(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| PHI | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | |
| NYY | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | X | 3 | 8 | 0 |
WP - A.J. Burnett (1-0)
LP - Pedro Martinez (0-1)
SV - Mariano Rivera (1)
On a night where the Yankees needed him the most A.J. Burnett delivered a brilliant performance and the Yanks will now head to Philly all tied up at a game apiece. Considering the circumstances (World Series, Phillies, must-win) you would have to consider this Burnett's best game of the season. In his first World Series start Allan James threw seven strong innings, allowed just one earned run on four hits, walked two, and struck out nine. Besides all that, the most important thing he did tonight was hand the ball to Mariano Rivera.
The run shouldn't have even scored, and at the very least should have been unearned. With two out in the second Raul Ibanez hit a ground-rule double. Matt Stairs was the next batter and hit a hard grounder to third. Alex Rodriguez, who should have at least knocked the ball down, allowed it to sneak under his glove and Ibanez scored. It was a play most third baseman would make. Either way, that was Burnett's only blemish on the night.
When Burnett has good command of his curve he's very tough to beat, and tonight was no different. It was probably the best curve he's had all year, at times dropping it on the corners for strikes with ease. Another key to Burnett's success was getting ahead with strike one on 22 of 26 of the batters he faced. When Burnett, or any good pitcher, is consistently getting ahead early in the count they're very tough to beat.
He only got himself into one serious jam and that came in the second when the Phillies put runners on first and second with two out and Ryan Howard at the dish. But Burnett, who had Howard looking foolish all night, struck out Howard with one of many nasty curveballs. Howard would end up striking out four times on the night for a golden sombrero.
Over in the other dugout Pedro Martinez was also impressive. He may not throw as hard as he used to, but the man knows how to pitch. He threw his array of pitches at any and every speed between 78 MPH and 91 MPH. And he still has his pinpoint command. In 6+ innings the crafty vet allowed three runs on six hits, walked two and struck out 8.
That said, it was another typical Yankees vs. Pedro type of game. Pedro pitches well, the Yankees starter does too, the Yanks put a couple runs on the board, and they wear him out by the seventh. The reason he's 11-11 lifetime against the Yankees with a 3.20 ERA is because of these kinds of games.
Both of the first two runs against Pedro came on solo homers; Mark Teixeira's bomb into the Yankees bullpen in the fourth, and Hideki Matsui shot in the sixth to give the Yankees their first lead of the series.
They added their third run in the seventh on a Jorge Posada RBI single off Phillies' reliever Chan Ho Park. The run was charged to Pedro because he had started the inning and allowed back-to-back singles to Jerry Hairston Jr. and Melky Cabrera.
This leads me to yet another disastrous game by the MLB umpires. Following a failed bunt attempt with two strikes by Derek Jeter -- after the game Jeter called his bunt attempt with two strikes "stupid" -- Johnny Damon lined a ball to first. Howard, knowing he didn't catch the ball on a fly threw to second to try to start a double play. The throw was wide and pulled Jimmy Rollins off the base, everyone was safe and the Yankees had bases loaded with one out. At least that's how it should have worked out. However, first base umpire Brian Gorman said that Howard caught the ball on the fly and therefore it was a double play, inning over. Howard basically told everyone that he didn't catch the ball by throwing to second -- had he caught the ball on the fly wouldn't he have just thrown to first to double up Posada? Also, where the hell is the home plate umpire on this play? I can understand the first base ump missing this call, he was behind Howard and couldn't see what was going on. But what is Jeff Nelson looking at on that play? The umpires had a meeting and apparently nobody was actually looking at the ball. The umps were not done yet, but at least their next screw up helped the Yankees.
In the top of the eighth inning, with Mariano Rivera now on the mound, the Phils had runners on first and second with one out and Chase Utley batting. Mo got Utley to ground a ball to Robinson Cano and the Yankees, thanks to a great turn by Jeter, were able to turn a huge inning-ending double play. The only problem was that replays showed that Utley was safe. It was a bang bang play, so I guess normally you could give the ump a pass, but when you've been as bad as these umps have been this October every mistake looks that much worse. Major League Baseball should be embarrassed by this bunch of pinheads they call umpires.
Like game six of the ALCS, Mo followed up a rough eighth with a much less stressful ninth. He did allowed a two-out double, but that was it as Mo struck out Matt Stairs on a cutter diving down and in to end the game and send this series back to Philly tied at one. Just another six-out save for the greatest ever.
The Yankees will now look to the all-time postseason wins leader when Andy Pettitte takes the mound in game three. He will be facing another southpaw, the struggling Cole Hamels. First pitch on Saturday will be 7:57 p.m. and as always the game can be seen on FOX.
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jeter, SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .500 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Damon, LF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .125 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teixeira, 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .143 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rodriguez, A, 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | .000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Matsui, H, DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cano, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .143 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hairston, J, RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .333 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1-Gardner, PR-CF | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cabrera, Me, CF-RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .167 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Molina, J, C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a-Posada, PH-C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .400 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Totals | 31 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
a-Singled for Molina, J in the 7th. 1-Ran for Hairston, J in the 7th. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BATTING 2B: Jeter (2, Martinez, P). HR: Teixeira (1, 4th inning off Martinez, P, 0 on, 0 out), Matsui, H (1, 6th inning off Martinez, P, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Jeter 2; Teixeira 4; Matsui, H 5; Cano; Hairston, J; Cabrera, Me; Posada. RBI: Teixeira (1), Matsui, H (1), Posada (1). 2-out RBI: Matsui, H. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Damon; Gardner. Team RISP: 1-for-5. Team LOB: 7. FIELDING DP: (Cano-Jeter-Teixeira). Pickoffs: Molina, J (Werth at 1st base).
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Pitches-strikes: Burnett, A 108-68, Rivera, Ma 39-26.
PHILLIES STATS
PLAYER OF THE GAME: A.J. Burnett (W, 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K)
HONORABLE MENTION: Mariano Rivera (S, 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K)
PLAYER OF THE GAME: A.J. Burnett (W, 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K)
HONORABLE MENTION: Mariano Rivera (S, 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K)
Game 3
Yankees vs. Phillies
Game Time: 7:57 p.m. | TV/Radio: FOX, WCBS
LHP Andy Pettitte (2-0, 2.37) vs. LHP Cole Hamels (1-1, 6.75)