MLB Notebook | Roy Halladay earns his 20th win in defeat of Yanks

TORONTO — Roy Halladay has never made the playoffs in 11 seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. He still remains convinced his team is on the right track and he is certainly doing his part.

Halladay pitched his major league-leading ninth complete game to become the American League's second 20-game winner and the Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 8-2 on Thursday night.

Halladay (20-11) improved to 5-1 in six starts against the Yankees this season and posted his second career 20-win season. The right-hander went 22-7 with nine complete games in 2003, when he won the AL Cy Young Award.

Halladay, who joined Cleveland's Cliff Lee as a 20-game winner, gave up two runs and six hits. He walked one and struck out five, giving him 206 for the season, a career-high.

"All you've got to do is take a look at his numbers and know that he's probably the best starter in baseball," said New York outfielder Brett Gardner, who went 3 for 4. "Without a doubt he's one of the best, if not the best, starter in the league."

Slugger Mickey Vernon dies

Mickey Vernon, a two-time American League batting champion with the Washington Senators and seven-time All-Star first baseman during a 20-year career in the major leagues, has died. He was 90.

Vernon played from 1939-43 and 1946-60 with Washington, Cleveland, the Boston Red Sox, the Milwaukee Braves and Pittsburgh, winning batting titles in 1946 and 1953. He went on to become the first manager of the expansion Senators in 1961, after the original team moved to Minnesota and became the Twins.

He was career .286 hitter and finished with 2,495 hits in 2,409 games, including 490 doubles and 120 triples. He had 172 homers and 1,311 RBI.

As a manager, he led the Senators to a 135-227 record.

He missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons due to military service in the Navy during World War II.

He closed out his career with the 1960 World Series champion Pirates, spending most of the season as a coach before being activated late in the season and becoming one of a few players to compete in four decades.

Notes

• Cito Gaston signed a two-year contract extension with the Toronto Blue Jays before their home finale Thursday night against the New York Yankees.

General manager J.P. Ricciardi also got a vote of confidence, with team president Paul Godfrey confirming Ricciardi will be back in 2009.

• Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona and catcher Victor Martinez began serving suspensions Thursday night for a bench-clearing brawl against the Tigers after reaching an agreement with Major League Baseball that reduced their penalties by one game apiece. Carmona began serving a five-game suspension and will miss opening day of the 2009 season. Martinez's suspension was reduced from three games to two.

• Ryan Dempster is scheduled to start the Chicago Cubs' playoff opener next week at Wrigley Field. The former closer was tabbed Thursday by manager Lou Piniella for Game 1 in the best-of-five division series. The NL Central champions will play the New York Mets or Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round, beginning Wednesday.

• The New York Mets won a coin flip with the Houston Astros and would host a tiebreaker for the NL wild card next week if it's needed to decide a postseason berth.

• The Florida Marlins' game at the Washington Nationals was called off because of rain Thursday night and will not be made up.