Home Isn’t Very Sweet for Yankees

David Wells threw his hands down in disgust after watching Juan Rivera stumble to the ground going after Carlos Delgado’s fly ball to left field.

Instead of an out, the ball bounced over the fence for the third of four consecutive doubles in the sixth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays won, 5-2, Saturday, handing the Yankees their sixth straight home loss.

“That’s when you know things aren’t working for you,” Wells said. “We all get frustrated. If it’s not one thing it’s another. There’s nobody to blame except the whole team.”

There is plenty of blame to go around these days for the Yankees’ recent struggles.

The starting pitching that was almost perfect the first three weeks of the season is suddenly getting hit hard. The lineup that rolled to an 18-3 start can barely manage to score against some of the worst pitching staffs in baseball.

New York has dropped 10 of 11 at Yankee Stadium for just the second time in franchise history and lost 10 of 13 overall to fall 1 1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East.

“It’s frustrating all around,” Wells said. “It’s not just offense or the defense. It’s everybody. We have to play better as a team.”

Delgado and Tom Wilson each had two RBI doubles, Frank Catalanotto doubled and scored twice and Cory Lidle won his seventh straight decision to become the first eight-game winner in the majors. Lidle (8-2) was efficient, giving up two runs and six hits in eight-plus innings. He allowed only two balls out of the infield during the first four innings and only three runners to advance as far as third base.

The Blue Jays are 7-2 on their 10-game road trip and with a win today can sweep the Yankees for the first time ever in a four-game series.

Wells (6-2) was battered for five runs and nine hits in five-plus innings, leaving after the first five batters reached in the sixth.

The offense wasn’t much better, except for Alfonso Soriano, who had three hits and scored twice. He tripled and scored on Hideki Matsui’s sacrifice fly in the sixth and hit a solo homer in the eighth.

New York is on its longest home losing streak since 1989, and joined the 1986 club as the only one to drop 10 of 11 at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees lost 10 straight at home that season.

“We enjoy playing here,” Manager Joe Torre said. “We don’t feel like we’re at a disadvantage at home, not at this ballpark. It’s just a streak we’re going through right now.”