Toronto @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 4, 2010 ) Toronto 6, NY Yankees 7

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has hit one career home run against Toronto Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow, and it was a historic one.

His second could be even more legendary.

Rodriguez takes another shot at his 600th career homer Monday as the Yankees welcome the Blue Jays to the Bronx in the start of a three-game series.

New York comes in having dropped two of three games to the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend, while the Jays suffered the same fate in their home series against the Cleveland Indians. Despite the poor showing, Toronto wound up 4-2 on its six-game homestand against American League bottom-feeders Baltimore and Cleveland.

Things are about to get a whole lot tougher.

The Jays face the Yankees, Rays and Boston Red Sox in consecutive series before heading out west to play the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics. They then return east for rematches with the Red Sox and Yankees, and wrap up the month with another series against Tampa.

The gauntlet begins Monday with Rodriguez looking to become the seventh man to reach the 600-homer plateau. The 35-year-old is hitting just .237 with zero home runs in his last 10 games. He was brought in to pinch-hit in the seventh inning of Sunday's 3-0 loss to the Rays, but took a called strike and didn't get another at-bat.

Rodriguez is 4-for-15 with a home run and three RBIs lifetime against Morrow (7-6), who starts Monday's opener. That lone home run came Sept. 5, 2007, and was Rodriguez's second of the inning— making him the first Yankees player since Cliff Johnson in 1977 to go deep twice in one frame.

He only needs one long ball on Monday to join Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Sammy Sosa in the 600-homer club.

Morrow will do his best to delay the proceedings for at least another day. The 26-year-old is on a two-game winning streak, surrendering four runs in 13 innings to earn consecutive victories over the Orioles.

Morrow is 1-0 for his career against the Yankees, with a 4.03 ERA over 10 appearances (four starts). He last faced them on July 4 and took a no-decision after allowing five runs on nine hits over six subpar innings. Toronto went on to lose the game 7-6.

The Jays are coming off a 5-4 loss to the Indians on Sunday. Asdrubal Cabrera had a two-run homer and Jason Donald added a solo shot to make a loser out of Jesse Litsch, whose rotation spot may soon be in jeopardy as he dropped to 1-5 on the season.

The Yankees counter with former Toronto hurler A.J. Burnett (9-8). The 33-year-old has won three of his last four starts and appears to be back on track following an 0-5 June. He threw 6 1/3 shutout innings in his previous start as New York cruised past Cleveland 8-0.

Burnett is 2-2 against the Blue Jays all-time with a 3.61 ERA over six starts. He blanked Toronto over 6 2/3 innings in their last meeting but settled for a no-decision in a 6-1 Blue Jays victory.