Marlin Rout Has Many Witnesses

The largest crowd in three seasons at Pro Player Stadium turned out to watch the New York Yankees, who didn’t give their fans much to cheer about.

Chuck Smith pitched seven shutout innings and Alex Gonzalez homered twice to help the Florida Marlins defeat the Yankees, 11-1, Friday night before 44,313 at Miami.

With thousands of transplanted New Yorkers in the stands, support for the two teams was evenly divided, at least in the early going. But by the final pitch, fans were on their feet roaring for the Marlins.

“Our guys are not happy to see a big crowd pulling for the other team,” Florida Manager Tony Perez said. “That brings something out of us.”

The crowd was the largest for a Marlin home game since Sept. 2, 1998, against St. Louis.

“Any time you see us before a big crowd, you see us play good ball,” Florida’s Cliff Floyd said. “If we played in Seattle every night, we might have Seattle’s record.”

Floyd capped the rout with a three-run homer in the eighth, his 22nd.

Ted Lilly (3-2) lasted only 3 2/3 innings for the Yankees, who stranded eight runners, committed three errors and were guilty of at least two other misplays.

Gonzalez hit a two-run homer in the fourth and a leadoff homer in the sixth, giving him six this season. The Marlins, who stumbled through a 2-9 trip before the all-star break, won their third in a row to reach .500. That includes consecutive victories over the World Series champions by a combined score of 20-4.

“We’re playing against a ballclub that’s inspired,” New York Manager Joe Torre said. “They’re taking advantage of our mistakes.”

The Marlins improved to 9-5 in interleague play, including 5-0 at home. Their 48-32 all-time interleague record is the best in the majors.

Boston 3, New York Mets 1--David Cone made a triumphant return to Shea Stadium, winning in his first start in nine years at his former home, to lead the Red Sox past the Mets.

Backed by Manny Ramirez’s 27th homer, Cone (5-1) gave up three hits in 5 2/3 scoreless innings to win at Shea for the first time since Aug. 2, 1992.

Cone was traded from the Mets to Toronto 3 1/2 weeks after that and hadn’t pitched at Shea since--except for a one-batter relief appearance for the New York Yankees in last year’s World Series.

Chicago White Sox 7, Chicago Cubs 2--Mark Buehrle pitched eight strong innings and the White Sox homered twice while taking advantage of Kerry Wood’s wildness to beat the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Jose Valentin, playing on a tender hamstring, drew three walks and homered to lead off a four-run seventh inning, capped by Paul Konerko’s three-run homer.

Sammy Sosa hit his 30th homer to become the first player in Cub history to have eight 30-homer seasons.

Cleveland 5, Cincinnati 1--Rookie C.C. Sabathia struck out a career-high 11, and Roberto Alomar hit a three-run homer for the Indians at Cincinnati.

Alomar drew a long ovation from a pro-Indian crowd of 38,790 that reveled in a second consecutive Cleveland victory at Cinergy Field.

Montreal 6, Tampa Bay 2--Jose Vidro and Vladimir Guerrero hit consecutive homers in the first inning, and Mark Smith also homered to lead the Expos at Montreal.

Fred McGriff, who is deciding whether to accept a trade to the Chicago Cubs, hit a two-run homer off Javier Vazquez (8-9) in the fourth to account for Tampa Bay’s offense.

Texas 10, Colorado 2--Rafael Palmeiro and Andres Galarraga hit two-run homers in support of Rick Helling’s three-hit pitching over seven innings at Arlington, Texas, as the Rangers dealt the Rockies their fifth consecutive loss.

Michael Young went three for five with two homers and had a career-high four runs batted in for the Rangers, who have won five of seven. Young had two homers in 129 at-bats before Friday.

Atlanta 7, Baltimore 1--Tom Glavine gave up two hits in seven innings, and Andruw Jones drove in three runs for the Braves at Atlanta, as they remained tied for first in the National League East with Philadelphia.

Milwaukee 6, Minnesota 3--Richie Sexson drove in three runs with a homer and a single at Milwaukee as the Brewers dealt the Twins only their second loss in 12 games.

Philadelphia 5, Toronto 2--Doug Glanville’s go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning and Scott Rolen’s homer helped the Phillies rally at home.

Detroit 4, St. Louis 1--Steve Sparks threw a six-hitter and Bobby Higginson homered and had three RBIs for the Tigers at St. Louis.