Perfection Is a Distant Memory for Cone

A year from his perfect game, New York Yankee pitcher David Cone showed again Monday night how far he has fallen in that time.

Cone gave up a two-run homer to Mike Lieberthal and a three-run shot to Pat Burrell in losing for the sixth consecutive time, 10-8, to Philadelphia.

“Clearly I’m down. Clearly I’m frustrated,” said Cone (1-8), who last won on April 28. “But I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to end things this way. This has to end. Either I’m going to turn things around and help the team, or they will have to make a tough decision.”

Bobby Abreu had a grand slam in the seventh inning off Jason Grimsley for the Phillies, who won for the first time in seven games at Yankee Stadium dating back 50 years. They lost twice in the 1950 World Series, three times in 1998 and in the opener of the series Sunday.

Cone is in danger of being bumped from the Yankee rotation. With only one win in 17 starts and the emergence of Dwight Gooden, a change could come soon.

But Manager Joe Torre expressed confidence in Cone before the game--saying he would start again in five days--and remained that way afterward.

“I have to give him more leeway,” Torre said. “I want David Cone to be successful, and I know he does too. I’m still optimistic about his ability. I need to make sure he doesn’t get too frustrated.”

Cone said it’s too late.

“This is my worst nightmare,” he said.

After working a perfect first inning, Cone walked Scott Rolen leading off the second and gave up Lieberthal’s towering homer, his 14th, to fall behind, 2-0. After a perfect third, Cone gave up four more runs in the fourth on an RBI single by Tom Prince and Burrell’s three-run homer.

“It’s a broken record,” he said. “Every start, it’s two pitches that kill me. I can’t keep the ball in the park.”

Cone, 37, is 3-13 with a 5.86 ERA in 30 starts since his perfect game against Montreal last July 18.

San Francisco 10, Texas 8--J.T. Snow hit two home runs and drove home the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning for the Giantsat San Francisco.

Snow, the lifetime leader in interleague RBIs with 69, had five Monday night.

Marvin Benard also homered for the Giants, who won for the 12th time in 14 games.

Arizona 7, Seattle 0--Geraldo Guzman (2-0) allowed four hits over eight innings in his second major league start and the Diamondbacks won at Phoenix.

Alex Cabrera, in his first game back after time on the disabled list, hit his second homer and had a sacrifice fly for Arizona, which won for only the third time in eight games.

Tampa Bay 8, Atlanta 6--At St. Petersburg, Fla., Fred McGriff homered and drove in three runs for the Devil Rays, who beat Atlanta for the first time in franchise history. Only three expansion teams have gone longer without beating an opponent than the Devil Rays.

The Colorado Rockies lost their first 16 games against Atlanta in 1993-94, the New York Mets lost eight in a row to the Cincinnati Reds and the 1969 Montreal Expos dropped their first eight against Houston.

Chicago White Sox 11, Milwaukee 2--Frank Thomas hit his 29th homer and rookie Jon Garland (1-1) earned his first major league victory in the White Sox victory at Chicago.

Chicago Cubs 3, Kansas City 1--Scott Downs (4-3) gave up only one run in seven innings at Kansas City for the Cubs, who won their fourth game in a row.

Rick Aguilera got three outs for his 19th save in 25 chances.

Boston 7, Montreal 3--Troy O’Leary hit a three-run homer and Nomar Garciaparra drove in two runs and raised his batting average to .400 in the Red Sox’s victory at Boston.

Garciaparra went three for three with two walks and singled in a run in the eighth inning.

Cleveland 8, Houston 6--Rookie Tim Drew earned his first major league victory and Travis Fryman’s three-run double capped the Indians’ six-run fifth inning in their win at Cleveland.

Drew, making his second big league start, gave up two runs and three hits in five innings. The younger brother of St. Louis outfielder J.D. Drew walked four, struck out three and gave the Indians a reason to keep him around for a while as their No. 5 starter.

Detroit 3, Cincinnati 1--Rich Becker drove in two runs and Dave Mlicki (4-9), making his first start since July 4, gave up a run and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings of work for the Tigers at Detroit.

The Tigers have won 16 of their last 25 games.

Baltimore 5, Florida 3--Delino DeShields homered and drove in three runs to back a solid seven-inning pitching performance by Jose Mercedes (4-4) for the Oriolesat Baltimore.

DeShields’ fifth homer, his second in two games, put Baltimore up, 2-0, in the first inning. He added a sacrifice fly in the third before Albert Belle singled in a run for a 4-3 lead.

St. Louis 8, Minnesota 3--Chris Richard homered on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues for the Cardinalsat Minneapolis.