59,470 See Phillies Defeat Yankees

Jimmy Rollins walked on the field, saw his first sellout crowd at Veterans Stadium and couldn’t believe it.

Joe Torre couldn’t believe what he saw, either.

The Philadelphia Phillies used some clutch hitting and effective relief pitching to defeat the New York Yankees, 9-3, Sunday.

The Phillies, who tied the Chicago Cubs for the worst record in the majors last season, lead the National League East by one game over Atlanta.

The three-time defending champion Yankees have lost three of four since the All-Star break, prompting Torre to hold a closed-door meeting for about 25 minutes after the game.

Derek Jeter made an error, Mark Wohlers threw a wild pitch and Jorge Posada had three passed balls, raising his season total to 16--five more than his total last year.

“It was ugly. We were terrible and we’ve got to straighten it out,” Torre said.

A sellout crowd of 59,470--nearly one-third New York fans--turned out to watch the two division leaders.

It was the second-largest crowd in the majors this season and the most fans at a Phillie game since opening day of the 1993 season, when 60,985 showed up.

Despite being in first place for all but four days this season, the Phillies have the third-lowest attendance in the National League.

“Wow, this is what this place looks like with people in it,” Rollins said.

Tampa Bay 9, Atlanta 1--Fred McGriff put on a power display, homering twice and driving in four runs at Turner Field in Atlanta.

McGriff still hasn’t decided whether he will accept a proposed trade from the last-place Devil Rays to the first-place Chicago Cubs, who want him for their pursuit of the NL Central title.

Chicago Cubs 2, Kansas City 1--Jon Lieber (12-4) won his sixth consecutive start, handing the Royals their major league-record 21st consecutive one-run loss on the road.

The Pittsburgh Pirates also lost 20 consecutive one-run games away from home spanning two seasons from 1985-86, a mark the Royals tied by losing Friday night at Pittsburgh.

Seattle 8, Arizona 0--Aaron Sele (11-1) pitched a career-best two-hitter and retired 22 consecutive batters to lead the Mariners at Seattle.

Mike Cameron and John Olerud hit solo home runs. Scott Podsednik lined a bases-loaded triple in his first major league at-bat as Seattle moved a season-best 41 games over .500.

San Francisco 7, Texas 6--Jeff Kent had three hits and Livan Hernandez (7-11) held on with help from the bullpen as the Giants rallied to beat the Rangers at Arlington, Texas.

Felix Rodriguez pitched the eighth and Robb Nen pitched the ninth for his NL-leading 28th save in 33 chances.

Texas led 3-0 and 6-3.

New York Mets 6, Toronto 2--The Mets began the game at Shea Stadium with a major league-low 347 runs but had their best offensive output since an 8-7 victory against the Yankees June 17.

Mike Piazza went three for four, including a run-scoring double and a two-run homer, and Joe McEwing was three for five with a two-run double.

St. Louis 5, Minnesota 1--Dustin Hermanson pitched scoreless ball into the eighth inning at St. Louis to win for the first time in nearly a month.

Houston 5, Cleveland 3--The Astros won for the 10th time in 13 games and remained three games behind the first-place Cubs in the NL Central. The Indians are five games behind the Twins in the AL Central.

Moises Alou homered to extend his hitting streak to 20 games, the second-longest in the National League this season behind teammate Lance Berkman.

Oakland 6, Colorado 3--Jason Giambi hit his 22nd homer and singled in the go-ahead run at Oakland. With the score tied, 1-1, in the sixth inning, Giambi’s single to center scored Johnny Damon, who had doubled. Giambi scored on Olmedo Saenz’s homer to give the A’s a 4-1 lead.

Detroit 8, Cincinnati 5--Bobby Higginson hit a three-run homer with two out in the top of the ninth inning to give the Tigers the victory.

The Reds, the worst home team (12-34) in the majors, blew a five-run lead. Chris Nichting (0-3) took a 5-3 lead into the ninth, then gave up a run-scoring single to Roger Cedeno, Higginson’s homer and a homer by Robert Fick.

Boston 8, Montreal 5--Chris Stynes had his first two-homer game and drove in a career-high four runs to lead the Red Sox past the Expos before a mostly pro-Red Sox crowd of 32,965 at Montreal. It was the largest non-opening-day crowd in Olympic Stadium since 34,518 showed up for a game against Houston on July 19, 1997.

Chicago White Sox 3, Milwaukee 2--Rocky Biddle (2-5) won for the first time in 15 starts since April 9 and Sandy Alomar hit a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning at Miller Park.

Florida 7, Baltimore 1--Kevin Millar, Charles Johnson and Mike Lowell homered at Miami to help the Marlins win for the fourth time in five games.