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By GEORGE A. KING III

DOUBLE WHAMMY: Alex Rodriguez is thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double to lead off the ninth inning of last night's 2-1 loss in Toronto.

PHOTOS: Blue Jays Beat Yankees

Last updated: 8:03 am
August 20, 2008
Posted: 3:19 am
August 20, 2008

TORONTO - Another small nail was driven into the YankeesNew York Yankees ' pinstriped coffin last night by a leather hammer that was Johnny Damon's glove.

With the return of Hideki MatsuiHideki Matsui as the DH, Damon has been transformed from DH/left fielder to full-time center fielder.

PHOTO GALLERY: Blue Jays Beat Yankees

MORE: Complete Yankees Coverage

MORE: Yankees Blog

It was a move that nobody expected to blow up on the first night, but there was Damon on the warning track in the eighth inning ready to squeeze Marco Scutaro's inning-ending fly ball and keep the score tied. Then the ball spilled out of the glove, rolled onto the track as Joe Inglett raced home from first to score the game-winning run in a 2-1 Blue Jays victory that was witnessed by 37,221 at Rogers Centre.

"If this team is going to use me in center more, I need to be better," said Damon, who dropped a first-inning fly ball but was bailed out by Darrell Rasner's strong pitching. Scutaro's ball was foolishly scored a double. "It's uncharacteristic of me and most outfielders in the league. I'll take this one on me."

The Yankees' ninth defeat in 14 games dropped them 11 games behind the Rays in the AL East and left them 6½ lengths back of the wild card-leading Red Sox.

Though Damon's second blooper killed the Yankees, he wasn't alone in the blame game. A.J. Burnett's dominance of the Yankees continued. In eight innings he allowed five hits, a run and fanned a season-high 13. With a chance to dent him in the early innings, Burnett fanned Alex Rodriguez and Jason GiambiJason Giambi in the first and fourth innings with runners in scoring position.

"He was throwing in the high 90s with a snake for a breaking ball," Rodriguez said of Burnett, who won his sixth straight and is 16-9. He is 3-0 against the Yankees this season.

With Burnett replaced by lefty closer B.J. Ryan in the ninth, Rodriguez gave the Yankees a chance for a moment with a bloop leadoff single just out of the reach of first baseman Lyle Overbay. Believing the ball had enough spin on it to reach the wall down the right-field line in foul territory and understanding how hard it was for his team to score, Rodriguez attempted to turn the single into a double.

But Overbay stopped the ball with a slide, popped to his feet and fired a one-hop strike to second that was well ahead of a diving Rodriguez for the first out. Ryan fanned Giambi, who was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, and sealed the victory by getting Xavier Nady on a stress-free fly to right.

"I had no idea he was going to throw me out," said Rodriguez, who went 1-for-4 and fanned three times. "The way we were swinging the bats I thought it was the best option. If I would get a mulligan I would have stayed at first."

As for Rasner, he had nothing to show for a sensational outing.

"The kid deserves better," Joe Girardi said of Rasner, who went 62/3 innings, allowed a run and three hits."

Rasner's lone mistake was a 3-2 cutter to Adam Lind in the seventh that cleared the right-field wall and tied the score, 1-1.

So, a six-game road trip that can only be described as critical started with a disaster.

"Nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a 1,000 he catches the ball," Girardi said of Damon, who made his 10th start in center. "For whatever reason, it didn't happen. Those are balls Johnny is used to catching. It was a strange event."

As strange as a piece of leather being used to drive home finishing nails.