Bronx, N.Y., August 3, 2006 — The Yankees drilled the Blue Jays 8-1 in the Stadium Thursday afternoon, making up for a series in Toronto in which they lost three of four by sweeping three straight in New York. Bobby Abreu had a great day, going three-for-four his first four times up while forcing three different Jays pitchers to throw 26 pitches. Meanwhile, the equally patient Jason Giambi pounded a surprise first-pitch three-run home run in the first to get the Yankee party started.

But if lefty batters Giambi and Abreu had the loudest and longest moments in the big win, the best Yankee news came in the quiet way new starter Cory Lidle subdued the hot-hitting Jays on four hits and two walks over six. Lidle got the festivities off to a slightly nervous start when he quickly fell behind Toronto left fielder Reed Johnson 2-0 by missing with back-to-back 89-mph fastballs. But he quickly turned that around, retiring the Jays on three ground balls, two of them right back to the box.

Neither Johnny Damon nor Abreu figured in the quick Yankee 3-0 first-inning response, but they played a part, as Johnny popped young Shaun Marcum’s eighth pitch to third, and Bobby followed Derek Jeter’s single to left by driving the seventh pitch he saw to the wall in right. A-Rod worked a five-pitch walk, and Giambi delighted the heat-threatened throng with his three-run bomb to right center on Marcum’s 26th pitch.

Lidle responded with another good frame, but the Jays threatened after Troy Glaus lifted a 3-2 pop to no man’s land in short right for a single. Lidle had a chance for a dp on a comebacker, but settled for a fielder’s choice to first after a slight bobble. Then he recorded his fourth assist in five outs when he charged Glaus between second and third after snagging a one-hopper from Alex Rios. A walk to Geoff Zaun got his pitch count up a bit but Jeter retired Aaron Hill on a hard liner.

Lidle followed with back-to-back 10-pitch innings, recording three strike outs in the process. With two down in the top of the fifth he fell victim to second baseman Ryan Roberts’s first big-league hit, a first-pitch home run to left, and the Jays threatened when a single and walk brought Vernon Wells to the plate as the potential lead run. But ground balls got Lidle out of that pickle and another in the sixth. Glaus started the latter by reaching on a wild-pitch third strike and Rios singled after Overbay went down swinging too. A force to second had closed the fifth, and a 4-6-3 ushered Lidle out of the game after six solid innings on 80 pitches.

The Yanks began adding to their lead in the fifth after Abreu stroked his second single following a leadoff walk to Jeter. Reliever Brandon League threw A-Rod’s swinging bunt past first for one run and Melky Cabrera singled for another. Then Abreu and Giambi led a three-run uprising with two down in the sixth. Bobby had battled through five- and then six-pitch at bats for singles in the third and fifth, but he now topped himself against southpaw Scott Downs. He fouled off two 3-2 pitches before doubling the opposite way to the wall in left center. An intentional walk to A-Rod to get to lefty DH Giambi backfired as Jason’s frozen rope over Wells just to the left of dead center hopped over the wall, rewarding Abreu for his hot smash with a quick trip home. Craig Wilson delivered two more with a 2-0 single to right, closing the scoring at 8-1.

But though the Jays would not score as the game wound down, they would make both the crowd and the pen long for the quick Lidle innings. They battled Scott Proctor through a 28-pitch, one-walk seventh, and cost Kyle Farnsworth and Sydney Ponson another 35 tosses to end it three hours and 15 minutes after Lidle’s first pitch had started matters. And putting a damper on the 5-1 homestand is the concern generated when Farnsworth was lifted after apparently hurting himself in the eighth.

But the resurgent Blue Jays bats in the last three just further highlight the effectiveness of new Yankee fifth starter Lidle. He seemed hardly gassed after 80 tosses over six, and was probably lifted more because of the weather than any threat coming from the Jays. His numbers were average to good, with a 50/30 strikes/balls count and 15 of 25 first-pitch strikes. He walked two while striking out five, all of them swinging on just eight Jays swings and misses. Cory held Toronto to just three singles and the Roberts home run.

Lidle’s presence at the end of the rotation bodes well, not only because he has been keeping his teams in games for years, but also because much of it has come in the American League. The peak of his career may be the two years he spent with Oakland where he served as the fourth man in the rotation that boasted Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito in 2001 and 2002. He went 13-6 in the first of those years.

And he picked an early August day (the fourth) in 2002 to throw what was probably his best game, a one-hit, 4-0 win over Detroit where he went seven. And there was no secret how he did it either. That day he harvested 21 outs largely by coaxing 11 ground ball at bats and striking out six. On this steamy Thursday, it was 10 grounders and five K’s among 18 outs.

Seems a winning combination for a fifth starter in a stretch drive, huh? Four days in, Sunday’s trade with Philadelphia seems like a winner.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!