(My Sportsbook) - A terrific pitching matchup is on tap this evening at Yankee Stadium when Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays face off against Andy Pettitte and the New York Yankees in the second of four games from the Bronx.

Halladay enters this contest having lost two of his last three starts. Halladay suffered the loss on Thursday against the Boston Red Sox, as he surrendered five runs and eight hits in five innings to fall top 10-4 on the season, while raising his earned run average to 4.66.

The 2003 Cy Young Award winner has allowed 10 runs and 17 hits over his last two starts, spanning 10 2/3 innings.

Halladay is 9-4 lifetime against the Yankees with a 3.09 ERA in 23 games, 21 of which have been starts.

Pettitte, meanwhile, has been one of the best second half pitchers in baseball in his career and will need to be so again if the Yankees plan on making the postseason.

Since breaking into the league in 1995, Pettitte is 98-41 after the All-Star break with a 3.51 ERA in 176 games (174 starts).

Pettitte continued that trend on Thursday against Tampa, as he started his second half with a win. The left-hander held the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to three runs and six hits in 5 2/3 frames to improve to 5-6 to go along with a 4.27 ERA.

In 30 games (29 starts) against Toronto, Pettitte is 15-8 with a 4.18 ERA.

In the opener of this set on Monday Andy Phillips' two-run single lifted the Yankees to a 6-4 victory. Alex Rodriguez belted the 496th home run of his career, while Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano drilled homers one out apart in the second for the Yankees, who have won four of five and nine of 13.

The Blue Jays also played long ball, with Troy Glaus belting two homers and Alex Rios another. Glaus missed his third homer of the night in the ninth by a a few feet to dead center, finishing with his first triple since April 2005.

Glaus was left stranded at third as Mariano Rivera struck out Frank Thomas and Lyle Overbay before Aaron Hill grounded out to finish off the closer's 14th save. Scott Proctor (2-5) got the win despite giving up Rios' tying solo shot in the sixth.

Josh Towers (4-6) took the loss, yielding six runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and one walk over 5 2/3 innings. The Blue Jays bullpen held the Yankees down the rest of the way, but it wasn't enough to avoid their second defeat in three games.

Toronto has won three of five from the Yankees this season, but is just 24-36 in the series since the start of the 2004 season. The Blue Jays are also only 11-19 in the Bronx over that time.