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GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- Denny Neagle made quite a first impression at a
most opportune time for the New York Yankees.
|  | | Denny Neagle struck out three in his Yankees debut. |
Pitching in pinstripes for the first time, Neagle took a shutout
into the eighth inning as the Yankees beat the Philadelphia
Phillies 3-1 on Tuesday night.
"You always want to get that first win under your belt,"
Neagle said. "You want to let the guys know this why they got
you."
David Justice hit a solo homer and Bernie Williams added a
two-run triple off Curt Schilling (5-6) for New York, which has won
10 of 14.
Schilling finished with a four-hitter, but it was Neagle's
night.
His only contributions in his first four days in New York were
making kooky sounds of train whistles and barking dogs. But when he
took the mound Tuesday wearing Roger Clemens' old No. 12, Neagle
(1-0) showed why the Yankees gave up four prospects to acquire him
from Cincinnati.
"What can you say?" owner George Steinbrenner said. "He was
magnificent, he hadn't pitched in 11 days. Tremendous."
Neagle pitched ahead in the count and let the Phillies hit
flyballs to all parts of spacious Yankee Stadium. He got 16 of 24
outs in the air, and the few that were hit hard were right at
fielders until Ron Gant hit a solo homer with two outs in the
eighth.
"People think I'm a groundball pitcher because of my changeup,
but my best pitch is the fastball up," Neagle said. "With the
deep center field and Bernie Williams out there to go get them,
this is suited to my style of pitching."
Neagle struck out Bobby Abreu to end the eighth and walked off
the field triumphantly to chants of "Denny! Denny!"
"I felt the most incredible rush leaving the bullpen to go to
the dugout before the game," he said. "The crowd was behind me
all game."
With his parents in the stands watching, Neagle couldn't have
scripted a better Yankees debut. The left-hander, who was 8-2 for
the Reds, allowed one run and five hits in eight innings. He struck
out three and walked two.
He was at his toughest when the Phillies put runners on base,
holding them to one hit in 12 at-bats in those situations.
"I thought he was terrific," Phillies manager Terry Francona
said. "His velocity was better than we had ever seen. He might
have been a little juiced tonight."
Neagle's performance came at a time when questions surround the
Yankees as pitching staff. Orlando Hernandez was placed on the
disabled list before Tuesday's game and David Cone lost his
career-high sixth consecutive decision on Monday.
Neagle overshadowed those problems for at least one night and
gave manager Joe Torre the perfect 60th birthday present.
"When you add a quality pitcher to the club and have him come
in and do the job, especially with El Duque going down, was a big
lift for us," Torre said.
Schilling, also coveted by the Yankees before they traded for
Neagle, was even more dominating early. He allowed only one hit in
the first four innings before running into trouble from an old
nemesis in the fifth.
Justice, who entered the game 9-for-25 with three homers off
Schilling, led off with a line drive that barely cleared the
right-field fence for his 24th homer. As Justice rounded the bases,
Schilling looked at the fence in astonishment, apparently surprised
the ball was high enough to be a home run.
The Yankees added two insurance runs in the sixth. Chuck
Knoblauch walked with one out, went to second on Derek Jeter's
single and both runners advanced on a groundout. Williams, who
entered the game third in the AL with 85 RBI, lined a 2-0 pitch
into the left-center field gap for a two-run triple.
"No question that took a huge amount of pressure off," Torre
said. 'Now you can throw strikes and still allow a Ron Gant homer
without it hurting you."
Schilling pitched his third complete game of the season. He
struck out five and walked three.
"He made the pitches he had to make tonight and I didn't,"
Schilling said. "That's why we lost."
Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 22nd save.
Game
notes
Neagle beat Philadelphia 7-0 on May 2. He allowed one hit
in six innings. ... Phillies C Mike Lieberthal and SS Desi
Relaford, who both left Monday's game with injuries, did not start.
Lieberthal will miss 3-4 games with a sprained left ankle and
Relaford is day-to-day with inflammation in his right shoulder. ...
The Phillies are 1-7 at Yankee Stadium. ... Philadelphia finished
interleague play 9-9; the Yankees are 11-6 with a possible makeup
game against Florida left.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Philadelphia Clubhouse
NY Yankees Clubhouse
Yanks' Hernandez heads to DL with sprained elbow
RECAPS
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Denny Neagle says that he is fitting in with the Yankees. (Courtesy: MSG)
wav: 218 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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