(REUTERS/Tim Shaffer... Edited by me)
WP - Cliff Lee (2-0)
LP - A.J. Burnett (1-1)
SV - Ryan Madson (1)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| NYY | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 0 | |
| PHI | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | X | 8 | 9 | 0 |
WP - Cliff Lee (2-0)
LP - A.J. Burnett (1-1)
SV - Ryan Madson (1)
The 2009 World Series is headed back to the Bronx after the Phillies beat up on A.J. Burnett and the Yankees to take game 5 by the score of 8-6. Burnett was absolutely disgraceful tonight. Before he could record an out a 1-0 Yankees lead was now a 3-1 deficit thank to Chase Utley's fourth home run of the series. Then, after an easy bottom of the second, Burnett walked Utley and Ryan Howard to start the the third, then Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez followed with RBI singles and Burnett was done. David Robertson came in and got out of the inning, but did allow one of the base runners to score, a run that was charged to Burnett. In 2+ innings pitched, the on again off again right-hander allowed six earned runs on four hits and four walks and struck out two. Of his 53 pitches on the night, just 28 found the strike zone.
On a night where Cliff Lee didn't have nearly his best stuff -- five earned runs in seven innings -- all Burnett needed to do was pitch a decent game. Obviously he couldn't do that. It was truly a gutless performance from Burnett.
Robertson would then pitch a scoreless fourth before leaving the game. Overall it was a nice outing for D-Rob.
Pitches-strikes: Burnett, A 53-28, Robertson, D 27-17, Aceves, A 19-14, Coke 19-11, Hughes, P 12-10.
Robertson would then pitch a scoreless fourth before leaving the game. Overall it was a nice outing for D-Rob.
The Yanks got a run closer in the fifth cutting the Phillies lead to 6-2. With one out Eric Hinske walked and then moved to third on a single by Derek Jeter. Johnny Damon then drove in the run with an RBI groundout.
Alfredo Aceves then came on for two solid innings in relief, holding the Phils scoreless while allowing just one hit. Aceves had been struggling so I guess it's a good sign that he was effective. At least the Yankees now know they can go to him in a big spot in the next game or two (hopefully just one).
Then, with the Yankees still trailing 6-2 Joe Girardi called on Phil Coke. I don't know about you, but I cannot understand why Girardi would go with Coke here. Now, I understand that Damaso Marte had been used two days in a row, but he needed just four pitches in game 4 and has also proven to be the Yankees most reliable reliever not named Rivera this postseason. Not only that, but Coke hasn't been used much and is prone to the home run ball. Sure enough he served up two; one to Utley, his fifth of the series, and another to Ibanez. The two runs would prove to be very big.
That's because the Yankees came back with three runs in the top of the eighth Damon singled, Mark Teixeira doubled, and Alex Rodriguez drove in both with a two-run double. Two batters later Robinson Cano drove in A-Rod with a sac-fly. So instead of a 6-5 game it was now 8-5.
Phil Hughes, who came in to relieve Coke and got the final out of the seventh, looked sharp throwing a scoreless eighth. Like Aceves, it's good to know Hughes has a scoreless inning in him.
The Yankees did make it interesting in the ninth by putting their first two men on. Jorge Posada led off with a double and Hideki Matsui following that with a single to put runners on the corners. But the rally was stopped dead in its tracks when Jeter grounded into a double play. The run scored, but the Yanks now had nobody on with two out.
Damon did single to bring the tying run back to the plate, but Teixeira went down quicking, striking out to end the game and leave A-Rod waiting on deck. It was a terrible at-bat, which saw Tex swing at two balls. In fact, Ryan Madson didn't throw one strike in at-bat. Strike one, which was called a strike, was six inches outside.
Yes, they showed their typical fight that has served them so well this offseason, and yes it's always better to clinch at home, but with Andy Pettitte going on short rest for the first time in three years the last thing I wanted to see was this series come back to New York.
Game 6 will be on Wednesday night in the Bronx with Pettitte facing off against Pedro Martinez. First pitch is set for 7:57 p.m. and the game can be seen on FOX. If Pettitte is able to close things out I guess it would be fitting, after all he has closed out the previous two series. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | |
| Jeter, SS | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .364 |
| Damon, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .381 |
| Teixeira, 1B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .105 |
| Rodriguez, A, 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .222 |
| Swisher, RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .167 |
| Cano, 2B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .167 |
| Gardner, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 |
| Molina, J, C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| a-Posada, PH-C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .313 |
| Burnett, A, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| Robertson, D, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| b-Hinske, PH | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Aceves, A, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| c-Hairston, J, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| Coke, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Hughes, P, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| d-Matsui, H, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .556 |
| Totals | 35 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 11 | |
a-Grounded out for Molina, J in the 5th. b-Walked for Robertson, D in the 5th. c-Flied out for Aceves, A in the 7th. d-Singled for Hughes, P in the 9th. | ||||||||
BATTING 2B: Rodriguez, A 2 (3, Lee, Cl, Lee, Cl), Teixeira (1, Lee, Cl), Posada (1, Madson). TB: Jeter; Damon 3; Teixeira 2; Rodriguez, A 4; Cano; Posada 2; Matsui, H. RBI: Rodriguez, A 3 (6), Damon (4), Cano (1). 2-out RBI: Rodriguez, A. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano; Teixeira 2. SF: Cano. GIDP: Jeter. Team RISP: 2-for-8. Team LOB: 6. FIELDING DP: (Cano-Jeter-Teixeira). | ||||||||
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Pitches-strikes: Burnett, A 53-28, Robertson, D 27-17, Aceves, A 19-14, Coke 19-11, Hughes, P 12-10.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Chase Utley (2-for-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB, 3 R)
HONORABLE MENTION: Raul Ibanez (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, R)
GOATS OF THE GAME: A.J. Burnett and Phil Coke (Both awful)
GAME 6
Yankees vs. Phillies
Game Time: 7:57 p.m. | TV/Radio: FOX, WCBS
LHP Andy Pettitte (3-0, 3.24) vs. RHP Pedro Martinez (0-1, 2.08)
