Toronto Blue Jays (77-74) at New York Yankees (77-74), 7:05 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - There's little hope of a playoff push, but at least there's Derek Jeter.
The New York shortstop begins his final homestand on Thursday night when the Yankees host the Toronto Blue Jays in the first game of a four- game series at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees and Blue Jays enter the series tied for second in an American League East Division that was clinched earlier this week by the Baltimore Orioles. Neither team has played well recently, with Toronto dropping five of six and New York five of seven, yielding a six-game deficit between them and the final AL wild card playoff berth with 11 games to play.
Jeter himself was 0-for-28 before a single in the Yankees' 3-2 defeat of Tampa Bay on Wednesday, which ended the team's three-game losing streak.
As for how he'll feel in his final lap in the Bronx, Jeter was unsure.
"I don't really know," he said. "I try not to anticipate anything. We'll find out."
Toronto hasn't finished as high as second in the division in eight years, but the Blue Jays are still contending -- literally -- that they haven't given up the fight for 2014.
"We're going to a place where we need to go and win some games," pitcher J.A. Happ said. "We need to take advantage of the time we have. We're still playing for something."
Toronto starts R.A. Dickey, who's not allowed a run against the Yankees in 15 consecutive innings, including a 4-0 win in Toronto in their last meeting in April. In nine starts against New York over the last three years, he's 4-2 with a 2.60 earned run average.
A win Thursday would be his fifth in a row, which would be the first time he's maintained a streak of that length since winning the National League's Cy Young Award with the New York Mets in 2012.
He defeated the Rays, 6-3, in his most recent start on Saturday.
New York's Carlos Beltran has missed two straight games, and he posted on Facebook Wednesday night that his wife had suffered a miscarriage.
"It puts things in perspective," Jeter said. "The bottom line, family is most important."
New York scored 10 runs during its 2-5 skid and batted .175 as a team, and the Yankees have scored just three runs in the last three starts by rookie righty Shane Greene, who'll open the series with Toronto.
All three came Saturday, when Greene went 5 1/3 innings to beat Baltimore, 3-2.
In his last meeting with the Blue Jays, he allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings of a game the Yankees ultimately lost, 5-4.
On Wednesday in Baltimore, Steve Pearce homered twice as the Orioles kept up with their winning ways with a 6-1 victory over Toronto.
Happ (9-11) took the loss after giving up five runs -- four earned -- on eight hits while striking out five.
In Tampa, Jeter scored the eventual winning run as the Yankees beat the Rays.
New York starter Brandon McCarthy (7-4) struck out the last three batters he faced on nine pitches and gave up two runs on four hits and a walk in seven innings.
The Yanks are 8-7 against the Jays this season.