Daal beats ex-team

Pat Burrell is making it tough for manager Larry Bowa to bench him again.

Burrell, benched the previous two games, homered and drove in three runs as the Philadelphia Phillies overcame Luis Gonzalez`s 47th homer and beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 Friday night.

"I want to be out there as much as anybody," Burrell said. "He knows that."

Burrell responded well the last time he was benched, too. He had a career-high five RBI, including a three-run homer, in a 10-1 win over the Mets on July 20 after sitting earlier in the week.

He also came off the bench to deliver a key pinch-hit RBI single in a 5-2 win over Toronto a week before that.

"Burrell hits extra every day. He works. His work ethic is second to none," Bowa said. "I don`t want to keep benching Pat to make sure he gets three hits the next day."

Reggie Sanders had two homers for the Diamondbacks, who lead San Francisco by 1 1/2 games in the NL West. The Phillies are one game behind first-pace Atlanta in the East. The Braves lost 4-1 to Los Angeles.

Omar Daal allowed one run in five innings, improving to 12-4 after going 4-19 last season.

Burrell gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI double. His two-run homer in the fourth made it 6-1.

"You just can`t spot a good team runs that early," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said.

After Daal left, the Diamondbacks rallied against struggling right-hander Turk Wendell.

Gonzalez led off the sixth with a long homer into the upper deck in right to cut it to 6-2. After Mark Grace`s one-out walk, Sanders hit a drive into the center-field seats to make it 6-4.

Wendell, booed loudly by fans at Veterans Stadium, retired the next two batters to get out of the inning. As he walked toward the dugout, Wendell faked tossing his glove into the stands.

When he was with Mets, Wendell heaved his glove into the crowd at Shea Stadium during a 10-1 loss to Atlanta on June 22. In 13 outings since coming to the Phillies on July 28, Wendell is 0-2 with a 12.00 ERA.

"I deserved it," Wendell said of the boos. "But I`m trying to do the best I can. If they can`t understand that, it`s too damn bad. If you are going to boo me like that, boo me when I do well. There will be a day. Be true to your boo. That`s what I told the fans in New York."

Dennis Cook, acquired in the same trade with New York, allowed one run in 1 1-3 innings, and Ricky Bottalico retired both batters he faced in the eighth. Jose Mesa worked a perfect ninth for his 33rd save in 35 chances.

After stranding 15 runners in a 2-1 extra-inning loss to Houston on Thursday night, the Phillies scored three runs in the first off Brian Anderson (3-9).

Jimmy Rollins and Marlon Anderson opened with back-to-back singles. Burrell`s double scored Rollins for a 1-0 lead. Anderson scored on a groundout by Bobby Abreu and Tomas Perez`s RBI single made it 3-0.

Sanders cut it to 3-1 on his first homer in the second. Abreu added another RBI groundout in the second for a 4-1 lead.

Gonzalez doubled off Cook to start the eighth, moved to third on Matt Williams` single and scored on Grace`s fielder`s choice grounder as the Diamondbacks closed to 6-5.

Burrell threw Damian Miller out at the plate to end the fifth for his NL-leading 16th assist.

"Hitting homers is great, but in situations like that, you get to throw somebody out in a one-run game, it means a lot," Burrell said.

Anderson allowed six runs and eight hits in four innings. He is 1-6 since beating San Francisco on May 22.

"I feel like I`m the anchor keeping this team from doing great things," Anderson said.

Game notes:
Sanders had his fifth multiple-homer game. He is 8-for-17 with four homers against Daal. ... Gonzalez`s homer was the 18th to land in the upper deck in right field at Veterans Stadium. .... Phillies 3B Scott Rolen didn`t play because of a strained left rib cage. Rolen hurt himself prior to Thursday`s game, but was able to play. He is day-to-day. ... Perez swung and missed at a pitch that hit him near the belt to strike out against Byung-Hyun Kim in the eighth.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News