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If the Toronto Blue Jays plan on being something better than a middle-of-the-pack team, Jesse Litsch has to figure out how to return to early-season form.

The struggling Blue Jays starter will be searching for answers over the all-star break as his rocky summer continued on Saturday in a 9-4 loss against the New York Yankees (50-44) before a crowd of 44,363 at the Rogers Centre, halting Toronto's winning streak at four games.

A bright spot early in the year with a 7-1 record, Litsch saw his mark fall to 8-6 after the Jays (46-48) ensured they would not reach new manager Cito Gaston's goal of being .500 or better heading into the second half of the season by losing in their penultimate game before the all-star break.

"There's not much you can take out of it," Litsch said after giving up eight runs in just 2 2-3 innings, his shortest start of the season. "It's a loss, it's a big loss. It wasn't a good game. That's been the (case) for the past four, five games now, (even) six or seven. I've just got to deal with it.

"If I knew (what the problem was), then it would be a different story. I'm going to sit down over the break and try to analyze it and figure stuff out. As of right now, there is nothing I can do about it."

A winner of just one of his past eight starts, Litsch is part of a Jays rotation that has fallen on hard times after carrying the team in the early stages of the season. With A.J. Burnett continuing his pattern of mediocrity and Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum on the disabled list, all-star Roy Halladay is the only sure thing remaining for the Jays.

Not an overpowering pitcher, Litsch needs to rely on his control to keep batters off-balance, but the Yankees feasted on his stuff to score eight runs. What bothered Litsch most was handing control right back to the Yankees after the Jays bats gave him a 4-1 lead in the first inning.

"I put full blame on myself," said Litsch, who had the lead after one despite allowing a leadoff homer to Derek Jeter, the 200th career homer for the Yankees shortstop. "The team got a three-run lead after the first inning and I gave it back and pretty much put a dagger back in us."

The defence didn't help Litsch's cause as only three of the runs scored against him were earned, though three of the unearned runs came after shortstop John McDonald was charged with an error on a tough play in the third inning.

The one glaring defensive miscue came in the second when second baseman Marco Scutaro booted a tailor-made, inning-ending double-play ball from Jeter to cut Toronto's lead to 4-3. Two batters later, Alex Rodriguez put the Yankees on top 5-4 with a two-run single, a lead New York would not relinquish.

"He is just not hitting his spots and Jesse certainly needs to hit his spots," Gaston said. "(But) then, you know, he had a double-play ball and we just didn't turn it. You can't blame him for that."

The Yankees added three more unearned runs off Litsch in the third when McDonald's throw to first was high after he hustled left to field a grounder, allowing Robinson Cano to reach base. Brett Gardner's two-run single and Jeter's RBI single later in the inning prompted Gaston to replace Litsch with Brian Tallet.

Tallet had similar results as Alex Rodriguez blasted a 3-2 pitch off the foul pole in left to open the fourth inning for his 537th career homer, putting him ahead of Yankees legend Mickey Mantle for 13th on baseball's career list.

The Jays, missing Vernon Wells (left hamstring), Aaron Hill (concussion) and Alex Rios (in Puerto Rico for the birth of his first child), did next to nothing against shaky starter Darrell Rasner (5-7) after scoring four runs in the first on a Scutaro single and a three-run triple by Adam Lind. Rasner made it through five innings to pick up the win.

Meanwhile, all Gaston could do was look at the bright side.

"It would have been real satisfying if we could have been one over (.500) at the break," he said. The only thing we have left is to be behind by one and that's good . . . It's not all lost."

Notes - Wells, expected to miss four to six weeks after straining his left hamstring Wednesday, said he will start swinging a bat Thursday when the Jays reconvene in Tampa Bay for a workout . . . The Yankees were mourning Saturday after the death of five-time all-star outfielder and broadcaster Bobby Murcer, who had brain cancer. Murcer, who spent nearly four decades with the Yankees as a player, executive and broadcaster, was 62 . . . The Jays had two triples in an inning (first) for the first time since July 1, 2004 . . . The big crowd Saturday was the second-largest of the season at the Rogers Centre . . . Rodriguez' homer was his 192nd as a Yankee, tying him with Tino Martinez for 15th on New York's career list . . . With rain in the forecast, the Rogers Centre roof was closed in the fourth inning.