Philadephia Phillies-New York Yankees Game Three World Series Notes

10) Well, that was fun. If you like the Yankees, or rectal pain. Otherwise, not so much.

9) One of the reasons why baseball will never be football: hitting The Centaur, Alex Rodriguez, with a pitch might make you feel good, but not nearly enough, since it’s really not a help for your team. And he’s potentially just two games away from having a World Championship. I think I should be drinking more, really.

8) Jayson Werth’s second inning home run looked downright effortless, and his bomb in the sixth had beverage service. It’s been a long slow climb for this guy to be a pretty great player, but that’s really what he is; without him, this game would have lacked drama for a lot longer than it did.

7) With a 3-0 count and first base open with one out in the second, Chooch Ruiz swung 3-0 and fouled it off, then took the walk. The next hitter, Cole Hamels, bunted to third for a hit. Stunning lapse by the Yankees on an admittedly great bunt, and if you want to notice how A-Rod was nowhere near it, and how so Un-Jeet Like That Is, feel free.

Oh, and nice to see Chooch finally muscle a ball out in the ninth, if for no other reason than it made Joe Girardi use Rivera for an oh-so-taxing five pitches. I’m hoping Mariano will just wear out and explode. That’d be nice.

6) The next hitter, Rollins, went 3-0 as well, and eventually drew the bases loaded walk to make it 2-0. You could make the case that Pettite was getting a little squeezed in this inning, but not on the at-bat to Rollins.

He also showed bad control to Victorino to leave a pitch in the strike zone on 0-2, allowing Shane to reach the outfield for the sac fly. Unfortunately for the Phils, Pettite got out of further difficulty, rather than having the game blown open.

5) The Yankees scored two runs in the fourth on a borderline walk call, and an A-Rod home run that went the bare 330 feet and was ruled out after instant replay review.

And that, really, is the difference between this year and last for Hamels; when staked to a lead and looking good, he suddenly hits clear air turbulence, and then compounds the problem by throwing a curveball to Pettite to allow the tying run, then giving up back to back hits to Jeter and Damon and lose the lead.

Seriously, if the man hadn’t earned his bona fides last year, Philly Fan would have been screaming for J.A. Happ to start the game. And they would have been right.

And if this somehow gets to a seventh game, and Hamels gets the start in New York? Let’s just say that there should be guys up before the first pitch.

4) The director’s cut of the Chase ad where the woman has spent all of the points on the dress? Not pretty. But kind of arousing.

3) With one out in the sixth, Nick Swisher joined the ranks of Yankee hitters who joined their party by hitting an absolute bomb to right, and “Let’s Go Yankees” are heard in the stadium. Not a good moment on any level for the home team. Yankee offense is officially out of the cage and threatening to take over the series, and Yankee Fan can also be heard singing “Hey Hey Hey, Good Bye.”

Kind of premature for Game Three, and a bit of an insult to the Baseball Gods. But really, Yankee Fan does not believe in the Baseball Gods, or at least, they know that the deity has been bought and paid for, like everyone else…

2) After Werth’s second bomb, Pettite put Ruiz on with a walk, and the Phils were unable to do anything in the pinch hit for Happ, because Eric Bruntlett really isn’t a major league player. It does not speak well for the organization that they needed that from Bruntlett…

1) Or that they couldn’t get a clean inning from the third through the (gulp) eighth, with Chad Durbin continuing the bleeding, or from Brett Myers in the eighth, who also gave up an opposite field bomb to Hideki Matsui.

Say good bye to Brett, Phillies Fan; you really won’t miss him. The Yankee Offense is officially out of the cage, and if you’re feeling scared for Joe Blanton and his career 8.66 ERA agains the Yankees tomorrow, um, I’m with you.

In a best of seven, the team that wins Game Three usually wins the series. It’s never wise to count the defending champions out, but if they didn’t lose the Series tonight, I’ll be surprised.

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