Another Gem by Schilling and Maddux

Curt Schilling praised Greg Maddux for pitching “two incredible ballgames” this week.

The only problem for the Atlanta ace was that Schilling opposed him both times.

Schilling won his second matchup against Maddux in a week when Mike Lieberthal singled home the only run in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night at Philadelphia, giving the Phillies a 1-0 victory over the Braves.

In his 11th shutout, Schilling (2-0) pitched a two-hitter and struck out 10. He walked only one.

“He certainly, right now, is the most dominating pitcher in the league,” said Atlanta’s Chipper Jones, who got one of the two Brave hits. “It’s a testament to Curt Schilling that I’m the No. 3 hitter and I only got three at-bats.”

Schilling said he actually felt better in Sunday’s 2-1 victory over the Braves and Maddux, when he struck out 15 batters.

“I mixed it up a lot more tonight, and threw a lot more breaking stuff,” he said.

Schilling has a 0.35 earned-run average in three starts. He has given up only nine hits in 26 innings and struck out 34. He led the majors with 319 strikeouts last season.

Most importantly, Schilling said, the Phillies, who tied with the Chicago Cubs for the worst record in the NL last year, have won four in a row and are now in first place in the NL East.

“We’ve played well just about every day so far this year,” he said. “We’re playing the best teams in our division right now, and we have to prove to ourselves that we can play with them for nine innings every day.”

After Maddux worked eight scoreless innings, Mike Cather (0-1) relieved to start the ninth. Gregg Jefferies and Scott Rolen walked and Lieberthal grounded a one-out single up the middle that easily scored Jefferies.

Maddux got 15 groundball outs and struck out five. He gave up five hits--all singles--before being lifted after 95 pitches, 68 of which were strikes.

Maddux, a four-time Cy Young winner, is winless after three starts this season despite a 0.78 ERA.

The game took exactly two hours to play.

Chicago 13, Montreal 0--Henry Rodriguez, given a warm reception in his return to Olympic Stadium, celebrated with a career-high five hits at Montreal.

Rodriguez, traded to the Cubs last December, hit a three-run homer that highlighted a six-run first inning.

Rodriguez got a standing ovation from the crowd of 9,982 when he singled in the ninth inning.

Kevin Tapani (2-1) pitched a three-hitter for his eighth shutout. He struck out two and walked one.

San Diego 6, Arizona 4--Steve Finley hit a grand slam with two out in the ninth at San Diego and the Padres rallied for their fifth straight victory.

Former Padre ace Andy Benes pitched eight strong innings and hit a homer, giving Arizona a 4-2 lead. Manager Buck Showalter then turned it over to Felix Rodriguez to open the ninth.

Rodriguez gave up a leadoff single to Greg Vaughn and issued two-out walks to pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney and Quilvio Veras to load the bases.

Finley connected on a 0-and-1 pitch for his second homer of the season.

Milwaukee 5, New York 3--Forget all this talk about Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. challenging Roger Maris’ record this year. What about Jeromy Burnitz?

Milwaukee’s right fielder hit his major league-leading sixth homer in the Brewers’ victory at Milwaukee.

Burnitz’s line drive to center off Dave Mlicki (0-1) traveled 407 feet and gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead in the second.

The Brewers added four runs in the sixth--thanks to a major league record-tying three intentional walks--on two-run doubles by Marc Newfield and Mark Loretta.

Pittsburgh 4, Florida 1--The Marlins’ unprecedented first-to-worst slide continued with a club-record ninth consecutive loss at Pittsburgh.

Jose Guillen and Lou Collier tripled within a span of three batters in a three-run second inning as the talent-depleted Marlins fell to 1-9--the worst start ever for a defending World Series champion.

The worst start by a defending champion had been 1-8, an ignominious mark shared by the 1947 Cardinals, 1964 Dodgers and 1984 Orioles.

San Francisco 5, St. Louis 3--Pinch-hitter Marvin Benard singled home the go-ahead run with two out in the eighth inning at San Francisco.

J.T. Snow doubled off John Frascatore with one out and advanced on Stan Javier’s groundout. Benard batted for Julian Tavarez and singled for a 4-3 lead.

Braden Looper relieved and gave up consecutive singles to Brian Johnson and Bill Mueller, scoring another run.

Robb Nen pitched the ninth for his second save, ending the Cardinals’ three-game winning streak.