind A-Rod's 97. Teixeira later added his 91st.

The Yankees made it 2-0 in the second and erupted for four runs in the third to take a 6-0 lead. With one out, Teixeira blasted Rzepczynski's 3-and-2 pitch off the facing of the third deck in leftfield. After Cano walked, Thames lined an 0-and-2 pitch over the wall in left to make it 5-0. Posada followed by ripping a 2-and-0 pitch into the second deck in left.

The Yankees also hit three homers in an inning Aug. 14 in Kansas City, when Rodriguez, Posada and Granderson did it.

"That was a true team effort tonight," said Teixeira, who has reached base in 62 of his last 68 games. "We were aggressive, and we were swinging at good pitches. They came after us and we just swung the bats really well tonight."