Bombers Burnett Bests Pedro

Game 2 of the World Series felt a lot like Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. With Pedro Martinez again on the hill, the Phillies took an early 1-0 lead, but could not do anything more offensively to support a good pitching performance, and ultimately let the game slip away. In both games, the Phillies seemed to lack the same urgency and determination exhibited in other post season games after having already snatched home field advantage.

Last night, Pedro returned to the city that has been such a big part of his career. First, he was a loathed player on the Yankees arch rival and later pitched for the "other" New York team with a less hallowed history. Of course, the new Yankee Stadium was filled with fans of the Bronx Bombers, not the Mets team across town, so the sentiments aligned with the former scenario. "Who's your daddy?" chants rained through the stadium, along with other derisive calls and gestures, as fans recalled their team's history with Pedro.

Martinez was up to the challenge, effectively shutting out the distraction and shutting down the powerful Yankees line-up for most of the night. Unfortunately, AJ Burnett, his pitching counterpart, was even sharper, limiting the Phillies to one run over 7 very strong innings before handing things over to the post season's most prolific closer to finish it off.

The Phillies used a two out Raul Ibanez double and a single to left by DH Matt Stairs to take a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Alex Rodriquez whiffed on Stairs ground ball, a play that could have easily been ruled an error, and the raucous crowd drew quiet as they had the previous night.

Mark Teixeira evened things up leading off the bottom half of the 4th when he jumped on a Martinez change-up and drove it over the center field fence. Otherwise, both pitchers held their opponents in check, until Hideki Matsui golfed a curve ball just over the short right field fence with two outs in the 6th. The home run gave the Yankees their first lead of the World Series and riled the spirits of their fans.

After Burnett mowed down the Phillies again in the 7th, Martinez returned for the bottom half of the inning despite having already thrown 99 pitches. The Yankees put together 3 straight singles to extend the lead to 3-1, the second of which ended Martinez's night. Chan Ho Park struck out Derek Jeter and then Johnny Damon hit a liner to Ryan Howard off Scott Eyre. The ball was ruled an out and Howard touched a runner to record an inning ending double play; however, replays appeared to show the ball being trapped.

Yankees skipper Joe Girardi called upon Rivera to start the 8th to close the game out. After a quick out, Jimmy Rollins worked a walk and Shane Victorino singled. Rivera went 3-0 on Utley, but came back to induce an inning ending ground ball double play; however, once again, replays showed that Utley beat the throw to first.

Ibanez doubled with two outs in the 9th to keep the Phillies hopes alive, before Rivera sent Stairs down swinging to end the game.

Cliff Lee played a role in the game as he unintentionally served as inspiration for Burnett. Lee's post game comments the night before resonated with Burnett, who elected to take a similar approach and turned in arguably his best career performance. He limited the Phils to 4 hits and a pair of walks, while striking out 9.

Despite having a little less velocity and movement on his fastball, Pedro battled hard by mixing pitches and nibbling on the corners. His change-up was particularly sharp, which effectively made his fastball quicker and had the Yankees swinging at air throughout the evening. In six innings of work, he recorded 8 strikeouts, half of which came against Jeter and A-Rod.

Trailing 1-0 at home, the game was arguably more important to the Yankees. It surely may have had more to do with superb pitching by their opponents, but the aura of the Phillies was that they were playing a game that would be nice to win. By no means was there any nonchalance; however, they did not seem to possess the same high level of intensity that typically accompanies them in the post season. Perhaps this was a reflection of a strategy to wait out Burnett faltering on his own as he has been prone to do, but that never materialized last night.

The teams are now in Philly, preparing for a match-up of lefties with a history of post season success. With CC Sabathia likely waiting in the wings to pitch Game 4, the Phillies are looking to Cole Hamels to channel some of his 2008 post season magic after struggling in his first two playoff outings. Veteran Andy Pettitte opposes him and is currently pitching very well. Although teams typically try to use lefties to neutralize the Phillies left-handed sluggers, Pettitte has actually been more effective against right-handed hitters.

There will be no shortage of adrenaline this weekend. As always, the Citizen's Bank Park crowd will provide an added boost for the Phillies, particularly with the marquee team from Gotham City in the opposing dugout.

Phils Fall Short in Game 2, Head to Iceland

With optimism and positive energy from a big game 1 victory still energizing a stadium full of fans and an entire city, the Phillies dug themselves a hole that they could not quite escape in game 2. After Wednesday's all around strong opening game performance, visions of 2008 returned with Cole Hamels scheduled to take the mound. With Cliff Lee having dominated the Rockies a day earlier and a similarly imposing left hander with a great post season pedigree on the mound, most expected to see Hamels have similar success in leading the team to a 2-0 series advantage.

The Rockies clearly had other ideas, chipping away to build a 4-0 lead while their own starter Aaron Cook held the Phillies at bay. Execution produced a run in the first inning- good on the part of the Rockies and poor on the part of the Phillies. After lead-off hitter Carlos Gonzalez singled to open the game, he stole second on a botched pick off play. Hamels was slow to deliver the ball to first and then Ryan Howard was slow to get the ball out of his glove. A sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly moved him around the bases with Hamels showing some clear frustration.

With two outs In the 4th, Yorvin Torrealba jacked a hanging curve ball into the left field stands to extend the lead to 3-0. It was a particularly painful blow considering that it came with two outs, Torrealba hit only two homers all year and it was his first since early May.

The Rockies chipped away again with another run in the 5th inning. Cook hit a soft flare that landed just inside the right field line and Gonzalez ripped a double to right center. Dexter Fowler followed with a sacrifice fly. Again, Hamels was clearly frustrated as he walked to the dugout at inning's end.

It seemed that the Phillies still had a run in them as Cook was surely not over powering them. They finally broke through in the bottom of the 6th, rallying for 3 runs, but the promise of a bigger inning ended when Carlos Ruiz bounced into the team's 3rd double play of the day. Shane Victorino and Chase Utley singled to start the inning, before Howard roped a double to right. After Jayson Werth went down swinging, Raul Ibanez lined a single to center to make it 4-3. Pedro Feliz dumped a single to center before Ruiz came to the plate.

An interesting sideline was some managerial decisions by Charlie Manuel. He chose to bring starter Joe Blanton into pitch the 6th and then brought in starter J.A. Happ when Blanton worked into trouble in the 7th. Unfortunately, Happ took a line shot off the shin from the first batter he faced and had to leave the game. The moves created much questioning about Manuel's plans for games 3 and 4 starters as well as the health of Happ.

The Rockies threatened in both the 7th and 8th, loading the bases, but some pressure pitching by Scott Eyre and Antonio Bastardo limited the damage to a single run. In the bottom of the 8th, Werth smashed a solo shot to center that closed the gap to 5-4.

Although they fell behind early, the Phillies battled to the end. They mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth off closer Huston Street. Pinch hitter Matt Stairs fought off pitches to work a walk with one out. After a flyout, Jimmy Rollins also fought off several pitches and kept the game alive by lining a single to right. Victorino hung in himself and sent a humped back liner towards right that looked like it had a chance for a moment before second baseman Clint Barmes stabbed it to end the game.

The large crowd witnessed a great game, but went away disappointed. They had arrived to a party atmosphere with high hopes that the Phillies would build upon their game 1 victory. Now the team must go to Iceland, or Denver, to battle frigid weather and the Rockies in an attempt to regain home field advantage at the least or win the series at best.