Back On The Horse (Phillies GAME 5)

November 3, 2009   ·   philliesmania   ·   Jump to comments

   Phillies win 8 to 6 in a toss up. STAY ALIVE!

The magical wizardry of Cliff Lee was dormant and the short rest and sharpness of A J Burnett was gone also. For what it is worth Lee did out pitch Burnett.

Philadelphia Phillies
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
C Lee (W, 2-0)	7.0	7	5	5	3	3	0	112-70	2.81

New York Yankees
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
A Burnett (L, 1-1)	2.0	4	6	6	4	2	1	53-28	7.00

The score would suggest that the Phillies bats came alive. And at moments they did. But they still got out hit by the Yankees 10 hits to 9. Hopefully that means the Phillies still have a 15 hit 10 run game in them for Game 6. Because that is the only game that matters now and Pedro Martinez is unlikely to throw a gem at this point. Thankfully the Yankees are bringing Andy Pettitte back on short rest. And he did not pitch that good in Game 3 overall. He should be vulnerable.

 Any way, we’re back on the horse!

That means no excuses. Rollins, Utley and Ibanez got it going tonight. And you know the drill, when Rollins scores Phillies usually win. Chase Utley went deep twice for the second time in this series.   Okay say these two names together Chase Utley and Reggie Jackson. Yeah they both hold the record for most HR’s in one World Series, 5! And Utley has at least one more game to break the record.

  Raul Ibanez also rocked a nice solo bomb in the 7th.

The game started off a bit on the shaky side when Lee struggled in the top of the first when A-Rod doubled in Johnny Damon who had singled earlier. Right away Yankees 1 to 0. But hold on there.

 A New York minute later and the Phillieswere leading 3 to 1. J-Roll led off with a single and Burnett beaned Victorino to put men on for Chase who promptly hit a 3 run HR!

Things quieted down for an inning and in fact Lee crusied through the top of the 3rd also. But Burnett walked Utley and Howard to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. . Werth and Ibanez then each drove in a run to make it 5 to 1 Phillies. Burnett’s night was done as Joe Girardi gave him the heave ho.

With 1 out the Phillies managed one more run to make it 6 to 1. At this point my family wanted to disown me for being a buzz-kill. I said “this is not enough!” The Yankees smell the blood and they are not worried in the least at this point. They won 2 out of 3 in Philly, so what if they have to go back to NY. So I had no doubt they were going to play loose and push the envelope.

Lee made me look stupid though as he cruised through the 4th. However the Yankees David Robertson also shut the Phillies down in the bottom half. In the top of the 5th Lee walked journeyman Eric Hinske and gave up a single to Derek Jeter. Johnny Damon made Lee pay for the walk to make it 6 to 2 Phillies.

Phillies were stymied in the bottom of the 5th and both teams were shut out in the 6th.

Lee had a good 7th and the Phillies woke up for a brief moment in the bottom of the 7th when Utley and Ibanez bothstruck gold for solo Homers. Howard who has had his head in the sand lately tied the record for most strike outs in a World Series with 12 K’s. But it was 8 to 2 nevertheless, Philadelphia.

And no I still did not think that was enough. And on cue Lee started elevating and Damon singled and Teixeiratattooed a double. Rodriguez then was credited with a double that I believe was an error on Ibanez. Not to be harsh but Ibanez clearly got a late jump on the ball and the ball hit Ibanez in the glove. Yes Ibanez was diving, but he had to dive because he misplayed the ball whcih that is usually not counted as an error, but the fact that the ball plunked him dead on the glove is an error in my book. Hey I played the outfield, I would have wanted the error so my pitcher doesn’t get tagged for earned runs I was responsible for.

Anyhow just like that it’s 8 to 4! Lee takes his leave. Then the Chan came on to clean up. With A-Rod on third Robinson Cano hit a lazy fly to center and Ben Francisco I thought did not line up his approach correctly to make a deadly throw to get a tagging A-Rod. A strong throw nails him, in my opinion. I’m not saying that was an error of course. I just thought that Ben Francisco was a little lax on the fundamentals on that one. Now it’s 8 to 5, Phillies.

The Philliesanswered with squatta in the bottom of the 8th. And then on came Ryan Mad Dog Madson. Now let me exercise full disclosure and admit I was going to go to bed at this point and read about the 9th the next day. For 1 because I thought Manuel might be stupid enough to bring Lidgein and 2 I am not exactly in love with Madson in that position. Plus Madson had already pitched 3 straight nights.

Out came Madson. And my family made me sit down and risk heart failure. Right away I felt queasy as Madson was elevating everything. He gives up a lead off double to Posada and a single to Matsui. I was unconscious within seconds. As I was being revived Jeter hit into a double play although Posada did score to make it 8 to 6.

 And the nightmare wasn’t over. Johnny Damon then singled as if to say “we say when this is over” and give Madson the “strawberry”.

But Mad Dog finally started throwing some pitches downhill and he got Teixeira to chase some nice pitches that started up and went down in a hurry.

I celebrated with oxygen and remember thinking “we live to fight another day!”