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Tuesday (World Series thoughts) edition: Wha' Happened?
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Let's take a quick spin through the Fall Classic.
*The Phillies trailed the series 3-1 going into last night, but as was astutely pointed out before the game on the broadcast (can't remember which analyst it was, though it certainly wasn't Ozzie Guillen), the Yankees are rolling the dice a little with throwing all their pitchers on three days' rest. A.J. Burnett ended up getting rocked on short rest last night to make the series 3-2. On Wednesday, Andy Pettitte will go on 3 days' rest. We wouldn't be at all stunned to see him struggle on short rest as well. His career numbers on short rest aren't that much different from his overall numbers. But he hasn't pitched on short rest in either of the last two seasons. Maybe too much is made of that since this will certainly be the last game he pitches this season. But we like the Phillies' chances in Game 6, and we like the pressure that would put on the Yankees in Game 7, even if CC Sabathia (again, on short rest) is going for New York. All of it underscores how critical Games 3 and 4 were -- especially 4, when the Phillies rallied but came undone thanks to Brad Lidge in the 9th.
*That brings us to point No. 2. A while back, when every writer and talking head in town was batting around the idea of trading Joe Nathan, we mentioned the Phillies might be a good suitor if Lidge imploded during the playoffs. Well, he was very good in the first two rounds and took it to the brink Sunday -- two outs, two strikes on Johnny Damon -- but he did, indeed, melt down. And as you saw Monday with Charlie Manuel turning to Ryan Madson for a very shaky ninth inning save over Lidge, the Phillies' pen is a bit of a mess right now. Throw in the fact that the pitcher we would absolutely try to target in any such deal (Cole Hamels) is embroiled in a little controversy right now, and, well ... we're not saying, we're just saying.
*Speaking of that shaky 9th inning: Madson has a little side-to-side movement on his fastball, but otherwise it's the straightest fastball this side of an overthrowing Jesse Crain. It tailed right over the plate to three lefties who rocked him: Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon (double, single, single). Luckily for Madson, he also had a righty in that sequence. And though his fastball to the ultra-clutch and dreamy-eyed Derek Jeter caught a good piece of the plate, it tailed in on him just enough that he grounded it weakly for a double play. Minus eleventy-billion clutchosity points, Jeter! He's no A-Rod.
*In 2003, both Chase Utley and Nick Punto played a little infield for the Phillies. In the offseason, Punto was traded to the Twins. Since then, Utley has hit 159 home runs while primarily playing second base for the Phillies. Punto has hit 11 while playing for the Twins. Just thought we'd mention that. Obviously they're very different players, and Punto isn't without value. We guess all of this is a long way of saying that we love Utley as a player and his five HRs in this series have been nothing short of remarkable. Sorry we had to drag Punto into it.
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