Honestly that game six meant almost as much going in for the Yankees as it did the Angels.
Girardi can say what he wants, but in the back of his mind, he knew winning that game was big, because it puts C.C. Sabathia on the mound for game one.
Instead of having to go with Burnett for game one, and scramble for a starter in game two, he can just now have C.C. go game one, Burnett go game two, and Pettite go game three.
I really think that could wind up being huge, because if nothing else you now have your best pitcher available for potentially three starts instead of just two.
Ok this is not wiht my Boston Red Sox cap on. I think the Phillies repeat this year. Why? They have one of if not the best offsens in all of baseball. The pitching ever since they got Lee has been better. They've had the time to get helthy if they had any injurys and the pitchign is real deep and Werth, J-Roll, Utley, Howard and Ibanez lead the charge for that offense. Thats why i think the Phillies repeat as World Series champs
__________________
I believe in Family, I believe in Country, I believe in NASCAR
I am taking the Yankees in six as C.C will pitch first game and fourth and seventh. I think that the Phillies win games 2 and 3 and the Yankees win the rest. A Rod is having an October to remember he's hitting over 400 and hit 5 homeruns.
__________________
I think that Jimmy Hendrix was the best guitarist in the world
Just going through their lineups position by position, and it's hard to find many spots where one side clearly has a better player then the other.
I mean Ryan Howard or Mark Teixeira? Chase Utely or Robinson Cano? Johnny Damon or Raul Ibanez? Cliff Lee or C.C. Sabathia?
Very even matchups all the way around.
I'm really liking this World Series matchup, and have more exictement over this matchup then I've had in a long time.
I still can't pick against the Yankees, but I'm definately not counting the Phillies out, and expecting it to go at least 6 games if not the fulls seven.
My pick is Yankees in six, but the Phils winning it in six wouldn't surprise me one bit.
Lee pitched great, and a great job by Philadelphia putting the pressure on New York early, which is exactly what they need to do if they are to have any chance in this series.
Going up 2-0 would be huge, and with Cole Hamels on the mound it's definately something the Phillies are capable of doing.
Cliff Lee might have just pitched the game of his life last night. And the offense was strong against a very good pitcher in CC. I think the big thing for game two is how Pedro pitches and if the Yankees offense can get some fo tis swagger back after not doing much in game one
__________________
I believe in Family, I believe in Country, I believe in NASCAR
Cliff Lee pitched awesome, the thing that is shocking is how after one game people have written off the New York Yankees in this series. It's as if the entire team should just collapse after Game 1 now.
Game 2 is going to be huge and AJ Burnett is going to need this game to identify the reason why the Yankees picked him up in the first place.
I think even if the Yankees lose tonight the series is still far from over. If they play at the best of their ability (something they didn't do last night) they're the best team in baseball.
I'm almost ready to call game two a dead heat coming in with the pitching matchup.
Slight edge to the Yanks, but it's really a toss up between the two.
Can't say I wasn't surprised with how well Lee pitched in game one though.
-- Edited by pmoehrin on Thursday 29th of October 2009 02:45:08 PM
I could have sworn just about every sports writer was writing off the Yankees after Game 1.
AJ Burnett pitched awesome for a guy that was predicted to blow up. This game was a career game for him, would have been a shutout but A-Rod misplayed that ball by Stairs.
Pettitte vs Hamels should be fun to watch. Hamels reminds me of a young Pettitte.
Might be some complaining from Philly fans after this one, and rightfully so in my opinion.
I don't think it had much of an impact on the game overall, but the umpiring overall this postseason has just been done right atrocious.
I don't think I can ever even recall a postseason with such bad umpiring to be honest with you.
I know alot of people are clamoring for instant replay right now, but I don't think that's going to solve much to be honest with you.
I think the MLB needs to take a serious look at how it looks at and evaluates it's umpires, and maybe even consider bringing in a third party to do it.
Just from seeing some of the calls these guys are making it's in my opinion that they shouldn't be umping major league games, forget the postseason where one call could be a deciding factor in a team's season.
Same could be said after the Ryan Howard catch/double play call a half inning prior to the double play call. If the Phillies rallied for the lead the Yankee fans would have complained.
Despite the call, AJ Burnett pitched great as did Pedro Martinez. May have pitched a couple pitches to many and Manuel should have taken him out.
Pmoe your right in the bottom seventh I believe when Yankees had first and second. Jorge Possada hit the ball that bounced into Ryan Howard's mit, but they called it a catch and ended up doubling Johnny Damon off second base. The umping this year has been down right horrible, either this series, the Yankees vs Angels series, or the Caridnals Dodgers. I was happy to see Mark Texiera and Hideki Matsui go yard, that shows that they Yankees can generate runs without A rod.
__________________
I think that Jimmy Hendrix was the best guitarist in the world
The Howard play was a pretty tough call in my opinion.
I'm not going to get on the umps too much for that one.
The thing that has surprised me the most thus far is how little offense each team has generated.
You would think with all the big names both teams have in their lineups their would be tons of offense, but you would think wrong at least thus far.
I'm still betting there's going to be at least one 14-10 game this series.
I think though with the Yankees evening up the series, game three now becomes almost a must win for the Phillies especially when you have C.C. Sabathia looming large in game four.
If the Phillies take game three expect to see Blanton on the mound for game four, but if they lose, they may have no other choice, and will have to go with Lee again, because they cannot risk going down 3-1 in the series.
BBALL was almost close on the score, right on with Hamels. Which puts the Phillies in a tough spot if they give him the nod for Game 7.
Game 4 is tonight Yankees send CC on 3 days rest while the Philles start Joe Blanton who was a savior for the Phils in last years Game 4 of the World Series.
In a thrilling 9th inning with one of the most heads up plays in World Series by Johnny Damon and A-Rod coming through in the clutch it now comes down to one more win for the New York Yankees.
In Game 5 AJ Burnett will take the hill for the Yankees on 3 days rest aganist the Phillies Ace Cliff Lee in Philly. Going to be a huge game for both teams and should be fun to watch but will more then likely give me a heart attack.
Chase Utley single handly keeps the Philadelphia Phillies alive in Game 5 by hitting his 4th and World Series record tying 5th homerun helping them win 8-6. The series now heads back to the Bronx.
Andy Pettitte will be taking on Pedro Martinez in Game 6 in the Bronx.
Didn't think the Phils were going down with Cliff Lee on the mound at home. Was really surprised the Phils decided to go with Blanton instead of Lee in game four, a decision I'm sure will be second guessed for years to come if Philadelphia winds up losing this series.
My view on anything like that is that if I'm gonna lose, I'm going down with the best guy I've got on the mound. Not my number five starter. (I consider Happ their number four guy, even though he's in the bullpen for the series)
I can't see Philadelphia winning the next two games. If they do it would go down as one of the biggest comebacks in World Series history.
Going on the road might actually help Philadelphia in a strange way simply because I think Yankee Stadium helps out the Phillies more then it does then Yankees compared to Citizens Bank park.
As easy as it is to get hit a home run at Yankee Stadium, it's not a good park to hit in if your a contact hitter, where as Citizens Bank is a very good contact hitters park.
The Phillies are definately a team that plays for the three run homer, while the Yankees can beat you in more ways on offense. That clearly shows in the team batting averages, as the Yankees hit .283 as a team, while the Phillies only hit .258
You may disagree with that assertion, but that's my own opinion.
As for game six, I think this is where the road ends for Philadelphia. It's not impossible for the Phillies to win this game, but it is very unlikely. Outside of Chase Utley, and Jayson Werth nobody is really hitting for the Phillies, and given the amount of lefties they have in that lineup, Andy Pettitte is not a good pitcher to try and break out of a slump against, especially on the road for the deciding game of the World Series. And keep in mind even if Philadelphia wins, they have another lefty the next game in C.C. Sabathia.
I thought game four was a must win for Phiadelphia, and you could argue that if Cliff Lee was on the mound for game four they might have won it, and who knows what may have happened tonight. Then again the Phillies were also clearly in control going into the ninth, and let it slip away. But that's baseball. Many different things could be argued for the deciding outcome in the game, with no right or wrong answers really. That's one of the things that makes it such a great game.
