Phillies Head Back to New York Still Alive

The Phillies are a team that’s been counted out time and time again. They couldn’t get past the red-hot Rockies? Well, they did. They can’t get by the offensively sound Dodgers. Well, they did that too. So what should make us think they can’t rally to overcome what was a three-games-to-one deficit in the 2009 World Series?

They just could do that, too.

After a win last night, the team has earned the train ride back to New York, where tomorrow they will put their trust in Pedro Martinez, whose history is storied in the postseason against New York. Martinez must win, and the future Hall-of-Famer is no stranger to doing just that.

There’s just something about Pedro, in Yankee Stadium, that feels so right.

The Phillies’ charismatic righty goes up against Andy Pettite on three-day’s rest. Pettite has plenty of experience during his career on short rest, but tomorrow will be a different experience for the lefty.

Pettite has not pitched on three-day’s rest since 2006, when he was a much younger 34. In 14 regular-season starts, he is a respectable 4-6 with a 4.15 ERA.

But this isn’t the regular season anymore, and Petite is a few years older than he was in 2000, when he last pitched on short rest in the postseason.

The Phillies capitalized on A.J. Burnett’s weak short-rest performance yesterday, and tomorrow they hope to do the same and disprove the experts who counted them out before they even got a chance.