Phillies Rally to Beat Yankees

At Veterans Stadium, not even a new lineup could help the New York Yankees.

Rookie Marlon Anderson had two hits and drove in three runs, and Rob Ducey had a bases-loaded triple to cap a nine-run seventh inning Tuesday night as the Phillies rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Yankees, 11-5.

Starters Curt Schilling and Hideki Irabu were long gone when the Phillies erupted along with their largest, loudest crowd of the season for two runs in the sixth and nine in the seventh to hand New York its fifth loss in five games at the Vet.

“This is one of those series that no matter what kind of team they have and no matter what kind of team you have, you can’t win,” said Yankee reliever Mike Stanton, who pitched a scoreless inning after the onslaught.

Many in the crowd of 44,444 cheered when Yankee fans headed for the exits after Ducey capped the rally with a three-run triple against Dan Naulty. It was the Phillies’ biggest inning of the season and the biggest the Yankees have allowed.

It was also the most improbable of their losses at the Vet, which is truly the Yankees’ house of horrors.

“I know if I bought a ticket tonight, I’d come back tomorrow,” said Phillie Manager Terry Francona, addressing Philadelphia’s sagging average attendance of about 19,000 this season.

Said Schilling, who has criticized Phillie ownership for having a payroll below $30 million: “I think we made people understand that no matter what the differences are with the franchise, we’re fun to watch.”

Yankee Manager Joe Torre dropped the struggling Chuck Knoblauch out of the leadoff spot for the first time this season, batting him eighth. Paul O’Neill, who entered the game one for 21, was dropped to fifth with Bernie Williams moving up to the third spot.

“I shook it up after the ugliness last night,” said Torre, referring to a sloppy 6-5 loss Monday that started the series. “This wasn’t ugly. This was just a night when we didn’t pitch, except for Hideki.”

O’Neill responded by going two for four with a single and double, and Irabu turned in a much better performance than his last one at the Vet--a 5-1 loss that ended with the right-hander breaking a sprinkler head in the clubhouse.

Irabu gave up two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings before Ramiro Mendoza and Jason Grimsley (5-1) managed to blow a 5-0 lead against Schilling.

“Wow,” Schilling said, “I picked the wrong night to go six innings.”