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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Chicago White Sox didn't need any help from
Chuck Knoblauch to beat the New York Yankees again.
|  | | Jose Valentin slides into second safely with a double, one of his two hits. |
Knoblauch played error-free one night after the worst fielding
game of his career, but it wasn't enough to overcome another strong
start by James Baldwin as the White Sox won 3-1 Friday for their
fifth straight victory.
Chicago (42-24), which has the best record in baseball, swept a
three-game series in Cleveland and have won the first two in New
York.
"Everybody put a lot of hype on playing Cleveland and New
York," Chicago's Chris Singleton said. "Success breeds confidence
and right now we're confident in our ability to win games."
The White Sox have won nine straight road games for the first
time since 1991 and leads the AL Central by 6½ games, sending
notice to the AL's best teams that they will be a factor all
season.
The Yankees trail Boston by a half-game in the AL East and are
out of first place this late in the season for the first time since
1997.
Baldwin avenged his only loss of the season and became the first
White Sox pitcher to start the season 10-1 since Joel Horlen in
1967. He allowed six hits, including a homer to Scott Brosius in
the third, in 7 1-3 innings to improve to 8-0 on the road.
"I had a good curveball tonight and I threw my changeup for
strikes when I was behind in the count," Baldwin said. "Tonight
was a big win for us. We didn't have a lot of chances but we were
able to capitalize."
The White Sox got a sacrifice fly by Magglio Ordonez in the
sixth inning, an RBI groundout by pinch-hitter Tony Graffanino off
Mike Stanton (1-1) in the seventh, and a run-scoring single by Mark
Johnson in the ninth.
Bobby Howry got five outs for his third save.
Knoblauch made three throwing errors in Thursday's 12-3 loss to
Chicago, getting booed by the crowd and sent home early by manager
Joe Torre to avoid the postgame media scrutiny.
The Yankees second baseman was back at the park early Friday,
joking with reporters and teammates. He received a 20-second
standing ovation before coming to bat in the first inning and lined
a single to center.
"I was surprised at how good it was and how supportive it was
for Chuck," starter David Cone said. "It made me proud to be a
Yankee."
Knoblauch then turned his left ankle running to second base on
Derek Jeter's grounder and limped his way through the rest of the
game. He went 2-for-4 and only got one popup in the field before
being replaced by Clay Bellinger to start the ninth.
"Nothing's changed. It's not going away," Knoblauch said. "It
probably would have been better if I did get some grounders. But I
felt pretty comfortable out there for whatever reason."
Baldwin's outing spoiled a strong performance by Cone, who
allowed one run in six innings but remained winless in his last
eight starts.
Buoyed by pitching three hitless innings in Sunday's rained out
game against the Mets, Cone retired the first 10 batters before
Jose Valentin doubled in the fourth.
"Now I feel like I know what I'm doing again," Cone said. "I
feel better but I've got to be consistent the whole second half if
we're going to win it."
Cone ran into trouble in the sixth, allowing a leadoff single to
Johnson and walking Ray Durham on four pitches. That brought pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and all the Yankees
infielders except Knoblauch to the mound, though this time there
was no cause for concern. It was Knoblauch's decision to stay at second base during a
pitching change Thursday that contributed to Torre sending him home
early.
Jose Valentin then fouled off two bunt attempts before dropping
a perfect bunt down the third-base line for a single. "I gave the bunt sign for two strikes," manager Jerry Manuel
said. "He must have seen how ticked off I was and decided to get
one down."
With the bases loaded, Cone got Frank Thomas to line out to
third, before allowing a sacrifice fly to Ordonez, tying the game
at 1.
Singleton tripled off Stanton to lead off the seventh. One out
later with the infield in, Graffanino hit a hard grounder to
shortstop Jeter's right. Jeter stopped it on his knees and only had
a play at first.
Game notes
New York's Ricky Ledee, mentioned in several trade rumors,
is hitless in his last 15 at-bats. ... Baldwin, who lost 7-0 at
home to New York on May 26, has a 1.67 ERA on the road. ... The
last time Chicago won nine straight on the road was July 14-Aug.
11, 1991. ... Cone is 3-11 with a 4.69 ERA since pitching a perfect
game against Montreal last July 18.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Chi. White Sox Clubhouse
NY Yankees Clubhouse
On day after, Knoblauch has new outlook
Yanks eye deal for Twins 2B Walker
RECAPS
Boston 7
Toronto 4
Detroit 5
Cleveland 2
Chi. White Sox 3
NY Yankees 1
Tampa Bay 9
Texas 2
Baltimore 4
Anaheim 3
Oakland 8
Kansas City 3
Minnesota 7
Seattle 2
Chicago Cubs 9
Montreal 8
Florida 8
Pittsburgh 3
Philadelphia 2
Atlanta 1
NY Mets 7
Milwaukee 1
Arizona 0
Colorado 0
San Diego 8
Cincinnati 5
St. Louis 6
Los Angeles 3
San Francisco 7
Houston 4
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Joe Torre hopes Knoblauch can get Thursday out of his head.
wav: 57 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Chuck Knoblauch says the fans got him going on Friday against the White Sox.
wav: 77 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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