NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees needed a jump start. Once
again, Alfonso Soriano provided the spark.

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Soriano homered and scored three times as the Yankees roughed up
Mark Mulder and beat the Oakland Athletics 8-5 Sunday to avert a
three-game sweep.

"He does a lot of things,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said.
"He certainly did a nice job today.''

Soriano's leadoff single started a three-run first as the
Yankees broke their 17-inning scoreless streak. He doubled with two
outs to key a two-run second.

"I think my job is get to get on base, not to hit home runs,''
Soriano said.

Maybe, but he hit his 29th homer in the sixth as the Yankees
tagged Mulder (13-7) for a season-high eight runs.

"The Soriano homer, I thought it was a pretty good pitch,''
Mulder said. "That was the only pitch all day where I made the
pitch I wanted and they hit it. He just got to it.''

Jason Giambi drove in three runs against his former team,
helping the AL East leaders maintain a four-game advantage over
Boston and avoid their first three-game losing streak since May
22-24.

Mike Mussina (14-6) continued to struggle, yet wound up with the
win. In his last three starts, he's given up 16 runs and 36 hits in
only 16 innings.

"I've got a lot to improve on,'' he said. "I'm working hard at
it and the guys have been out there supporting me offensively quite
a bit.''

Terrence Long homered and made another excellent catch in center
field for the Athletics. But he also grounded into two
rally-killing double plays.

The Yankees finished 5-4 this year against the wild
card-contending Athletics. New York chased the A's from the
playoffs in the last two seasons.

Behind Mulder, the Athletics hoped to finish off their first
three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium since July 1994.

Instead, Soriano, Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams opened up with
singles for a run, and Giambi followed with a bad-hop grounder over
second baseman Mark Ellis in short right field for a two-run
single.

Mulder recovered to strike out the next four batters, but
Williams and Giambi hit RBI singles in the second.

Jeter, who began the day in a 2-for-19 skid, added an RBI single
in the fourth for a 6-3 lead.

"Well, they finally got some knocks out of the top of the
order,'' A's manager Art Howe said. "The first two games, we were
able to keep those guys off base.''

Shane Spencer homered on Mulder's first pitch in the sixth, and
Soriano connected one out later. Soriano is one home run shy of
becoming the first second baseman with 30 homers and 30 steals in a
season.

Jermaine Dye hit an RBI single, and Long followed with his ninth
homer to make it 3-all in the second. Scott Hatteberg singled home
a run in the sixth, Mussina's last inning.

Long robbed Ron Coomer of extra bases with a running catch in
the third, grabbing the ball right before he slammed his head into
the padded wall. Long stayed down on the ground for a minute or so,
got a nice ovation from the crowd of 54,703 and left in the seventh
inning.

Long bruised his right elbow and was listed as day to day.

Oakland's Miguel Tejada hit a run-scoring single in the ninth
for his 98th RBI.

Game notes
Yankees C Jorge Posada got the day off to rest a sore knee.
He caught all 16 innings of Friday night's 3-2 loss. ... Tejada
angrily flung his bat after being hit in the left elbow by Steve
Karsay's pitch in the seventh. Tejada and the Yankees have had
problems in the past. ... Soriano needs one more homer to tie the
team record for a second baseman, set by Joe Gordon in 1940. ...
Rondell White went 0-for-17 on the Yankees' six-game homestand,
hitting the ball out of the infield only twice. ... Raul Mondesi
struck out in all four at-bats for New York. ... A's reliever Jim
Mecir did a dance step on the mound to get out of the way of
Spencer's grounder -- and shattered barrel of the bat -- in the
eighth. ... Orlando Hernandez, who left Friday night's start after
one inning because of numbness in his leg, warmed up in the third
when Mussina got in trouble. El Duque could start Thursday at
Kansas City.