First place used to be so common that it was part of the Yankees' name, as in "the first-place Yankees."

The victory was the third in a row for the first-place Yankees, who moved to a season-high five games over .500, at 16-11.

The victory lifted the to one game behind the first-place Yankees, who lost to Chicago.

The Jays, last in the East, are 19 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees and have lost eight of nine.

Halladay will be working on three days of rest Saturday against the first-place Yankees.

He had enough trouble sorting out his feelings about not being able to play for the first-place Yankees.

There was urgency in the voices of some Jays players before they played the first-place Yankees.

The first-place Yankees have great hitting and pretty good pitching but only fair fielding at most positions.

Their loss to Seattle yesterday left them four and a half games behind the first-place Yankees, who played Texas last night.

Showalter and Michael are still with the first-place Yankees in the majors.