Blue Jays-Yankees Preview

There could be some lingering bad blood Wednesday night in the Bronx when the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays complete their season series.

The AL East rivals will meet for the 18th time to complete this two-game set after the opener featured some major fireworks. Toronto (66-79) won 10-4 in a game that was interrupted for about 10 minutes by a frenzied, bench-clearing brawl in the eighth inning.

Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion and All-Star second baseman Aaron Hill were hit by pitches before reliever Jesse Carlson threw behind Jorge Posada in the eighth. Posada glared out at the mound and appeared to say, "You don't want to do that."

Carlson motioned toward Posada as the benches and bullpens emptied, though the teams never got close to each other and order was quickly restored.

After scoring on Brett Gardner's double, Posada brushed Carlson, who was on his way to back up the plate. Home plate umpire Jim Joyce promptly ejected Posada as Carlson shouted curses at the star catcher.

"As he ran past Carlson, he gave him a little shove with his elbow. It was very unsportsmanlike," Joyce told a pool reporter. "It was a cheap shot."

Posada spun around, sidestepped Joyce and came back at Carlson, who took a high swing with a punch that missed. The two wrestled to the ground as the benches and bullpens emptied and other scuffles broke out between home plate and the New York dugout.

Carlson declined to apologize and said he didn't throw at Posada intentionally.

"It was a fastball in and I yanked it. Just a bad pitch," Carlson said.

Blue Jays catcher Rod Barajas and Yankees reserve Shelley Duncan also got in a particularly rough scrap.

When things finally settled down, there was catching equipment strewn all over the field behind home plate. Yankees pitchers CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte escorted Posada into the dugout.

"He was just right there on the line to the dugout. We got carried away and hopefully that's the end of it," the 38-year-old Posada said. "I don't want my kids to see that. ... Fight in the middle of the field, benches clearing -- that's a bad example."

New York (93-53) saw its AL East lead over Boston cut to 6 1/2 games. The Yankees' magic number to clinch at least the wild card is six.

The Yankees have scratched Wednesday's scheduled starter, Pettitte, due to a tired pitching shoulder. They want to be careful with the 37-year-old left-hander, who is 13-6 with a 4.14 ERA.

Chad Gaudin (1-0, 3.42 ERA) will make his fourth start this year with New York and second against the Blue Jays. The Yankees have won Gaudin's first three starts, including a 10-5 victory Sept. 3 at Toronto in which he allowed three runs over 3 2/3 innings.

The right-hander has a 5.87 ERA and no decisions in four career starts against the Blue Jays.

Brian Tallet (7-9, 5.26) tries to win his third straight start for Toronto. After he allowed five runs over five innings in a 14-8 home win over the Yankees on Sept. 6, Tallet gave up three runs over 6 1/3 innings Friday in a 6-4 victory at Detroit.

The left-hander is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA in three starts against New York this year.