Yanks' Cone Is Pitcher Perfect

On a day Don Larsen was celebrated at Yankee Stadium, David Cone pitched a perfect game of his own.

Cone dazzled the Montreal Expos with a wide assortment of pitches Sunday, throwing the 14th perfect game in modern history to lead the Yankees to a 6-0 victory.

On the very same field where Larsen pitched a perfect game against Brooklyn in Game 6 of the 1956 World Series, the only one in Series history, Cone pitched the first no-hitter in the three-year history of interleague play.

"Once we got that big lead, I really relaxed," Cone said.

"When Knoblauch made the great play, I decided there was some kind of Yankee aura. Maybe this was my day," Cone said. "Maybe there is something to this magic."

Cone (10-4), who got his first shutout in exactly four years, didn't go to a three-ball count all day and struck out 10.

When David Wells pitched the only other regular-season perfect game in Yankees' history, against Minnesota on May 17, 1998, Cone sat next to Wells between innings, calming his teammate.

"I already talked to Boomer and he welcomed me to the club," Cone said just minutes after the game ended.

	David Cone threw the 14th perfect game in modern MLB history Sunday. (AP)

"Wow, I'm going to have a beer for Cone," he said.

Cone was given a standing ovation when he walked to the mound in the ninth, and the crowd of 41,930 remained on its feet.

Cone struck out Chris Widger, then retired pinch-hitter Ryan McGuire on a fly to left that Ricky Ledee almost dropped.

Needing just one more out, pinch-hitter Orlando Cabrera worked the count to 1-1, then hit a popup that third baseman Scott Brosius gloved in foul territory halfway toward the plate for the final out.

"Until he caught that last ball, I wasn't going to relax," Cone said.

As soon as Brosius caught it, Cone dropped to his knees and the Yankees rushed out of the dugout and mobbed him. They lifted him on their shoulders and carried him to the edge of the dugout as the crowd stood and waved wildly.

AP

David Cone falls to his knees after throwing a perfect game Sunday vs. the Expos.

"I was just thinking about my day," Larsen said. "I'm sure David will think about this every day of his life."

Sunday was actually Yogi Berra Day at Yankee Stadium and Larsen was on hand to help celebrate Berra's return this season after a 14-year feud with owner George Steinbrenner.

After all, it was Berra who caught Larsen's game.

"I'm glad we were both here for this," Berra said.

Cone threw 88 pitches, nine fewer than Larsen needed for his no-hitter against the Dodgers. He had pitched three one-hitters in his career, the last on May 22, 1994, against the Angels. But he had never pitched a no-hitter, much less a perfect game.

Fans sensed the possibility of perfection in the seventh inning. After Cone got Wilton Guerrero to ground out to third, he got ahead of James Mouton 1-2. With the fans on their feet urging Cone on, Mouton swung threw a nasty slider that brke more than one foot off the plate.

"I kind of fought the feeling," Cone said. "I said I'm not going to try to get cute now. I said in order to get through the game, I had to get through the sixth and seventh quickly."

Cone used the same pitch to get Rondell White to end the seventh, setting off the first of many standing ovations.

The free-swinging Expos made Cone's job easy, getting out early in the count. Cone did the rest with a biting slider, a devastating splitter and a hopping fastball.

With his wide assortment of arm angles, Cone simply overwhelmed a lineup that had never faced him before.
Cone twice had long breaks between innings, but didn't appear fazed. After a five-run second inning by the Yankees off Javier Vazquez (2-5), Cone came back and struck out the side on 12 pitches in the third.

After a 33-minute rain delay with one out in the bottom of the third, Cone needed only seven pitches to get through the fourth.

New York backed him with the second inning off Vazquez, recalled from Triple-A Ottawa before the game. Chili Davis walked with one out and Ledee hit the next pitch halfway up the upper deck in right field for his third homer.

Joe Girardi added an RBI double in the inning and Derek Jeter capped the scoring with a two-run homer, his 16th.

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