Phillies-Yankees: A.J. Burnett Outduels Pedro Martinez, Yankees Even Series

So much for this being an offensive World Series.

For the second night in a row we saw a pitcher’s duel in the Bronx. Last night A.J. Burnett out-dueled Pedro Martinez as the New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 to even their best-of-seven series at one game a piece.

What you saw last night was two pitchers going about getting hitters out in two completely different ways, but getting the same result.

Burnett overpowered the Phillies lineup with a mid-90’s fastball and a power curve all night. Martinez used an array of off-speed pitches to keep the Yankee hitters off balance all night.

But last night proved that no matter how hard you throw, whether you throw 95 mph or 85 mph, pitching is all about first-pitch strikes and location. A well spotted 85 mph fastball is just as effective, if not more effective than a 99 mph fastball right down the middle.

Burnett threw 22 first-pitch strikes to the 26 batters he faced and Martinez threw 16 first-pitch strikes to the 26 batters he faced.

Here are some other observations from last night:

• I’ll be honest, I didn’t think Burnett had a performance like that in him.

In the third inning, after walking Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley, every Yankee fan thought “Here we go again” with Burnett.

• I am very surprised the Phillies didn’t change their approach during the game. If you see a guy throwing strikes, there is no point in being patient.

• Ryan Howard just struck out again.

• Have Yankee fans not realized that chanting “Who’s your daddy?” only motivates Martinez?

• I am still trying to debate who is the smarter pitcher—Martinez or Greg Maddux?

• The ball Matt Stairs hit to drive in Raul Ibanez in the second was an error by Alex Rodriguez—not a hit.

• I would love to see a throwing contest between Johnny Damon and Jason Bay. That would be high comedy.

• If the Yankees don’t resign Damon, some dumb team is going to give him a three-year deal and regret it from the first day. Damon at this stage of his career is a product of the Yankee lineup and the new Yankee Stadium.

• Did anyone else think Ibanez’s diving catch in the second inning was happening in slow motion? It seemed Ibanez was running forever and the ball hung up in the air forever.

• It was good to see Mark Teixeira finally show up with the bat. That home run was a bomb to right center.

• How did Hideki Matsui hit that home run in the sixth? That pitch was at his shoe tops.

• Did Charlie Manuel get coaching advice from Grady Little before the game? There is no way Martinez should have come back out for the seventh.

• Howard just struck out again on another curve four feet out of the strike zone.

• Manuel said he didn’t start Rollins and Shane Victorino in the eighth because Utley doesn’t hit into many double plays. Manuel thought it might have been five or less throughout the season.

Manuel was right. Utley hit into five double plays during the regular season.

• If you are a Yankee fan, you can say Damon’s line drive hit the ground in the seventh. As a Philly fan, you can say Utley was safe on that double play.

Both plays were bang-bang. I have no problem with either call.

• I don’t care how great Mariano Rivera is, you can’t keep asking a 40-year-old to throw 40 pitches a night.

The Yankees are really going to need to find somebody to pitch the eighth inning in Philadelphia. With three games in a row, Rivera can’t pitch two innings every night. His arm will fall off.

• I wonder if Jerry Hairston will get the start in Game Three against the lefty Cole Hamels? Hairston was 1-for-3 last night replacing Nick Swisher.

• How much weight has Mark Grace gained? He has seriously ballooned up. I think we will be seeing him in a Nutrisystem commercial pretty soon.

 

Hero for Game Two – A.J. Burnett

Goat for Game Two – Ryan Howard

Series MVP – Cliff Lee

Game Three is Saturday night at 7:57 ET