NEW YORK, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Terrence Long hit two homers and Jason Giambi delivered a massive blast off the facade of the upper deck Wednesday night to back up Mark Mulder's outstanding playoff debut, boosting the Oakland Athletics to a 5-3 victory over the three-time defending champion New York Yankees in the opener of their AL Division Series.
The Athletics, who lost just 17 games after the All-Star break, put an early dent in New York's bid to become the first team in almost a half century to win four straight World Series titles.
The setback spoiled an emotional evening for New York fans, who filled Yankee Stadium for the first major playoff contest in the city since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
New York's hopes of advancing past the divisional round were further diminished when five-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens left the game in the fifth inning with a slight hamstring strain.
Mulder, who went 21-8 in the regular season and led the league in victories to help Oakland become the AL's wild-card representative, gave up one run on seven hits through 6 2/3 innings.
Oakland, meanwhile, threatened to blow open the game by putting nine of the 21 batters Clemens faced on base. The Athletics, however, left the bases loaded in the second and failed to score in the fifth despite putting runners on second and third with none out.
But the three solo homers and sacrifice flies from Miguel Tejada and Jason Giambi provided enough offense to give Mulder the win.
Oakland's Johnny Damon had four hits, one of them coming to lead off the game. He stole second, went to third on a Tejada ground out and scored on Jason Giambi's fly ball to left.
The game remained 1-0 until Long led off the fourth with a liner that just cleared the wall in right field.
New York cut its deficit in the fifth when Alfonso Soriano singled with two out, stole second and scored on a single to shallow left by Chuck Knoblauch.
Jason Giambi made it 3-1 in the seventh, leading off the inning by crushing a 3-1 pitch from Sterling Hitchcock that narrowly missed reaching the upper deck.
Long, who had 12 home runs during the regular season, hit his second homer of the night to start the eighth against Hitchcock and then the Athletics scratched out another run in the inning off Jay Witasick.
Ramon Hernandez walked and was erased on a fielder's choice grounder by Frank Menechino. Damon's fourth hit of the night, a single off the glove of first baseman Tino Martinez, sent Menechino to third and he then scored on Tejeda's sacrifice fly to left.
New York staged a two-run rally in the eighth to give the Yankees hope. Derek Jeter singled with one out and Bernie Williams then hit a grounder to second. Jeter was forced at second, but Williams hustled all the way and narrowly beat the relay to first, keeping the inning alive.
Martinez took advantage of that by hitting a homer to right that brought the Yankees within two. Jason Isringhausen, however, came on to pitch a perfect ninth, striking out two.
The Athletics, trying to win their first playoff series in 11 years, will send 18-game winner Tim Hudson to the mound Thursday night in an attempt to sweep the Yankees in their home park. New York will counter with Andy Pettitte.
