7-3 Yankees Final. Click inside for more.
Start checking at 8 eastern/7 central that’s when I’ll begin the shindig.
Lineups for tonights game
Phillies
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Shane Victorino, CF
Chase Utley, 2B
Ryan Howard, 1B
Jayson Werth, RF
Raul Ibanez, DH
Pedro Feliz, 3B
Ben Francisco, LF
Carlos Ruiz, C
Yankees
Derek Jeter, SS
Johnny Damon, LF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, DH
Jorge Posada, C
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nick Swisher, RF
Brett Gardner, CF
And pitching for both clubs are Pedro Martinez and Andy Pettitte.
No surprises. Pretty much the same thing we saw in Game 1. Feliz and Fransisco have been flipped and of course Gardner is in for the injured Cabrera.
First Inning
Whoops…thought this started at 7:20. We join the game already in progress. Utley just grounded into a DP and Tex barely stayed on the bag. Pettitte through the first facing the minimum.
Dear Tim McCarver…the Phillies have said Pedro is good for 6-7 innings. Not the 4 or 5 you just suggested.
HA. The Yanks fans boo the first pitch visit even though the Yankees killed the games in Philly with visits.
Johnny Damon, MVP? Really Joe Buck? I’d say CC destroying everyone but Chase Utley would put him pretty firmly in control of the MVP award for the Yanks.
Ball isn’t flying to right just yet, 1-2-3 for Pedro. On to the second.
Second Inning
Anyone think Howard has decided not to pull everything yet?
Nope. He’s a great hitter, he should have figured out that they are trying to pitch him away and he needs to go with it. He’s got the power to hit it out to left.
That is getting saw’d off. Ouch.
That’s what you get for paying too much attention to the runner. Wild Pitch, but Posada should have blocked it.
Doesn’t matter as Feliz misses a pitch and pops out harmlessly.
Wow, buy a Xbox360 Arcade at Walmart and get a 100 gift card, that’s a pretty good deal.
I hate that Buck and McCarver are shocked that a 38-year-old undersized pitcher isn’t throwing in the 90s. Hey guys, he’s not that pitcher anymore.
Matsui is right on Pedro. He’s smoked two pitches foul.
HR by Matsui 2-0 Yankees. You could sense that one coming.
I don’t know if it’s where the crowd mics are placed, or if it’s a difference in the fans, but the Philly fans chants of “You Took Steroids” seemed much louder than the Yankee fans “Who’s Your Daddy?” chants.
Hey, Cano finally hit something hard. To bad for him it was a laser to Chase Utley.
That was a huge inning for the Yankees. The pressure was on them to close out the series tonight and getting those two runs takes a lot of the pressure off of them and puts it on the Phillies.
Third Inning
Horrible defense by Gardner. If you’re not going to try and catch the ball you can’t let it get by you. Great effort by Ruiz on the triple.
Great fundamentals by Rollins on the Sac Fly. Just get the run home 2-1 Yankees at the end of 3 and a half.
Wow Verizon, you’re Droid commercials are getting worse. Stick with the viral commercial. It’s less horrible.
Great pitch by Martinez. Young Gardner was over anxious to do something and chased a high fastball.
Oofta, Jeter just missed that one that was fouled back. And Victorino helps him out by butchering a pretty easy line drive.
I’m not a huge fan of Fox’s split screen. It’s ok, but they use it so often it gets worn out. Less is more sometimes guys.
Pedro is having real trouble finding the zone right now. Only 28 strikes from 51 pitches. JA Happ is getting loose, gotta think he’s getting ready for Matsui and on.
And a hit batter loads them up for A-Rod, this could be the Series right here.
A-Rod just missed his pitch.
Great pitch by Pedro to strikeout A-Rod. Very close, I think Pedro got the benefit of the doubt, but I think Pettitte would get the same benefit.
Matsui might by Pedro’s daddy.
4-1 Yankees on a 2 out 2 RBI single by Godzilla.
Posada flies out and the inning is over but the series might be over right along with it.
Fourth Inning
Damon out of the game. Jerry Harriston in. Could be big.
Lefty hitters for the Phils have done nothing against the lefties for the Yankees. Outside of Utley vs Sabathia. That’s been the biggest key for the Yankees so far in my opinion.
Good AB for Werth. They need someone else in the line-up around him to do something though.
Wow, thought Ibanez hit that. How many times has Posada just competely missed catching a ball in this postseason?
Questionable ball 4 call. Ibanez with the walk, Feliz up as the tying run.
Ump this inning seems to have a low strike zone. It looks like the plate is a little wider, but if it’s above the belt it’s a ball. Right as I say that, he misses one wide of the plate.
Does no harm as Feliz grounds out to end the half inning.
I love the Band Hero commerical with Taylor Swift.
Pedro Martinez is just not fooling anyone tonight. I don’t know how many times this year Martinez had to face the same team in back to back starts this year, but the Yankees are using what they learned in game 2 and are just on everything Martinez throws. There is a good chance it has something to do with the back to back starts against one team.
In the random things I pay attention to thanks to my communication and public opinion class department, and it sort of fits since the announcers just talked about Giuliani, with him sitting right behind the Yankee’s on deck circle, he is getting his face on TV a ton. This works out wonderfully for him because it boosts his public profile without having to actually do anything. And when he eventually runs for president, this cheap face time will help him in the public opinion department.
Nice inning for Pedro. 1-2-3 for the second time today.
Fifth Inning
Low outside corner is still there for Pettitte. Phils need to be looking to go the other way more often.
Pettitte is worried about his arm strength and pitch count, that’s why he grooved a 4-seam fastball to Fransico in an 0-2 count. He didn’t fear him, so he just went right after him.
The Pettitte loses the strike zone for another batter and walks another one. That is 4 walks on the day and none of the ball pitches have been all that close. Except for the ball 4 on Ibanez last inning.
What a double play turned by the Yankees. With Rollins running you would expect him to beat it out, but A-Rod and Cano made a fantastic, quick turn to get Rollins by a step. 2nd DP of the game for the Yanks.
Durbin in for Pedro
Durbin left that right in the middle. He’s lucky that one didn’t get out on the fly and even luckier it did get out on the bounce because that would have been a triple.
Did the Yankee’s just sacrifice bunt? When is the last time that happened? 1949?
Tex with an RBI single, 5-1 Yankees.
Durbin with a pitiful 1/3 of an inning. Here comes Happ. 2 on 1 out, only out came on a sacrifice.
I completely missed whatever the trivia question was. I don’t pay enough attention to frivolous things like that…
Hey McCarver, Ichiro and Matsui reportedly don’t like each other, they’re probably not going to be teammates.
Game.
Over.
Matsui 2 more RBIs, 7-1 Yankees.
Where did McCarver just pull the losing team getting the MVP award idea from? They weren’t even talking about it. They mention Matsui getting the award 5 minutes ago, but he’s not on the losing team. What the boogey man McCarver?
Hey look…Southpark is on.
Sixth Inning
Phillies need a big inning now or else it’s going to be even tougher. VictorVino doesn’t help things.
Walk to Utley, Howard absolutely HAS to come through here.
AND HE DOES! And what did he do? He went the other way. Seems like I said that earlier.
7-3 Yankees.
Werth fails to do anything of value. Great pitch by Pettitte to get the strikeout.
Ibanez doubles down the line and Pettitte is done for the night. Really good game by Pettitte.
Joba shuts down Feliz and we’re to the bottom of the 6th. 9 outs to go for the Yanks.
Nice effort by Fransico. Happ can’t finish him off though. Lead off walks always score.
Gardener you’ve got to get the bunt down. Not quite epic fail, but a fail none the less.
Here comes Chan Ho Park
Nice pick up by Howard, good decision by Rollins to not try and force a throw to first and possibly let Jeter get to second on an error.
I should probably be doing homework right now since I told my buddy I’d send him the information he needs tonight. But I think I’ll put that off until tomorrow between classes and after I watch Southpark on the interwebs. So Lane, if you’re reading this, don’t expect anything from me tonight. Let’s move on to the 7th inning.
Seventh Inning
Phils need to peck away. Probably looking at tomato sauce for two innings if it’s close, so you’ve got to get 3 or 4 this inning.
Fransisco has been horribly overmatched all postseason.
Hey listen, Buck and McCarver were just talking about getting the Phillies needing runs before Mariano comes in. They’re so far behind my updates.
Ruiz has been the second most valuable player for the Phils this series. Rollins needs to get rolling NOW.
Nice play by Cano to get he lead runner. Jeter continues to play it safe and not risk giving the Phils a free base.
Wow, Rollins just barely in. Gutsy play.
Four pitch walk to the Haiwaiian. Here comes Marte to face the homerun machine Chase Utley.
Great breaking ball to fool Utley. 0-2 count.
OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH…good call by the 3rd base ump. Utley just barely went around.
Remember when Chan Ho Park was the next big thing? Well he just blew away Tex.
There’s been a couple times tonight where I’ve forgetten whether or not I’ve updated the post so I just mindlessly hit update to make sure, these are the things you need to know.
A-Rod with a bleeder that Feliz deflected away from Rollins. If either of them field it cleanly it’s probaly an out.
Scott Eyre is in to face Godzilla.
Nice pitch by Eyre to get Matsui to chase. IBB to face the ice cold Cano.
Nice pitch for the strikeout. Here comes the 8th
Eighth Inning
Marte starts the 8th. Rivera is ready.
Howard goes bye-bye on three pitches.
And he’s on fire early blowing away Werth.
Can we skip the bottom of the 8th and just go straigh to the 9th and get this over with?
Holy cow Gardener why the heck were you playing so shallow? Expecting Rivera to break the bat I’d guess.
No harm, no foul. Here come the Yanks in the 8th. 6 outs left in the season.
Don’t swing Swisher, just strike out and go play defense, that goes for anyone batting for the Yanks this inning.
Great play Pedro Feliz, if only it meant something. 5 to go.
Gardner grounds out. 4 to go. Damn Phillies making a pitching change, the game is over, stop slowing the game down.
Damn it Jeter, you’re supposed to get out so the game ends.
Jeter don’t you dare listen to McCarver and steal second. If you run away from first, just stop half way so we can go to the bottom of the 9th.
Thank you J-Roll. 3 outs to go.
Stairs in for Fransico, as big as he is, he’s not hitting a grand slam leading off the inning.
Although he tried. Wow did he crush that one foul.
Liner at Jeter, 2 left.
Where was that? Come on ump, the game needs to get over.
Sonofa….
Rollins continues to suck. 1 out away.
Shane, just get out and get it over with.
Turn on the stove, the interesting part of baseball is back.
YANKEES ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!
Make sure to stay turned to tailgate crashers all winter as we keep you up to date on all the moves we care about throughout the season. And we’ll see you again next year.
