Happy birthday Hitman!

On Don Mattingly’s 50th birthday, the Yanks avoided another ninth-inning meltdown and beat the Blue Jays, 6-2.

There were many deserving candidates for player of the game, but this one belongs to Cy Colon. Bart, making his first start since July 24, 2009, threw 6 2/3 innings and gave up two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts to two walks. The 37-year-old threw 89 pitches, with 56 going for strikes, and retired 12 in a row at one point. In doing so, he notched his first win since May 26, 2009 against the Angels when he was with the ChiSox.

Other stars of the game were Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira. C-Grizzle went 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI triple, he now has a six-game hitting streak and has four homers (three straight and four of five) in that span. During the streak, he managed to raise his average from .156 to .273.

Marky Mark f’ed around and got a triple double. It was the second three-double game of his career, with the other coming on May 10, 2007 against the Yanks when he was with the Rangers in a 14-2 blowout. Over the last seven games, Tex has raised his average from .182 to .259 and is hitting .360 over that span.

The duo now leads the league in home runs, with six apiece.

Robbie Cano went 1-for-3 with a pair of RBI and now has an 11-game hitting streak…Russell Martin also registered a pair of hits for his fourth multi-hit game of the season…A-Rod returned to the lineup and went 0-for-2 with an RBI and a pair of walks…Swisher went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks and as many runs, but has now gone 55 at-bats without a home run — his longest such streak to begin a season.

Also, remember how everyone was bitching that the Yanks were living and dying by the long ball? Well the team scored four of their first five runs via an out tonight.

Soriano walked the tying run to the plate (a jam which Lance Pendleton produced) but worked out of it to record the first non-Mo save since Joba got one against the Rays on September 21, 2010.

The team is now 10-6 with a two-game lead over the Loser Rays for the division lead. They have off on Thursday before heading to Baltimore for a three-game set with the O’s.

LET’S GO YANKS!!!!