UNTOUCHABLE; WITH LARSEN THERE TO SEE IT, CONE PERFECT AGAINST EXPOS : N.Y. YANKEES 6, MONTREAL 0.

Byline: Murray Chass The New York Times

In an improbable setting, David Cone performed an improbable feat Sunday. He pitched the New York Yankees' second perfect game in little more than a year, playing in front of Don Larsen, who pitched a perfect World Series game for the Yankees in 1956.

Larsen was at Yankee Stadium to help celebrate Yogi Berra Day, and after Larsen threw the ceremonial first pitch to Berra, Cone took command of the mound and retired all 27 Montreal batters he faced as the Yankees clubbed the Expos 6-0.

Following David Wells' perfect game against Minnesota by one year, two months and one day, Cone made the Yankees the first team to pitch perfect games in successive seasons. In throwing baseball's 16th perfect game overall, he also became the first pitcher to pitch an interleague no-hitter in the three-year history of interleague games.

``I probably have a better chance of winning the lottery than this happening today,'' an exuberant Cone said. ``What an honor. All the Yankee legends here. Don Larsen in the park. Yogi Berra Day. It makes you stop and think about the Yankee magic and the mystique of this ballpark.''

Said Larsen: ``I'm sure David will think about this every day of his life.''

When the popup lofted by Orlando Cabrera on Cone's 88th pitch of the day descended softly into Scott Brosius' glove just on the foul side of the third-base line for the 27th out, Cone dropped to his knees and grabbed his head, ``in disbelief,'' he said later.

After hugs and high-fives all around, Joe Girardi, Chuck Knoblauch and Chili Davis hoisted Cone into the air and carried him toward the dugout. Acknowledging the roar of the crowd of 41,930, Cone first thrusted his right hand, holding his cap into the air, and then his left, with his glove still on it.

When the 36-year-old right-hander reached manager Joe Torre's office, he was handed the telephone.

``Boomer's on the phone,'' Cone related, meaning Toronto's Wells, with whom he became close as teammates. ``He welcomed me to the club and said he was going to fly in and party with me tonight, so I'm expecting him any minute.''

Of the previous 15 perfect games, including Larsen's, the only one ever pitched in the World Series, none could have been any crisper than the one that unfolded in the heat and haze of the Bronx.

Working in 95-degree heat, Cone had the Montreal hitters lunging at sliders the entire game. Unable to hit his sliders or his fastballs with any authority, they struck out 10 times and hit 13 balls into the air, nine to the outfield, four that remained in the infield. The Expos made only four outs on grounders.

But the fourth grounder was the one that nearly shattered Cone's brilliant, dominating performance. With one out in the eighth inning, Jose Virdo, the Montreal second baseman, rapped a grounder up the middle that had every chance to scoot into the outfield for a single.

But second baseman Chuck Knoblauch ranged far to his right, speared the ball with a backhanded grab and traveled another four steps on momentum before he stopped, turned, planted his feet deliberately and, unlike many times this season, fired a perfect throw to first for the 23rd out.

``It's getting to be a habit, huh?'' Larsen said as he rode the elevator to get to the Yankees clubhouse, where he threw his arms around Cone.

In his 13-year career, Cone has won the Cy Young Award once and has been a 20-game winner twice, but he has also experienced the downside of a career. His worst time occurred early in the 1996 season, when he was found to have an aneurysm in the upper part of his right arm. Surgery eliminated the problem, but he had no guarantee that he would continue his career or continue to be successful in it.

BY THE NUMBERS

27

Number of batters faced.

88

Number of pitches

14

Number of perfect games thrown in modern major-league history

3

Number of 1-hitters David Cone has pitched in his career

0

Number of batters to reach three-ball count

2

Number of pitchers to have thrown perfect games who were at Yankee Stadium on Sunday (Don Larsen, David Cone).

3

Number of perfect games thrown at Yankee Stadium (Larsen Oct. 8, 1956; David Wells, May 17, 1998; Cone, July 18, 1999)

NO-HIT NEW YORK

David Cone on Sunday became the 11th pitcher in Yankees' history to throw a no-hitter. Here's a look at New York's finest pitching performances:

April 24, 1917, George Mogridge at Boston, 2-1

Sept. 4, 1923, Sam Jones at Philadelphia, 2-0

Aug. 27, 1938, Monte Pearson vs. Cleveland, 13-0

July 12, 1951, Allie Reynolds at Cleveland, 1-0

Sept. 28, 1951, Allie Reynolds vs. Boston, 8-0

Oct. 8, 1956, Don Larsen vs. Brooklyn (NL), 2-0-y

July 4, 1983, Dave Righetti vs. Boston, 4-0

Sept. 4, 1993, Jim Abbott vs. Cleveland, 4-0

May 14, 1996, Dwight Gooden vs. Seattle, 2-0

May 17, 1998, David Wells vs. Minnesota, 4-0-x

July 18, 1999, David Cone vs. Montreal, 6-0-x

x-perfect game

y-perfect game in World Series

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos, 2 Boxes

PHOTO (1--Cover--Color) PERFECT DAY

Don Larsen throws perfect pitch, David Cone follows with 16th perfect game.

(2--Color) Pitcher David Cone is given the hero's treatment by his teammates after retiring 27 straight batters for the second Yankees perfect game in the last two years.

Associated Press

(3--Color) no caption (Scoreboard of Yankees and Expos game)

BOX: (1) NO-HIT NEW YORK (see text)

(2) PLAY-BY-PLAY