I read somewhere this pushed everything back one week.

Your right they pushed the season back like 5 days but they also added extra off days in the playoffs to accommodate tv better. Its a mix of both, but either way, it sucks

Oh my God, Im so pumped up waiting for this damn series. Im going to be in Philly Saturday night partying for Halloween, its my girlfriends hometown, I really dont know how Im going to be able to handle it.

How does anyone feel about the Phillies pitching Martinez in game 2? I think its a big mistake, and I think he gets pulled in the 3rd or 4th inning. His success in the regular season came against some pretty weak teams, he hasnt pitched in a while, and I think he is ripe to get hammered.

I think it's a mistake to not pitch Lee and Hamels as much as they can, but the "hasn't pitched in a while" part is a good thing for Pedro, isn't it?

Also, Pedro loves the big stage and there's nothing bigger than Yankee Stadium in the World Series, so I wouldn't want to bet against him.

Of course, I wouldn't want to bet against that Yankee lineup either.

He literally raped the Dodgers last week. Literally. Anyways, it's clearly an awesome decision. Pedro pitching against the Yankees in NYC in a huge game again? It's pretty much the only thing exciting about this World Series for me, other than hoping for the satisfaction of watching the Yankees lose.

I think it makes plenty of sense too. Extra days of rest are a good thing for him, even if it's 2 weeks. In NY he doesn't have to bat. He raped the Dodgers, in LA. It's so much more exciting to have him pitch in NY than in Philly.

Note: I would not bet too strongly on him, however. Also, things could always change and he could get bumped back.

This is true. But, then again, he's still PEDRO MARTINEZ. I mean, he's only a year older than Pettitte, a year younger than Mariano, and a year younger than Mussina was last year when he won 20 games.

So, if given the option, I'd probably be happier not seeing Pedro at all, thank you very much.

LOL, you would rather have gotten AJ Happ??...as much as i love the kid I am willing to go with Pedro. I know you guys weren't watching real close but he made LA look silly for 7 innings. The main reason the Phillies didn't sweep the series was cause Chuck took him out.

Right now for a game or two I would take Pedro over Hammels. Lets face it boys it is going to take some runs to win this series.

I'm pretty sure you misinterpreted LLY's post. He is a Yankees fan, so he is saying he would rather not have to face Pedro Martinez at all, because Pedro Martinez is sometimes still really good.

Yea, quick scan...my bad. I can't wait to get this going to tonight...13 hour and and 40 minutes to first pitch.

looking forward to tonight!

Let's do this. Let the World Series Begin!

Lee has been brilliant tonight, and CC was vulnerable. I hope AJ is better tomorrow. This one isn't looking good for us. Dropping two would be death.

These things can slip away quickly.

Huge game tonight, huh? All the pressure is on NY too, although the Yankees are of course capable of coming back from down 0-2, even on the road.

Lee was off the chart, CC was good...as I told you this Phillies is team is different. The series is not over but you are not playing the Angles, the Twins or others. Look at it this way. CC got beat at home and the Phillies, outside of Lee, didn't play their A game.



If the Yanks would get in the above stituation...would you be willing to discuss odds...and amounts. don't be shy now. You opened the door don't be afraid...Remember this is not the Angles you are playing...nor it is a n American league team who is scared of the Yanks...It may not get back to NY reguardless of tonights outcome.

It'll be a cold day in hell when I bet on the Yankees.

LOL I don't blame you!!

I give the Phillies a little bit of credit, but CC wasn't having his best game. He was off. I mean, he walked two people in the first inning and loaded the bases, which is something he almost never does. I don't know if it was nerves or if he was out late last night drinking or if it was "just baseball," but he wasn't on his A game.

The Phillies are a good team because they're able to pounce on the weaknesses of their opponents, and that's what they did last night. We didn't come out strong, and they did. It helps that their ace starter was lights-out. That makes it easy to be confident.

We were able to get away with weak games against the Twins and Angels. We were able to be sluggish offensively and still have a chance of coming back in late innings.

To win this series, we're going to have to be the Yankees in the regular season after the All-Star break. We're going to have to get every player going, and we're going to need to at least threaten in almost every inning.

Big game tonight. We can't lose it, really.

I hope we get Dr. Jekyll and not Mr. Hyde (or whichever one is better in accordance to this metaphor.).

For the most part I can agree with this post. CC may not have had his best stuff but he wasn’t the problem. He did what a pitcher is supposed to do and that is giving his team a chance to win. The Phillies made him work hard for every out…well at least most of them. That is the same thing they did to him last year in the play-offs with Milwaukee.



It is going to take 7 or more runs to win tonight for either in my opinion. I could see both bullpens in action by the 5^th…

Pretty good game, although not terribly exciting. Pedro gave the Phillies a chance to win, and did about as well or better than any reasonable person would have predicted. I thought he was done after 6, and (results-based) I think it would have been wise.

You are spot on...and if you are going to leave him in. The hook is out before the lead-off single lands...

All in all I thought it was ok, back to Philly with a split. I thought the Yankee crowd was pretty tight. It was my first time their but I thought the crown was very quiet. I was suprised by how scared they were...just didn't see that coming.

The guys in our section 136 were very cool. So good natured yelling, some very knowledgeable fans, they love Johnie Damon...good night, good ball game. We'll see you at the bank on Saturday night.

Leaving for golf now.

The Yankees looked so much more patient against Pedro then they did against Lee. Is it just me or are you sick of everyone complaining about the umps? Last night bad calls went both ways but all you are hearing about is how Charlie Manuel is bitching that Utley was safe. The plays last night were very close plays unlike the last series when they screwed up some pretty obvious plays. Other then that I like Pettite vs. Hamels in Game 3.

You know what I love about this win?

For 3 hours yesterday I had to listen to Colin Cowherd preach about how Burnett gives up too many walks, and the Phillies thrive off walks. Pedro is 9-1 in his last 10 starts, he's one of the smartest pitchers in baseball, he's going to tilt the Yankee lineup.

Thank goodness Colin Cowherd was dead wrong.

Okay.


Great game by AJ, obviously, but it was also a very good game by Pedro. Pedro just made a few more mistakes and seemed a bit less durable toward the later innings. It still shocks me to see a guy throw his hardest fastball at 88 miles per hour and to see so many Yankees completely whiff on it. There are just so many intangibles in pitching, release, changing speeds, hiding the ball, playing head games with the batter, moving around the plate, and Pedro still has all of those down. It was pretty clear last night why he was so dominant. If he can throw those same pitches, but in the 90's, the guy's basically unhittable.

I still like the decision to put Pedro in last night. Pettitte vs Hamels should be a good game as well, though I don't expect it to be as much as a pitcher's duel as last night. Each are capable of throwing shutout baseball and each are capable of making a few mistakes. Each obviously have World Series experience. I think it's a tie between the two, and the team that can capitalize best offensively will win.

What else about last night? Derek Jeter's bunt was silly. The double play to end that inning didn't happen. The double play with Mariano on the mound should have been safe at first. It was nice to see Teixeira and Matsui hitting, even if A-Rod isn't for the first two games. It was also nice to see Cano get a good hit, and it was especially nice that it was on the first pitch (if I recall correctly). So many times during the season he would hit the first pitch back out there for a single. Its a sign of his confidence that he did it again in the world series.

Benching Swisher was the correct move. Not using a reliever other than Mariano was the right move. Having Joba give up a run in the 8th inning would have been too devastating to watch. I'm not sure why he and Phil are so shaky recently. Maybe it's nerves, but they're both better pitchers than they've shown. Phil especially. He's just hasn't attacked in the post season, which is why he's walked people in key moments. He needs to stop over thinking things and just throw hard strikes. That's hist job.

At this point, yes very much. There were some truly bad calls in earlier games, but now they're making a big deal of it like it's something new every time an ump misses an extremely close play. Like, that double-play ball late in the game was essentially a tie at first, to the human eye. They slow it down and freeze the one frame in which he appears to be safe for a nanosecond, and then call it a game changing play (which it wasn't, really).

Anyways, tie should have gone to the runner, but my point is that it's not a big deal, and really doesn't matter much in a spot like that (I'm blanking on the other call they missed). I mean, the batter failed pretty hard, it was just a matter of how hard. He was safe by like 1/500th of a step, but it's not like it was a play at the plate. He was trying to avoid a double-play, and maybe in that case the tie should actually go to the fielder, cuz the runner is an asshole for hitting a double-play-ball.




Yep. Manuel was doing his best Grady Little impression that inning. They showed Pedro and Manuel talking between the 6th and 7th and I thought Manuel was telling him he was done, but the paper said he was asking Pedro if he felt good for another inning. Dude Charlie, in his entire major league career he has never said no to that question. You gotta be the one to decide, or else don't blame him for leaving himself in too long.

Btw Ak, I'm glad we can totally forget about arguments in the politics forum here. Ahh baseball: the great...bringer-together of...people.

If someone said before the series that cc would get clobbered and arod would be 0 for 7 in the first two games, and the series would be tied up, I would take it.

I disagree that Hamels and Pettite are evenly matched.

If you mean with 2 strikes, then yes obv. But before that:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/d...-the-jeter-bunt

Pedro's quick pitch to Jeter gave me sexlexia.

Ahhh. Damn you, Halloween! So angry I missed most of this game. I went out when it was 3-0 Phillies and feared the worse.

But, if nothing else, the Yankees have proved this season that they can rally. 2-1 Yanks, and we have CC coming in (and not against Lee).

We win tomorrow, and we at worse only need to take one in the Bronx. Let's hope CC on 3 days rest can get the job done (he has to hit, too). If he can, we're going to be in good shape in this series.

Didnt know instant replay was instituted for the series.

Is this sarcasm?

NO 100% dead serious

It was instituted in the middle of last season. They can review fair or foul HRs or check to see if a HR made it over the wall or not
Dont feel like looking up everything they can review but google it

Nope I'm pretty sure that's it: just home run calls.

Wow. Another huge win by the Yankees. CC was pretty good, though I could have done without that last home run. Joba would have been fantastic, you know, if not for that home run that almost made me jump out my window.

But we were able to put up three runs off a fantastic at-bat by Damon, an odd steal of second and third by Damon, Teixeira getting hit by a pitch, A-Rod getting a huge RBI, and Posada getting a two run base hit.

Poor Lidge. I don't know why they put him in against the Yankees anymore. He hasn't exactly had a great year against us.

One more win, and the series is ours.

I rarely say this, but go Yankees. I dislike the Philllies slightly more than the Yankees.

<3

Not being an expert on strategy, I Would really like to know where the hell the third basemen was.

When I saw damon break for third when the guy had the ball right behind him I thoughht WTF.

And even tho Im a yankee fan, Im still stunned they are up on philly 3-1.

LOL full agreement here!!



Obviously you are correct. Pettite was able to battle without his best stuff, from behind and give his team a chance...Hammels went on life tilt with one 3rd strike he thought he should have gotten...sigh.



I thought the Damon steal of 3rd was over rated. Lidge has to throw his slider, period...if carlos doesn't block it you lose but if he deson't throw it you lose anyway.

Teixiera was at the plate. He is a dead pull hitter as a lefty so most teams employ a shift against him. That was the 3rd baseman covering the steal at second. Damon made a very heads up play.....although it didnt really matter much since A-Rod smacked a double off the wall anyway (and Damon would have scored from 2nd easily on it of course).

So overthinking the situation may have cost philly the win?

Well wether he "has to" throw it or not doesnt matter, fact is he didnt throw, and the reason he didnt was Damon being on 3rd. So, no I would not say the steal was overrated.


Damon made an excellent heads up play, but it was more than that, I heard Larry Boa on the radio this morning and apparently he and Damon used to talk about that possibility being available, so he was looking for that. Additionally, you cant say it didnt matter because Arod hit that double ostensibly because he was getting fastballs he wouldnt have gotten had Damon not been there.


I HATE pitching Burnett tonight in Game 5!! Should be Gaudin, and AJ at home in Gm 6.

I agree with you that the double steal was a huge play in the game, but the point is that pitch selection trumps a baserunner there, or should have. If you can't trust yourself to throw a slider or 2 and have your catcher keep the runner on third, what are you doing on the mound in the 9th inning of a tied World Series game?

The Damon thing was nice because it altered the way the pitcher had to throw, but the real mistake in the inning was of course hitting Teixeira. Teixeira is the guy you want to go after there since he's been pretty weak in the post season. You should be avoiding at all costs having to face A-Rod, who has been fantastic this post season and has been pretty great in the clutch against Lidge.




I'm pretty mixed about it. The Yankee plan is clearly to win it tonight, but my fear is that we're going to end up burning one of our aces against Lee. Losing this game 2-1 doesn't help us.

But then again, Gaudin hasn't pitched in a long time, and hasn't started in much longer. I think Girardi fears the unknown. Having them blow out Gaudin and win their last game at home would give them pretty decent momentum coming into the stadium. Right now, they're incredibly beat down, and Girardi is looking to deliver the finishing blow.

In my mind, it's a tough call. I can't say I hate putting AJ in there, but I'm not exactly what our plan is for games 6 and 7. Do we put Pettitte in again on short rest, and then CC again for 7? I think that's what Girardi has had in mind all along, and has only been toying with Gaudin for show.

I do not like Burnett going today but Since September 28, Gaudin has only thrown 2.1 innings. Not sure how much I trust him. BUT: If you throw Gaudin out today, you are almost playing w/ house money going up against Lee. If they win, you didn't risk anything but if you lose you have Burnett on full rest in game 6, CC in game 7 with Pettite available in the pen. BUT, then do you want to risk it going to game 7. Im listening to michael kay right now and those are the arguments. Also in the NL Park w/ Burnett pitching the bottom of your order looks like: Cano (been terrible in postseason), Swisher (terrible) Gardner, Molina, Burnett. Meaning you are playing with Jeter, Damon, Arod, Tex as your only good hitters right now

Bart Scott is certifiably 100% bonkers.

Manuel has been unreasonably stubborn in his blind faith of Lidge. Lidge actually shouldn't have been on the roster at all.

A trait Manuel shares with lots of managers concerning veterans who have lost it (a la scioscia-guererro).

although guerrero did rather well in the post-season

How is Pettitte on 3 days rest?