Phillies-Yankees: Game Four Notes

> In the first, Joe Blanton had no movement on his pitches, not that he’s usually drowning in it, and wound up surrendering two runs after the first two men reached base. Adding to the interest was watching A-Rod get hit, the third time that’s happened in the last two games, leading to a warning to both dugouts.

That’s always good fun, really, when you are rooting for the team that’s been doing the plunking, but A-Rod’s pointed stare into his dugout more or less gave up any chance that he was going to see vengeance. As always with The Centaur, it’s all about A-Rod.

> In the bottom of the first, the home team got a break with a bloop double to left from Shane Victorino, followed by a hammered double to right for Chase Utley. Unfortunately, CC Sabathia owned Ryan Howard, getting him on nasty stuff with a full count, and Howard is on path towards a World Series record for whiffs.

Ceec then pitched around Jayson Werth, walking him intentionally, and that’s not a sentence I’d ever thought I’d write. Three strikes set down Ibanez and kept the lead with New York, but at least they made the starter throw 24 pitches and gave me the hope of seeing the Yankee pen. But not getting the run home from second is kind of deadly against this offense; the Yankees are too good to leave opportunities uncashed.

> Joe Buck’s a fan of the Philadelphia quarantine of sports venues, which is nice and all, but until there’s actually some places to go after the game is over, the locals actually find it lacking. Supposedly, that’s what is going to happen when the Spectrum is gone, but it might take some time.

> Blanton started the second with a borderline strikeout looking call on Nick Swisher, who decided to laugh it off. Realistically, kind of a better reaction than screaming, though I’m not sure it buys you a better call next time up. A semi-hard fly ball to right was followed by a called third strike on the competent with a bat Sabathia, and there’s some mild encouragement.

> Pedro Feliz is an auto out these days, and someone that probably needs to be replaced next year, given his age and utter fungibility. It’ll be curious to see how strongly GM Ruben Amaro goes after that. I’m unaware of any obvious farm system prospect to replace him. And now that I’ve insulted him, Pedro comes back with the tying RBI to score Howard in the fourth.

> The tying run in the fourth was made in large part by Howard, who rifled a single to center and then stole a base that shocked the Fox heads almost as much as it did Sabathia. The secret of Howard running well has been slowly coming out all summer, and had he not lost weight and started moving better, there’s no way he would have scored on the single to left.

Also noteworthy was that the Phils ran at Johnny Damon’s noodle arm, which means they’ve seen Damon throw before; a good and stronger throw might have had the runner. (And for the umpire baiters among us, Howard clearly didn’t tag home plate.)

> The first two Yankees reached in the fourth, on a four-pitch walk and an infield single that Utley couldn’t convert. Sabathia looked much less comfortable trying to bunt than trying to hit, and he wound making a gift out for Blanton’s improbable sixth strikeout.

Jeter then converted on another of those bleeding little singles that the Yankees keep seeming to get, and Rollins probably keeps it in the infield had they not been playing for the double play. Damon then blooped yet another seeing-eye ball to shallow right, scoring Cabrera, and dammit, if the Yankees are going to score consistently, it’d be nice if they actually had a well-hit ball to do it. Cabrera ran through a stop sign and didn’t slide, but it didn’t matter; such are the blessings of speed.

> The next hitter was Teixeira, and he did the home team a favor by flying out on a 3-1 count to fairly deep left. Philly Fan gave A-Rod a quick “You Took Steroids” chant, and he responded by looking uncomfortable on an inside curveball before flying out to center. Blanton has been gutty, but he’s also behind, and he’s showing the world why No. 4 starters aren’t usually big World Series heroes.

> A small point from the fourth: Since Feliz took second on the overthrow and the Yankees walked Ruiz to face Blanton, they started the fifth with Rollins, not Blanton. On average, that means up to a third of a run of difference on average, and Rollins made the numbers look good with a leadoff single.

Seven base runners now in four innings, and 70 pitches; some hope with that, especially with some squeezes from the home plate umpire. Victorino waited out a five-pitch walk to bring up Utley, who looked terrible on a four-pitch pop up to short, and Howard looked no better on a two-pitch pop up of his own. Fah.

Werth needed to pick up the others, but Sabathia was tougher, and the rally died. So much for the value of starting with the leadoff man.

> Blanton worked a mostly calm sixth, getting the third out on a nifty flip from Howard off a shattered bat ground out. He’s worked six innings with seven base runners and seven strikeouts, and there’s only been one extra base hit, but he’s pitched in a little bit of bad luck, all things considered. Four earned runs in six innings against this lineup really isn’t that bad. It’s just not enough, at least so far. Park for the seventh.

> Melky Cabrera auto-ejected on a pulled hamstring for Brett Gardner, which probably won’t make that big of a difference. Ibanez continued to look helpless, but Feliz stung a ball to right to bring up the tying run, and advanced on a ground out by Ruiz. Ben Francisco hit for Blanton and flied out to center on his first pitch, and irritatingly, that’s a real fast inning for Sabathia. Pitch counts, people. Pitch counts.

> Park works the closest we can seemingly get with this offense to a clean inning, which is to say one base runner and no runs. I was starting to count outs and work on the early part of the notes when Utley took Sabathia out for the third time in the series, ending his evening and waking up the locals. Huge hit. Marte entered for Howard, and continued his irritating late-season renaissance, retiring the slugger on a middling fly ball to left. At some point, a lead would be nice.

> Madson for the eighth, and this is the third straight game he’s worked. The familiarity didn’t help The Centaur, and he’s now at .077 for the Series, with Teixeira at .071. You’d think the Yankees would be losing with numbers like that, really.

Cano reached on a bloop pop up to left, and does this offense really need luck along with everything else? Madson freezes Swisher for a called strikeout, then gets Gardner on a pop up, and we’re into the bottom of the eighth—aka, The Last Inning That Isn’t Absolutely Rivera. No time like the present, gentlemen.

> Chamberlain in for the Yanks to face Werth. You’d think Joba could afford a clean hat, but 96 mph gas up and in made that hat look good. He then rang up Ibanez up and away, and looked like Old Time Joba…and then Pedro Feliz just crushed a ball to left for the tying home run. Unbelievable. Who’s the a-hole that called Feliz an auto out?

> Brad Lidge in for the ninth, and he hasn’t worked in 10 days, while still remaining Brad Lidge. To say I’m a little nervous as he came in would be understating the point, but what the hey, bygones, right? A four-pitch out got Matsui on a pop up to short. He got ahead of the first two men with good sliders, then threw a fastball past Jeter to get ahead in the count. Big Nerves Time. Ball two doesn’t miss by much, low, and after the count goes full, the closer got Jeet to flail at a low slider. Two away.

Damon made Lidge throw nine pitches before singling to right, and ye gads, there’s some law about the Yankees ever giving you an easy inning. Then, not shockingly, Damon steals second, since Lidge is terrible holding runners on…and much worse, just takes third since the shift meant no one was covering third. GAHHHH. Lidge then continued the torment by hitting Teixeira on a 1-1 count, putting runners on the corners for Rodriguez.

Series in the balance here, along with, well, A-Rod’s career rep. No pressure. Strike one at the knees, second pitch is crushed to the wall in left. Yup, that bad feeling about Brad Lidge paid off. Won’t miss him as closer next year. Just a straight line fastball, and short of a Rivera wipeout, the Yankees have clinched the Series tonight. I was trying not to feel the Mitch Williams deja vu there, but, well, I was.

With first base open and Lidge closing in on 30 pitches, Manuel (a) leaves him in, and (b) watches the Yankee catcher end all drama with a two-run double to left. Well, what the hell, we might as well make sure that the bed isn’t only crapped in, it’s set on fire. Posada mercifully runs into the out at second, one suspects just to give Rivera the save opportunity.

Clear air turbulence rally, all with two outs and no one on, a Lidge special for 2009. On the bright side, there’s a reasonable chance that Lidge won’t ever work for the team again. Please? Pretty please?

A wag on Twitter points out that Lidge still hasn’t blown a save this post-season. Gallows humor, folks, you can’t beat it. But at least we got to see Joba Chamberlain win a game. The Phillies go meekly to Rivera in the ninth, and it’s up to Cliff Lee tomorrow night to see if the Yankees clinch in Pennsylvania or New York. Happy happy, joy joy.

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